Why Cities Matter: Policy Research Perspectives for Canada

Foreword Canada has often presented itself as a land of " wide open spaces " in which cities were important, to be sure, but as supports for the " real action " on farms, in the fishery, mines and so on. In the last decades, however, three things have changed and have altered this self-perception dramatically. First, there is growing recognition of the national and local importance of urban spaces as the site of innovation, economic development and social and political interaction. Second, our smaller cities, just as our major ones, are showing signs of serious strain and problems. Third, there is growing concern that existing policy, planning, and financial arrangements cannot address current challenges to urban success or the tasks devolved to the cities by senior governments. Indeed, while Canadian cities were for many years proudly held up as positive examples in the face of the myriad difficulties of American cities, this image is tarnished, as ours flounder and authorities in the United States invest in revitalizing their city-regions. The growing interest and concern about city-regions has provoked a wave of research papers and policy conferences in and about Canada's largest cities. CPRN has chosen to contribute to this lively policy discourse by playing an integrative role – linking together the research and policy communities across Canada, across jurisdictions, and across disciplines. Ontario to prepare this paper. Its primary goal is to clarify the major issues, the different perspectives, and the central debates now engaging policy actors in the public, private and voluntary sectors. The paper outlines the reasons why cities matter so much at this time in our history. It reviews the previous periods in the 20th century when urban issues rose to the top of the policy agenda, and it explores the similarities and differences among four distinct streams of research thought – economic clusters, social inclusion, community development, and environmental sustainability. While each of these research streams stresses the importance of urban spaces, they do not produce a consensus about the future direction of policy or about the most appropriate governance arrangements. Dr. Bradford emphasizes that the policy and government challenges are both vertical and horizontal. They are vertical because city-regions are strongly influenced by municipal, provincial, and federal governments as well as international institutions. They are horizontal because it is of key importance to link city-region networks from inner city to suburbs to rural hinterland, …