National Urban Policy: A Roadmap for Canadian Cities

Abstract

Over the past 50 years, interest in a national urban policy in Canada has waxed and waned. Although the 1960s represented a high water mark in terms of creating national institutions on urban issues, efforts to develop a national urban policy languished until the early 2000s. While national urban policy can mean different things, a useful distinction is made between explicit urban policies directed to cities and implicit policies that may significantly affect cities, but are not targeted at cities. The 21st century has seen a renewed interest internationally in national urban policies.1 This paper draws on the experience of countries that have explicitly pursued national urban policies to solve complex and interrelated urban challenges: • In the United Kingdom, the national government works directly with the largest cities to identify specific place-based priorities. • In the Australian federal system, a national policy involves collaboration among all tiers of government and institutional alignment across key departments and agencies. • In Germany, experimental initiatives on a range of issues in urban development involve citizens actively in their city. • In Brazil’s federal decentralized system, a strong recognition of the importance of cities has resulted in a national urban policy and a federal Ministry of Cities to support municipalities in carrying out their functions. • France’s Politique de la Ville is an integrated approach to problems of deprived neighbourhoods and social fragmentation. It is unclear whether Canada will establish a similar policy or institution. If it does, however, this paper proposes three elements for a national urban policy: • Collaborative governance involving cities as joint partners in deciding their fates with the provinces and federal government. • Coordinating the diverse policies that affect the quality of life of Canadians living in cities. • Robust policy, research, and monitoring mechanisms to identify what is working and best practices both nationally and internationally.