An Increasingly Urban World
In a discussion that took place in my Urban Policy class at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto there was one fact that stood out to me — that our world’s population is increasingly becoming more urban. It can be seen that 55% of today’s population lives in urban areas and within Canada alone this has doubled from 1900 to 2000 — a span of a 100 years. Seeing how this trend will continue in the years to come it makes me think about the necessity in reframing how we think about policymaking and the important role that cities play in shaping outcomes for the public. As my professor Gabriel Eidelman has stated on numerous occasions “(almost) all public policy is urban policy,” and I truly do hold this to be true and by implementing an approach where people and policymakers begin to “see like a city” as stated by Magnusson (2015), it can help to meet their diverse needs. Magnusson mentions there is a need to be authentically realistic when looking at political theory which begins with an understanding of urbanism as a way of life. We need to ensure to not fall into the trap of viewing our world in an abstract form and indulge in fantasies about what could be if the right people and right institutions were in place, but rather to give attention to it in its current state. Coming from an urban planning background, I have always felt the need to take a community-based approach when it comes to policymaking. By taking this approach, it can cater to the specific needs of communities and develop a more participatory approach in an attempt to create more sustainable and equitable solutions to the policy challenges faced by individuals and municipalities. For too long municipalities have been referred to as “creatures of the province” and a shift needs to take place in order to give cities the autonomy they require to thrive and prosper.
