Final reflections

I can’t believe the Urban Policy course has already come to an end! There are many things I will take away from this course.

PPG2017 (Fall 2022) Student Portal “Photos”, Photo by Gabe

Starting with the key ideas that are now embedded in my brain:

1. Municipalities are creatures of the province.
2. Policies made at all three levels of government also rely on local entities such as not-for-profits and businesses for delivery.
3. There is no single definition of what the “Toronto” area is.
4. A large portion of City budgets comes from provincial transfers and property taxes.
5. There are a lot of opportunities for policy coordination among municipalities within the GTHA.
6. Municipal government is essential to the functioning of everyday life and yet it does not receive much attention from public.

I am also very grateful for the slides and readings assigned for this class. They were not only interesting but highly comprehensive. Sometimes course materials are highly theoretical and dense. This course was different because the content provided useful information that will continue to be useful as I move throughout my career. As a visual learner, I also really appreciated the diagrams and maps. This helped me learn information in a way that is often not accessible in other classes.

As for the last two weeks of this course, this was an exciting experience.
It was motivating to know that the work we were putting in was part of a live policy discussion. This made me feel connected to the work because it felt like we were contributing to something in real life.

Finally, teamwork is also a super important part of policy analysis. All policy processes involve many people and I’m starting to realize that ensuring the policy-making process is done collaboratively is almost as important as the policy itself.

As my time at Munk nears its end, I am more optimistic having taken Urban Policy because there seems to be policy opportunities beyond just the provincial and federal government. Careers are long and I am excited to explore the many different policy sectors inspired through this course.