PODCAST · society
CityTalk Canada
by Canadian Urban Institute
What's working, what's not and what's next for Canada's cities. Presented by noted urbanist Mary Rowe, president and CEO of the Canadian Urban Institute.
Episodes
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The C Word
Double-Header Part 2 The tangle of inter-governmental issues raised by Don Iveson in Part 1, and their impact on effective urban development across Canada, have solutions in a very unlikely place... or so says UBC law professor and urbanist Alexandra Flynn. She makes her case to host Mary Rowe in...
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Alberta (Re)Bound
Double-Header - Part 1 Though it's been a rather unique week in Canada, there are other actions being taken in Alberta (and elsewhere) that are raising concerns among progressive urbanists, including Don Iveson, former mayor of Edmonton, who joins host Mary Rowe to chat about the consequences for...
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Deep River Booms
Innovation is, as with invention, another offspring of necessity... and it can happen in any community ⏤ like, for example, Deep River, Ontario. In this episode, Mary Rowe is pleased to introduce Neil Milton, whose novel approach to building affordable apartments in small communities is more than...
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Jane's Ideas - Then & Again
Contemporary urbanists continue to find inspiration in the ideas crafted, tested and authored by American-Canadian activist Jane Jacobs more than fifty years ago. Mary Rowe revisits some of Jane's visionary work with two fellow devotees - Toronto environmental writer Lloyd Alter and former…
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The Economics and Politics of Place
This increasingly longer and larger 'moment' of economic and geopolitical upheaval impacts communities across Canada, though the extent is often hard to gauge at ground level. That's one reason the world gave us economists. Veteran economist and columnist Armine Yalnizyan give Mary Rowe her wide...
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Small is Still Beautiful
As global investors descended on Toronto recently to consider putting their money into Canada's infrastructure (and airports), Mary Rowe wanted to consider how to generate more investment in the independent businesses that represent the bulk of the local economies in most every community. Joining...
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Carry-on Economics
This third week of September 2026 was filled with some extraordinary developments regarding Canada's future...from the billions expected to land via the first-ever Canada Investment Summit to a ground-breaking relationship with the European Union. How all of this benefits the evolution of…
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On the Front Lines
With the Canada-USA trade war escalating, there's a particular group of Canadians bearing the brunt of its impact, and whose livelihoods are in peril. They're the independent manufacturers, retailers and service outlets lining the main streets of communities across the country. In this episode…
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The Housing In Canada FAQ - part 3
More top-level answers to FAQs about the present and future of Canada's housing continuum delivered by leaders from every corner of the country, including real estate developers, bankers, not-for-profit and co-op associations as well as the federal Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and...
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The Housing In Canada FAQ - part 2
More smart, helpful answers to a wide variety of FAQs about the present and future of Canada's housing ecosystem...provided by many of the leading stakeholders attending CUI's Housing Future Summit in June 2026. If you're planning to change your address this year, you'll want to hear what the...
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The Housing in Canada FAQ - part 1
Curious about what's really going on with Canada's housing system? Here's your answer... actually, many of them. At its recent Housing Future Summit, CUI gathered the leading voices in the housing continuum to answer some FAQs about current challenges and opportunities, and the solutions in...
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Barrie’s mayor on declaring an emergency over encampments
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...
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Rethinking Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside
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...
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Unlocking Capital & Accelerating Housing: Hear from those leading the way
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...
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Libraries: the last shared space?
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...
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The Lifehouse: how neighbourhoods can prepare for disaster
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…
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Katrina at 20: lessons from New Orleans
Further reading: “How resilient is New Orleans Today” at The Brookings Institution. Talk to us from your city
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Rebuilding Jasper: one year after the fire
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...
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What will it take to finally end Canada’s housing crisis?
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...
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Friend or Foe for Vibrant Neighbourhoods: Are Festivals Worth It?
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...
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Sharing the Streets
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…
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Let's Talk About Placemaking
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...
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Centre-ville: en Conversation au Sommet
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…
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Development & Redevelopment: Conversations from the Summit
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…
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Housing Innovation and Governance: Conversations from the Summit
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…
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Local Matters: Community Wealth Building with Heather Hachigian
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,...
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Local Matters: The View from the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce
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...
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Local Matters: Supporting Community Businesses - A Conversation with Dan Kelly of the CFIB
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…
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Culture, Equity, and Infrastructure: Conversations from the Summit
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,...
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Building Better, Building Beautiful: Conversations from the Summit
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...
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Designing Cities, Day and Night: Conversations from the Summit
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...
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Resilience and Innovation: Conversations from the Summit
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 &...
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Setting the Agenda: Conversations from the Summit
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...
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Infrastructure for Wellbeing: Conversations from the Summit
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...
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Fueling Growth and Data-Driven Communities: Conversations from the Summit
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…
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Infrastructure and Canada’s Future: Conversations from the Summit
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...
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Infrastructure Matters - A Conversation with Don Iveson
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...
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Infrastructure Matters: A Conversation with Fanny Tremblay-Racicot
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…
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Infrastructure Matters: A Conversation with Tracy Hadden Loh
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.…
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The Ottawa Sessions - Street Level Thinking
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...
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The Ottawa Sessions - Bank on it
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....
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The Ottawa Sessions - Design and Redesign
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...
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The Ottawa Sessions - The Big Picture
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…
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State of Canada's Cities Summit - Part 4: Communities We All Deserve
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...
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State of Canada's Cities Summit - Part 3: Policies & Pavements: Street-level Solutions
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...
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State of Canada's Cities Summit - Part 2: Collaboration is the Key to the City
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...
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State of Canada's Cities Summit - Part 1: Urban Planet: Innovative City Making Beyond Canada
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…
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Art For Our Cities' Sake: A Conversation with Patti Pon
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…
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Fragile Neighborhoods: A Conversation with Seth Kaplan
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...
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The Economy of Place: A Conversation with Zita Cobb
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...
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does CityTalk Canada have?
CityTalk Canada currently has 55 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is CityTalk Canada about?
What's working, what's not and what's next for Canada's cities. Presented by noted urbanist Mary Rowe, president and CEO of the Canadian Urban Institute.
How often does CityTalk Canada release new episodes?
CityTalk Canada has 55 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to CityTalk Canada?
You can listen to CityTalk Canada on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts CityTalk Canada?
CityTalk Canada is created and hosted by Canadian Urban Institute.
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