Every day, citizens of cities around the world deal with difficult issues like housing and affordability — which, in a notoriously high-rent city like Toronto, is on the minds of students and professionals alike. The University of Toronto’s newest institute for urban research, the Cities Centre, is a growing hub of faculty, professionals, and graduate students who have come together to discuss those issues that affect the lives of city-dwellers.
The Cities Centre, housed at 455 Spadina Avenue, was established in November 2007 with the mandate of encouraging interdisciplinary scholarly research on cities and urban policy issues. They focus on the quality of life in cities around the world, and attempt to improve communication between researchers and urban communities, and among researchers themselves.
Professor Alan Walks from the Department of Geography and UTM’s Program in Planning is a research associate at the Cities Centre. He conducts projects on urban social-spatial inequality.
“My big current project is examining the implications of automobility for Canadian cities, and for Canadian citizenship in general,” says Walks. “This includes an analysis of the effects of automobile dependence on mobility, the costs of automobility, and the effects on financial vulnerability, spatial mismatches between the location of labour, and jobs, and the implications of automobility for urban politics and policy.”
The impact of research extends far.
“My research has shed light on the processes producing urban inequality, and on the policies that might alleviate the effects of inequality, concentrated poverty, and hardship,” Walks explains. “I hope that my research continues to contribute to both policy debates regarding the best options for addressing inequality, and on our understanding of what produces inequality and poverty in the first place (including the processes behind what is known as ‘development’).”
Ron Buliung, an assistant professor at the Department of Geography at UTM, is a research associate at the Cities Centre who specializes in transportation geography.
“My work basically looks at the design, implementation, and use of transportation systems in terms of how these things play out today. And I’m also interested in the historical aspects of the development of the transportation systems in the GTA and elsewhere,” says Buliung.
“One issue is simply how do we facilitate, or enable, people to get around the city on a daily basis for their work and other activities. This is for people who want to walk, bike, take public transit, or drive. These are significant questions in the City of Toronto for the best way to move forward in building a transit system for the city.”
Buliung also works with Metrolinx, the transportation-planning agency for the GTA and Hamilton area, where he and his colleagues have been trying to facilitate transit according to workplace and travel demands.
“So, how to facilitate people getting to work instead of driving by themselves, because driving by themselves is the best way to contribute to the growing congestion in the city?” says Buliung.
“I’ve done work with them in helping them to understand who’s making the decisions to carpool, why they’re making those decisions, and how we can help people to make different decisions about how they travel around the city on a daily basis.”
In September 2011, the Cities Centre published an open letter urging Toronto City Council to make well-researched decisions regarding long-term plans for the city. It specifically took issue with the City’s plans to take control of the Port Lands in order to build a massive shopping mall, a monorail, and a Ferris wheel.
Over one-hundred-and-fifty urban design and development professionals signed the letter and showed their support for maintaining the planning of the waterfront under Waterfront Toronto.
“It’s not the case that we say we wrote a letter and the government changed its mind,” explains Buliung. “The letter is an external piece of information that’s put into a democratic process. It’s really through its influence on various members of council that the city may move in one direction or another, or ignore it entirely. All we can really do is be part of the debate.”
Lightning round with Professor Ron Buliung
City where you were born?
Brantford.
Favourite city to live in?
Toronto
Favourite city to visit?
New York City
Favourite part of Toronto?
Parkdale
Favourite Torontonian?
Not Rob Ford.
Lightning round with Professor Alan Walks:
City where you were born?
Etobicoke (it doesn’t exist as a city anymore)
Favourite city?
I don’t have a single favourite. I really liked Bobo-Dioulasso, but that is only one of many great cities that I love.
Favourite part of Toronto?
The Martin-Goodman bicycle trail.
Favourite Torontonian?
Mary Margaret O’Hara and Jeff Healey
