CityTalk Canada

Across the country, people are increasingly turning to encampments for shelter. These informal communities spotlight many complex challenges, from housing affordability to substance use and mental health issues. Encampments also present challenges to the social and economic functioning of neighbourhoods and downtown areas.For the last few years CUI has been very involved in convening a broad range of stakeholders - with lived experience, community leaders, civic organizations, business operators – to look for mutually respectful, effective solutions to ensuring our cities are accessible, safe and equitable for everyone. We are continuing to work with partners from coast to coast to coast to identify the best approaches, as communities try different ways to address these challenges.The mayor of Barrie, Ontario, Alex Nuttall, reached a tipping point and has chosen to declare a state of emergency to address it there. He talks to host Mary Rowe about what led to this decision, how he intends to move forward, as well as the limits of the city’s power.CityTalk will be featuring a variety of voices and perspectives on this topic in the coming months, as communities of every size continue to grapple with how to ensure their places are equitable, safe, desirable and productive for everyone.

Vancouver’s Downtown East Side has long been associated with high levels of homelessness and substance abuse, issues which many cities across the country are now facing. Host Mary Rowe speaks with two people who help deliver services and housing supports to people in the neighbourhood, and share lessons that other communities can learn.Donna-Lynn Rosa is CEO of Atira Women’s Resource Society and Corey McCallum is Atira’s Director of Outreach Programs. They talk about how to engage respectfully with people experiencing homelessness, addiction and mental health challenges, misconceptions about the Downtown East Side, and why they encourage people to not think of homelessness and substance use as “problems” with a clear solution. This is part of an ongoing series on CityTalk about how to address the interconnected challenges of substance use, mental health and homelessness that many cities are facing.

This CityTalk hosted a conversation with the CEOs of Build Canada Homes and the Canada Infrastructure Bank on how to get more built, faster. Ana Bailão, CEO of Build Canada Homes and Ehren Cory, CEO of the Canada Infrastructure Bank shared their thoughts on how to leverage strategic financing and other tools to develop much-needed housing and housing-enabling infrastructure.Coming at the end of a tumultuous year for Canada and immediately following the State of Canada’s Cities Summit, this session situates housing within the broader economic and infrastructure agenda, examining what it will take to align public investment, institutional capital, and industry capacity.This event is essential viewing for public officials, housing providers and developers, investors, and community leaders who need a clear picture of where Canada’s housing system is headed and how emerging institutions like Build Canada Homes and the CIB intend to deliver results.​

Many of our cities’ biggest challenges right now are playing out inside public libraries. Library staff come face-to-face daily with issues relating to homelessness, substance use, mental and physical health, and, of course, education. As they continue to adapt to their communities' increasing needs, their funding is not growing.Two library CEOs from opposite ends of the country join host Mary Rowe to talk about the reality of running a library in 2025. Åsa Kachan is the CEO and chief librarian for Halifax Public Libraries. Pilar Martinez is the CEO of Edmonton Public Libraries.You can read more on this topic in CUI’s report, Overdue: The Case for Canada’s Public Libraries. https://canurb.org/wp-content/uploads/CUI_Overdue_report_10.04.23.pdf

The increased threat of extreme weather has made it increasingly clear that we need to better prepare for - and respond to - these events.Author Adam Greenfield thinks one answer is to create a new kind of institution at the heart of each neighbourhood. He calls it a “lifehouse”, a community hub to provide refuge and resources during emergencies, as well as ongoing services like daycare and workshops. Adam talks to host Mary Rowe about what a lifehouse is, how he took inspiration from the Occupy Sandy hurricane relief effort, and why getting to know your neighbour may be the radical thing you can do.Adam Greenfield’s book is called Lifehouse: Taking Care of Ourselves in a World on Fire.

Further reading: “How resilient is New Orleans Today” at The Brookings Institution.

Last summer, Beth Sanders was getting ready to lead a new planning department for Jasper, Alberta when the municipality was evacuated due to wildfires. The fires ended up destroying about a third of the town. Beth joins Mary to talk about the challenges and opportunities of rebuilding, as well as lessons for other municipalities facing increasing threats from climate change.Beth is the Director of Urban Design and Standards for the Municipality of Jasper and the author of Nest City.

It’s no secret that Canada is in a housing crisis. The gap between incomes and housing prices has been growing for decades, as governments of all political stripes have promised to ease the burden. So what will it take to finally end it? Murtaza Haider and Carolyn Whitzman join host Mary Rowe to talk about how we got here and what we can do about it.Carolyn Whitzman is a senior housing researcher at the University of Toronto’s School of Cities and author of Home Truths: Fixing Canada's Housing Crisis. Murtaza Haider is the Executive Director of the Cities Institute at the University of Alberta, where he is also a Professor and the Radhe Krishna Gupta Executive Chair in Cities and Communities.

Festivals can be a great excuse to get out and see something new. But they can also be disruptive to local residents and businesses. So when do they help a place thrive, and when are they more trouble than they’re worth? CityTalk host Mary Rowe gets the perspectives of two guests who helped shape iconic downtown areas. Tim Tompkins was president of the Times Square Alliance in New York City from 2002 to 2020. He’s now director of the Sustaining Places Initiative at the NYU Marron Institute. And Mark Garner is executive director at Calgary Downtown Association. He’s the former CEO and executive director of Toronto's Downtown Yonge Business Improvement Association.

At the Canadian Urban Institute, better, future-proof infrastructure pervades every project and discussion we have. Ahead of the upcoming Ontario Bike Summit in Windsor, host Mary Rowe has a two-wheeled chat with leading advocates for more, better and safer urban cycling systems, including Eleanor McMahon (Share The Road Coalition); Lanrick Bennett Jr. (School of Cities, U of T); Leona Medley (Joe Louis Greenway Partnership); and Anneke Smit (Centre for Cities, Windsor Law). Learn more about the Ontario Bike Summit here.  

The title of this episode is shared with a report recently released by the Canadian Urban Institute. It compiles the findings from thousands of community-level placemaking projects along with perspectives on placemaking from leading practitioners, including Jerome Barth of Belleville Placemaking (NYC) and Marc-André Carignan of Kollectif (Mtl.) featured in conversation with host Mary Rowe. Report author Jacquelyn West also discussed key findings with Bridget MacIntosh, a Toronto-based cultural strategist and contributor to the report.  Download a copy of Let's Talk About Placemaking here. 

Housing and infrastructure present challenges to nations across the globe. CUI's State of Canada's Cities Summit was pleased to welcome Alain Resplendy-Bernard, director of State Buildings for the government of France, as a special guest panellist. CUI board chair Cameron Charlebois also met Alain at our onsite studio for a deeper dive en français. Also, CUI researcher Jacquelyn West speaks to Monique Simard, board chair of Montreal's Partenariat du Quartier des spectacles, considered one of the most successful 'centre-ville' revitalizations in the world.  See and hear more about the Summit at citytalkcanada.ca.

Day 2 of CUI's State of Canada's Summit in Ottawa (December 2024) offered something new to attendees - walking tours of innovative project sites. Our microphones joined Brad Rodgers and Ana Bailao of Dream Unlimited for a tour of Zibi, a net-zero community being developed on the banks of the Ottawa River. Later, we joined Leanne Moussa and Kwende Kefentse along Ottawa's Laurier Avenue to hear about their community redevelopment initiative dubbed The Other Hill. See and hear more about the Summit at citytalkcanada.ca.

For the final episode gleaned from the State of Canada's Cities Summit, host Mary Rowe introduces a 'blue-ribbon' panel of housing experts recorded at the Beaver Barracks Housing Development in Ottawa. The discussion centres on the evolving roles and responsibilities for all orders of government in solving Canada's housing crisis. See and hear more about the Summit at citytalkcanada.ca. 

Bolstering Canada's local economies has become an instant priority in the wake of proposed actions by the Trump administration. Fortunately, we have no shortage of smart people with innovative solutions already in the works.  Canadian Urban Institute CEO Mary Rowe chats with Heather Hachigian, Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Management at the School of Business at Royal Roads University in Victoria BC about the 'five pillars' of community wealth building solutions. See and hear more about this program at citytalkcanada.ca

Host Mary Rowe welcomes another 'tariff/no tariff' conversation with Doug Griffiths and Heather Thomson of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce, and frank talk about what could, and what shouldn't, happen in this moment of economic uncertainty (crisis? opportunity?) for communities across Canada.  See and hear more at citytalkcanada.ca.

We interrupt CUI's post-State of Canada's Cities Summit programming for some timely conversation about economic resilience. There's nothing like the wake-up call of a looming Canada-US trade war to focus the attention of communities everywhere on innovative strategies to generate local strength and reduce impacts of cross-border disruptions. Dan Kelly is the CEO and Chair of the Board of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), whose thousands of members' economic activity represent 50 percent of Canada's GDP. Host Mary Rowe chats with Dan about the ways small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are reinventing themselves and how we can all support the socio-economic vitality they bring to our main streets.  See and hear more about CUI's place-making initiatives at canurb.org.  

Mention infrastructure, and it's hard not to picture things like public buildings, transit systems and water/power distribution. However, other vital elements of urban society are, or should be, integrated into those things and need to be part of their design. This episode's two featured panels, recorded at CUI's State of Canada's Summit in December 2024, explore those elements - culture and social equity -  in the context of Infrastructure. Some of the featured voices include Isabelle Mondou, deputy minister of Heritage Canada, Brian McBay of Vancouver's 221A and Cathie O'Toole, CAO of the Regional Municipality of Halifax. You can see and hear more from the Summit at citytalkcanada.ca.

The dozen panel discussions recorded in December 2024 on Day One of CUI's State of Canada's Cities Summit revolved around urban infrastructure in all its modern permutations, and how we need to build it better, faster and more sustainably. However, that doesn't preclude its ability to also add beauty and contribute to our collective well-being. The first featured panel in this episode delves into that topic, guided by Alex Bozikovic, architecture critic for The Globe and Mail.  And to wrap up the day's proceedings, host Mary Rowe moderates a panel of blue-ribbon 'distillers' of ideas to summarize the gleanings from this second-annual gathering in Ottawa. You can see and hear more at citytalkcanada.ca.  

The Canadian Urban Institute's mobile podcast studio at the State of Canada's Cities Summit in Ottawa last December offered CUI staff the opportunity to chat with some of the leading voices attending the event.  In this episode, media and communications advisor Anne-Marie Aikins speaks with Carol Bélanger, City Architect for the City of Edmonton... the first such position in Canada.  In a similar vein,  research associate Léandro Santos caught up with Mathieu Grondin, the newly-appointed Nightlife Commissioner for the City of Ottawa.  Later, Anne-Marie returns to chat with Alex Bozikovic, columnist and architecture critic for The Globe and Mail about the relationship between design and infrastructure. See and hear more from the Summit at citytalkcanada.ca.  

More forward-thinking discussions on infrastructure from CUI's State of Canada's Cities Summit, these the first of several recorded by our mobile podcast studio.  Featured upfront, host Mary Rowe shares a pre-lunch chat with Leila Ghaffari, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, Planning & Environment at Montreal's Concordia University, and Sarah Rosen Wartell,  president of the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C. Later, Sadhu Johnstone, former City Manager for the City of Vancouver, drops by the studio to talk about his current role as a Climate Lead with the Climate Ready Infrastructure Service, a new CUI initiative in partnership with Housing and Infrastructure Canada. You'll find more resources and details on the Summit at citytalkcanada.ca.    

As host Mary Rowe stated early in this series, once you understand what infrastructure is, you can't help but see it everywhere around you. This episode features two discussions recorded at the State of Canada's Cities Summit in Ottawa last December, both dealing with bricks-and-mortar aspects of infrastructure; a session on securing real estate and lands needed to address the housing gap, and another on perhaps the most urgently needed resource - climate-ready infrastructure.  You can see and hear more from the Summit at citytalkcanada.ca.

Where do you start two days of conversation about the issues around infrastructure in all its modern urban permutations? For host Mary Rowe and her team at the Canadian Urban Institute, the answer was obvious - talk first about the mental health crisis affecting most every community.  This episode recorded in December 2024 at the State of Canada's Cities Summit in Ottawa features a panel discussion titled Mental Health Matters: Building Supportive Main Streets & Downtowns, as moderated by Paul Johnson, City Manager for the City of Toronto.  And CUI vice-president Robert Plitt chats with Andrea Barrack, vice-president of Sustainability and Impact at RBC, the Summit's presenting sponsor, about her takeaways from the sessions. You can see and hear more from the Summit at citytalkcanada.ca

More highlights from the morning plenary session of the State of Canada's Cities Summit, presented in Ottawa last December 2024 by the Canadian Urban Institute. CUI CEO and event host Mary Rowe presents two featured panel discussions: fhe first is titled Infrastructure for Growth and is focused on innovative solutions for local economies of every size; and the second looks at AI and whether it can serve these same communities in processing the data needed for smart, future-proof management.  You'll fine more info and resources from the Summit at citytalkcanada.ca.

As the past few episodes of CityTalk:The Podcast have previewed, hundreds of city builders and place makers met in Ottawa on Dec.5th/6th for the 2024 State of Canada's Cities Summit, presented by the Canadian Urban Institute... and where the core topic explored was infrastructure in all its iterations.  Host Mary Rowe introduces highlights from the plenary sessions and other special events in this and upcoming episodes, beginning with the keynote presentation on Canada's infrastructure gap from Karen Chapple, director of the School of Cities at the University of Toronto...followed by a 'continental context' discussion on Making Canada Matter More, moderated by Andrea Barrack, VP of Sustainability and Impact at RBC. You can see more about the Summit at citytalkcanada.ca.  

Infrastructure - hardly a stimulating concept, but one that's mission-critical on multiple levels to our daily lives, and to the communities we share.  For this third and final preview of CUI's State of Canada's Cities Summit, host Mary Rowe speaks with Don Iveson, whose civic and public sector career touches on the many components of urban infrastructure requiring healthy measures of investment and innovation. Don will also be a featured guest at the Summit, which you can learn more about here.

As the clock counts down to doors opening at the Canadian Urban Institute's second annual State of Canada's Cities Summit, the CityTalk Podcast offers another preview to the topics topping the agenda in Ottawa on December 5th and 6th. This episode features host Mary Rowe in conversation with Fanny Tremblay-Racicot,  professor at l'École nationale d'administration publique (ENAP) in Québec and expert in local governance models. They discuss many of the innovative solutions emerging around Canada's infrastructure challenges.  Learn more about the State of Canada's Cities Summit here.  

The CityTalk Podcast is back...and ready to recruit your attendance at the Canadian Urban Institute's State of Canada's Cities Summit on December 5-6 ,2024. In its second year, this gathering will again take place in Ottawa and convene city builders and placemakers from across Canada and beyond.  To set the stage, host and CUI president/CEO Mary Rowe has invited some thought-leaders appearing in Ottawa to preview some of the core topics on the aganda...all coming back to why infrastructure matters - for innovation, equity, resilience, and more. For this episode, Tracy Hadden Loh, a fellow in the Brookings Institution (Washington, DC) Metro program, joins Mary in conversation on what turned out to be a very consequential day for urban advocates on both sides of the border.  Learn more about The State of Canada's Cities Summit here.    

Bringing The Ottawa Sessions to a close is another kind of big-picture' perspective, albeit from street level.  In developing 'A Living Capitol,' the downtown revitalization action plan CUI co-developed with many of Ottawa's civic and governmental leaders, some of the most informative views came courtesy of the directors of its Business Improvement Areas (BIAs).  You'll hear from two of them, as Mary Rowe chats with Kevin McHale, executive director of the Sparks Street Community Improvement Association, and Nathalie Carrier, executive director of the ZAC Quartier Vanier BIA. See and hear more at citytalkcanada.ca.  

In episode 3 of The Ottawa Sessions, host Mary Rowe brings you to her new, favourite café to meet Jessie Duffy, owner/operator of Arlington 5 in Centretown. It's located just a steps off Bank Street, one of Ottawa's north-south Main Streets connecting many of the city's best known neighbourhoods.  Mary and Jessie discuss the future of local, independent business in the capitol, and how it can benefit all corners of the community.  See and hear more about the Ottawa Sessions, and 'A Living Capitol,' CUI's recently-released action plan for revitalizing the downtown core, at citytalkcanada.ca.

The second episode of The Ottawa Sessions explores the scope of design and, often, redesign, needed to help revitalize the downtown core of our nation's capitol. From soon-to-be vacant federal buildings to iconic public spaces like the Byward Market, the city has tremendous assets, along with its share of modern urban challenges, to influence a new action plan, 'A Living Capitol,' which CUI has co-developed with the Ottawa Board of Trade, Invest Ottawa and many other regional partners.  Joining CUI president and CEO Mary Rowe at the table are Toon Dreessen, President of Architects DCA, along with Kaite Burkholder-Harris, executive director of the Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa and Zac Dayler, executive director of the Byward Market District Authority. You'll find more to hear, see and read about CUI's Ottawa projects at citytalkcanada.ca

Season Two begins with a four-part series we've dubbed The Ottawa Sessions, featuring conversations with many of the civic, business and governmental leaders CUI collaborated with in the development of 'A Living Capitol,' a downtown revitalization action plan. To set the stage from a 'big picture' perspective, CUI president and CEO Mary Rowe speaks to Tobi Nussbaum, CEO of the Natonal Capital Commission, and to Sueling Ching, President and CEO of the Ottawa Board of Trade and her colleague Hugh Gorman, CEO of real estate developer Collanade BridgePort.  See and read more about these sessions and the action plan at citytalkcanada.ca.  

The power of community, with its ability to open minds and hearts, reminds us why most of us choose (despite the deepening issues) to live together in cities.  In this final of four CityTalk episodes recorded at CUI's State of Canada's Cities Summit in Ottawa on November 30th, host Mary Rowe presents highlights from afternoon conversations around innovative, uplifting solutions that build community. See, hear and read more about the Summit at canurb.org.

Whatever the scale and scope of the tough issues being discussed in a single day, solutions often seem to be within reach after lunch. In the third of four CityTalk episodes recorded at CUI's State of Canada's Cities Summit in Ottawa on November 30th, host Mary Rowe presents highlights from afternoon sessions featuring local and national experts offering practical, street-tested solutions. See, hear and read more from the Summit at canurb.org.  

When wanting to find solutions to urban issues, it's always best to talk to those professionals directly involved. Better yet, invite them to talk to each other.  In the second of four City Talk episodes recorded at CUI's State of Canada's Cities Summit in Ottawa on November 30th, host Mary Rowe presents more highlights from morning sessions focussed on the key challenges and opportunities faced by every sector of urban life, and where collaboration can make all the difference. See, hear and read more about Summit findings at canurb.org.

Sometimes great things happen when you bring the right people together to talk. In this first of four CityTalk episodes recorded at CUI's State of Canada's Cities Summit in Ottawa on November 30th, host Mary Rowe presents highlights from morning panel conversations exploring both the global context for Canadian urban issues, and challenges shared with American cities. See, hear and read more about Summit events and reports at canurb.org.  

For a final preview of the leading voices and topics on the agenda at the upcoming State of Canada's Cities Summit on November 30th,  host Mary Rowe chats with Patti Pon, president and CEO of Calgary Arts Development about how arts & culture are increasingly vital tools for city building. Read more about Patti's work here.     

An urban neighbourhood can be many things to its residents beyond a shared place to live. It can be where to find and/or offer support to community members; join others in working for better public services and resources; and where residents can lead flourishing lives. However, it can also be a fragile place. For this episode, host Mary Rowe welcomes noted academic and author Seth Kaplan (Johns Hopkins U.) to CityTalk Canada to explore the findings in his latest book, Fragile Neighborhoods: Repairing American Society, One Zip Code at a Time and how they apply to communities in Canada and elsewhere.  Get more information about Dr. Kaplan and his book at sethkaplan.org.

In the first in a special series leading up to the Canadian Urban Institute's upcoming 'At the Crossroads' conference, CityTalk host Mary Rowe resumes her ongoing conversation with Zita Cobb, co-founder of Shorefast (Fogo Island, Nfld&Lab) on the growing importance and value of nurturing local economies to serve and sustain everyone in the community, urban or rural.   

Ours is a rapidly urbanizing world, with the latest UN projections at 70 percent of 9 billion people living in cities by 2050. Underlying that challenging future, neck-and-neck with the climate crisis, is the perpetual issue of accessible and affordable housing for every citizen. In Canada, top-level conversation about housing starts at the desk of Romy Bowers, president and CEO of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).  Host Mary Rowe talks to Ms.Bowers about how CMHC is adapting, collaborating and innovating to meet that challenge for all Canadians.  Find more conversations on housing at citytalkcanada.ca.  

CityTalk: The Podcast is where the conversation is always focused on what's working, what's not and what's next for Canada's cities. It's brought to you by the Canadian Urban Institute (CUI). On this episode, the topics of conversation sits at the intersection of mental healthcare and homelessness, with that crossroads now found in the downtown core of communities across Canada and beyond. Host and CUI president Mary Rowe takes a deep dive into this complex topic with Dr. Andrew Bond, Medical Director of Inner-City Health Associates in Toronto and national co-chair of the Canadian Network for the Health and Housing of People Experiencing Homelessness. Find more details at citytalkcanada.ca.

CityTalk: The Podcast explores what's working, what's not and what's next for Canada's cities... and brought to you by the Canadian Urban Institute (CUI).  In the evolving post-pandemic economy, topping every city's 'what's next' list is a strategy to revitalize downtown by converting half-empty or vacant office space into multi-use buildings that can include housing. CUI has been researching the challenges and possibilites across Canada, and recently released a comprehensive report and 'toolkit' to support those strategies. In this episode. host Mary Rowe introduces the key findings of The Case for Conversions report, and discussed it with its participants and reviewers, including Steven Paynter (Gensler Architecture, Calgary, AB); Joe Nickerson (Sidewalk Real Estate, Halifax, NS); Melissa Román Burch (EDC, NYC); and Tracey Hadden Loh (Brookings Institute, Washington, D.C). The report is available for free download at the CUI website. Get more details on the podcast at citytalkcanada.ca.

CityTalk:The Podcast explores what's working, what's not and what's next for Canada's cities, and is a production of the Canadian Urban Institute (CUI). In part two of The COVID Dividend, host Mary Rowe is joined by leading urbanists from across the globe to discuss what was learned during the pandemic about making better shared places and smarter decisions.  Participants include Dorian Moore (Archive Design Studio, Windsor, ON); Åsa Kachan (Halifax Public Libraries, Halifax, NS); Jennifer Angel (Evergreen Brickworks, Toronto, ON); Dan Hill (Melbourne University, Melbourne, AS) and Rosanne Haggerty (Community Solutions, NYC). Find more details at citytalkcanada.ca.

Welcome to a fresh look at our urban future, brought to you by the Canadian Urban Institute (CUI). CityTalk:The Podcast explores what's working, what's not and what's next for Canada's cities. Hosted by CUI president and 'lead talker' Mary Rowe, this program series begins with two episodes devoted to The COVID Dividend i.e. the core learning gleaned by civic officials, urban planners, community organizations and other key stakeholders during the pandemic; these takeaways offer an essential primer on the best steps forward in addressing the challenges shared by cities across Canada and beyond.  Joining Mary are Kate Graham (Colliers, London, ON), Alicia John-Baptiste (SPUR, San Francisco); Peter Sloly (CUI Fellow, Ottawa); Graham Singh (Trinity Foundation, Montreal) and Bruce Katz (Drexel University, Washington, D.C.).  Find more details at citytalkcanada.ca.