An Overview of the City’s Presentations
• The City’s Strategic Priorities & the Role of Local Government (15th Sept)
• A Well-Run City & Intergovernmental Affairs (22nd Sept)
• Building an Equitable City (6th Oct)
• Community Resilience – People, Housing & Neighbourhoods (20th Oct)
• City Building – Art, Culture & the Public Realm (3rd Nov)
• Climate Action and Resilience (17th Nov)
COVID-19: Impacts and Opportunities Report Summary of Recommendations
Public Health
• Improving the City’s epidemiological understanding of to better support decision-making for pandemic management and
resolution
Social Determinants of Health
• Promoting the realignment of municipal, provincial and federal roles and responsibilities (funding) to reduce uneven
impacts of the pandemic
Increasing Prosperity
• To improve equity by reducing barriers to work and career advancement, especially for disadvantaged groups and
communities.
Infrastructure and Mobility
• Maintaining and increasing infrastructural investment, particularly in public transit
Resilience and Climate Change
• Focusing on resilience/sustainability as part of the recovery from COVID-19
City Services
• Modernising city services as part of the recovery and rebuild process
https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/accountability-operations-customer-service/city-administration/city-managersoffice/key-initiatives/recoveryto/covid-19-about-reopening-recovery-rebuild/
Contextualising the COVID-19 Pandemic
• The issue of global threats
• Global terrorism (9/11), natural disasters (Indian Ocean tsunami
of 2004), economic crises (the financial crisis of 2007 – 2008),
climate change, pandemics (swine flu of 2009, camel flu of
2012)
• The call to action, from the local to the global level
• Toronto 2.0
Quick Facts
• City of Toronto population of 2.7 million (2016) in
an area of 630 square kilometres (4,334 per
square kilometre density)
• Fourth-largest city in North America (by
comparison, New York City is second with a
population of 8.5 million in an area of 778 square
kilometres)
• Greater Toronto Area population of 6.4 million
(2016) in an area of 7,124 square kilometres (849
per square kilometre density)
• Out of this, 2.7 million are foreign-born with 180
different spoken languages and dialects in the
region
• By comparison, the province of Ontario has a
population of 13.4 million (2016)
Quick Facts
• Recognised as an international centre of business, finance, arts, culture, and regarded as one of the most
multicultural and cosmopolitan cities in the world
• Attracts up to 40 million tourists yearly ($7.2 billion overall visitor spending)
• 69.3% of Toronto residents aged 25 – 64 have some postsecondary certificate, diploma, or degree (2016)
• 49.9% of employed Toronto residents have full-year, full-time jobs (2016)
• Unemployment rate of 6.7% (2016)
• Second highest cost of living plus rent index out of 31 Canadian cities, child poverty rate of 28.6% (2013)
• 2031 population growth projections: 3 million for the City, 7.45 million for the GTA
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsRJwN_kfj8
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GADdPGkVuss
https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20201
109-coronavirus-how-cities-travel-andfamily-life-will-change
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The themes of disruption, change, and loss
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What will we be craving in a post-pandemic
world?
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How will we get around?
What will transportation look like?
Will only the wealthy be able to travel?
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How can we protect city dwellers?
How will cities weather economic challenges?
How can cities help solve pandemic
inequalities?
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How will we socialise?
How can we make our community connections
more meaningful?
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What will city centres look like?
What’s the role of public spaces in cities?
How can the public and private sectors work
together to build a good city?
Will cities emerge stronger after the virus?
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https://theconversation.com/what-actually-isa-good-city-80677
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The problems of who, what, why, and how?
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What is good? – the ‘good’ city as a conceptual
morass/soup
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Why is the _____ city good?
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Who gets to define what the good city is?
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How do we prioritise different orders of the
good?
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The four principles of ecology
(environmentalism/sustainability), economics
(equity), politics (engagement and
participation), culture (identity and belonging)
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Most_livable_cities
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https://www.toronto.ca/businesseconomy/invest-in-toronto/global-city/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/th
e-quiet-joy-being/202112/what-makes-goodplace-live
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There are certain fundamental elements of a
‘good’ or liveable city
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Likewise, there are certain elements that
make a city ‘bad’ or unliveable
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But perhaps we are looking at the issue from
the wrong perspective
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City-living works for city-lovers; ‘good’ or
liveable cities are tolerable at best for others
who don’t take to city-living
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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/urbanexodus-canada-toronto-montreal-covid-191.6313911
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Consider the inequalities underlining this
choice (mobile, white-collar, remote work)