Canadian Journal of Urban Research
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From Renegade to Regulated: The Digital Platform Economy, Ride-hailing and the Case of Toronto
Full text linkDespite concerns and criticism, municipality upon municipality has approved regulations that enable ridehailing,a digital platform activity, to legally operate. This paper frames and scrutinizes three prominent tensionssurrounding the operation and expansion of ride-hailing using the City of Toronto as a case study. It finds thatwhereas scholarly debate emphasizes defi nitions, distinctions, legal arguments and inequality, municipal debatehas centered on ride-hailing’s brief yet controversial history, inputs to the regulation process, and connectionsbetween ride-hailing, municipal governance and innovation. This paper highlights the role of municipalities inestablishing policy directions for the 21st century city that address changing and challenging issues, the impactof which reach far beyond the digital platform economy.
RésuméMalgré les préoccupations et les critiques, nombreuses sont les municipalités qui ont approuvé des règlementsqui permettent les applications de « ride-hailing », une plate-forme numérique, d’opérer légalement. Cet articleexamine les tensions entourant l’opération et l’expansion d’application de « ride-hailing » de la ville de Toronto.Nous constatons qu’alors que le débat des académiques insiste sur les définitions, les distinctions, les argumentsjuridiques et les inégalités issues de ces applications numériques, le débat pour les municipalités fut concentrésur la brève existence, quoique controversé, de l’expérience de ces applications, des apports au processus de larégulation, et les connexions entre ces applications numériques et la gouvernance municipale et l’innovation. Cetarticle met en évidence le rôle des municipalités dans l’établissement des orientations politiques pour la ville duXXIe siècle qui traitent de questions qui confrontent des enjeux exigeant en pleine évolution. L’impact de cesorientations politiques va bien au-delà de la plate-forme numérique de l’économie
Cases of Equality: Idle No More and the Protests at Standing Rock
Full text linkJacques Rancière’s work has offered some insightful and provocative ideas on the nature and meaning ofdemocratic politics. Recently, he has suggested that the Occupy movement presents “the most interesting”example of what he defi nes as radical democratic politics. Using this observation as a starting point, this paperapplies Rancière’s ideas to two recent political events that carried within them a strong Indigenous voice—the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) protests and the Idle No More (INM) movement. Th e argument putforward is that both the DAPL protests and the INM represent examples of democratic politics as envisionedby Rancière, politics which emerge from a general assumption of equality.
RésuméL’oeuvre de Jacques Rancière a contribué quelques idées provocantes sur la nature et le sens du régimepolitique démocratique. Ce dernier a récemment postulé que le mouvement Occupy est un des exemples depolitique démocratique radicale « [des] plus intéressant ». À partir de cette observation, cet article appliqueles idées de Rancière comme grille d’analyse de deux événements politiques récents associée à une forteprésence Autochtone—les manifestations contre le Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) et le mouvement IdleNo More (INM). L’argument avancé est que les manifestations contre le DAPL et le INM constituentdes exemples de politiques démocratiques comme l’envisageait Rancière, soit une politiques issues d’unesupposition générale d’égalité
Electorate Size and Representational Communication in Canadian Cities
Full text linkElectorate size is recognized to affect a wide range of democratic processes and outcomes. This is particularly true at the local level of government where amalgamations have been common in recent years. Here, we explore the extent to which electorate size affects how city councillors communicate with their constituents in order to learn about those constituents’ needs and preferences. We hypothesize that councillors cope with increases in electorate size by using face-to-face methods of communication less and mediated forms of communication, including social media, more. Drawing on original interview and survey data with Canadian city councillors, we find that councillors tend to rely on face-to-face meetings, telephone calls, and email to communicate with constituents, but are less likely to use social media to do so. However, we find no evidence to support the hypothesized relationships between electorate size and representational communication.
Résumé
La taille de l’électorat affecte un large éventail de processus démocratiques et ses résultats. C’est particulièrement vrai au niveau local des gouvernements municipaux au cours des nombreuses fusions des dernières années. Cet article, examine dans quelle mesure la taille de l’électorat affecte la façon dont les conseillers municipaux communiquent avec les électeurs afin d’en apprendre davantage sur les besoins et préférences de ces derniers. Notre hypothèse de base est que les conseillers face à l’augmentation de la taille de l’électorat utilisent moins des méthodes de communication face-à-face au profit d’une utilisation accrue de forme de communication médiatisée, y compris les médias sociaux. S’appuyant sur les données de l’enquête et des entrevues avec les conseillers municipaux, nous constatons que ces derniers ont tendance à se fier à des réunions face-à-face, des appels téléphoniques et des courriels pour communiquer avec les électeurs. Ils sont donc moins susceptibles d’utiliser les médias sociaux. Toutefois, nous n’avons trouvé aucune preuve à l’appui de l’hypothèse d’une relation entre la taille de l’électorat et le type de communication utilisé pour communiquer avec les électeurs
Regional Planning and Urban Revitalization in Mid-Sized Cities: A Case Study on Downtown Guelph
Full text linkWith over a decade having passed since the inception of the provincially led growth plan in Ontario, there is an opportunity to explore how cities have adapted to meet the challenges of this regional-scale plan. The Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe seeks to mitigate the negative eff ects of decades of sprawling development by focusing on building dense, urban, transit-connected communities. While the growth plan has a primary focus on municipalities in the Greater Toronto Area, it is also inclusive of smaller urban centres that sit outside of the province’s Greenbelt. Th ese mid-sized cities have a history of downtown decline and dispersed urban form. With the inclusion of mid-sized cities in the growth plan, however, there is an opportunity to explore the strategies smaller municipalities are using to attract public and private investment and achieve residential and employment provincial targets in their core areas by 2041. Th rough a case study approach, focused on downtown Guelph, Ontario, this paper argues that the growth plan can serve as a catalyst to alter the planning paradigm in mid-sized cities, and that through locally led community planning efforts, and a range of site-specific incentives, mid-sized cities can begin to revitalize their downtowns and reverse core area decline
Food Trucks, Cultural Identity, and Social Justice: From Loncheras to Lobsta Love
Full text linkDr. Janis Thiessen's review of the book titled Food Trucks, Cultural Identity, and Social Justice: From Loncheras to Lobsta Love edited by Julian Agyeman Caitlin Matthews, and Hannah Sobel
The Rise of Cities: Montréal, Toronto, Vancouver and Other Cities.
Full text linkMarie-Eve Desroches' review of the book titled The Rise of Cities: Montréal, Toronto, Vancouver and Other Cities edited by Dimitri Roussopoulos
Municipal Reforms in Montreal and the Issue of Fairness
Full text linkMunicipal governance in the Montreal metropolitan region has recently undergone several phases oftransformation. The first, in 2001-2002, was characterized by amalgamation and the introduction of ametropolitan governance structure. This was followed, in 2006, by a round of de-amalgamation. Using annualmunicipal data on residential tax base and global tax rate covering the period from 1996 to 2011 for allmunicipalities of the metropolitan area, the impacts of these reforms on fairness are estimated. Our findingsshow that amalgamation raises equity among municipalities and that de-amalgamation partly reintroducedinequity in the metropolitan area
Social Citizenship and Urban Revitalization in Canada
Full text linkIn this article, I trace how urban revitalization is tied to a rearticulation of social citizenship in Canada. Whilehousing policy was framed as a priority under the welfare state, there is a distinct transition whereby concernsabout public housing were displaced from federal and provincial agendas. Through reform, the state shiftedresponsibility for elements of social policy that were previously characterized as a national priority to localgovernments or the private sector, laying a foundation for neoliberal urban revitalization of public housing. Iexplore the relationality between the welfare state and neoliberal governance and the subsequent rearticulationof social citizenship in a postindustrial economic context. By providing an overview of key shifts in social/publichousing policy in Canada, with particular focus on Toronto, Ontario, I argue that housing policy and the urbanrevitalization of public housing are tools for a neoliberal rearticulation of social citizenship in Canada.
Résumé
Dans cet article, j’analyse les liens entre la revitalisation urbaine et la réarticulation de la citoyenneté sociale auCanada. Bien que les politiques de logement aient été présentées comme une priorité de l’État providence, ily a eu une transition distincte menant au retrait du logement social de la liste de priorités des gouvernementsfédéral et provinciaux. Par ses réformes, l’État a déplacé la responsabilité de certains éléments de politiques socialesautrefois considérés comme étant de priorité nationale vers les gouvernements locaux et le secteur privé,jetant ainsi les bases d’une revitalisation urbaine néolibérale du logement social. J’analyse la corrélation entrel’État providence et la gouvernance néolibérale, et la réarticulation subséquente de la citoyenneté sociale dansun contexte économique postindustriel. En présentant un aperçu général des changements majeurs dans lespolitiques de logement social, en particulier à Toronto, en Ontario, je soutiens que les politiques de logementet la revitalisation urbaine du logement social sont des outils permettant une réarticulation néolibérale de lacitoyenneté sociale au Canada
Identifying Food Swamps Based on Area-Level Socioeconomic Patterning of Retail Food Environments in Winnipeg, Canada
Full text linkA gap in Canadian food environment research concerning Winnipeg’s food swamps is addressed using geographical assessment of socio-demographic factors. Food swamp locations were identified using (1) a composite index of socioeconomic deprivation, (2) restaurant accessibility (Euclidean distance to nearest restaurant), and (3) restaurant clustering across 5740 Dissemination Blocks (DBs) in Winnipeg. Restaurants included fast food (FFR), sit-down (SDR) and coffee shop establishments combined (ALL). DBs with high deprivation levels, close restaurant access, and signi0 cant clustering of restaurants were identi0 ed as food swamps. Significant differences in restaurant access were observed between low and high socioeconomic deprivation levels, where the most socioeconomically deprived populations in Winnipeg had easier access to highly clustered restaurants. A total 3.74 km2 of Winnipeg was designated as food swamps (ALL), impacting 10,053 (1.6%) people. We conclude that a breadth of policies is required to address food security in Winnipeg, as ~65% of the food swamps coincide with food deserts or food mirages observed by Wiebe et al. (2016)
Still Renovating: A History of Canadian Social Housing Policy
Full text linkDr. Caroline Andrew's review of the book titled Still Renovating: A History of Canadian Social Housing Policy written by Greg Suttor