Looking to Understand the Urban Policy Process
Two complementary concepts, one from our Governing Canadian Cities reading and one from our lecture, resonated with me this week, encapsulating both why I took this course and what has me excited for the weeks to come. First, from Governing Canadian Cities, the discussion of multi-level urban governance connected with my interest in understanding municipal-federal and municipal-provincial affairs by framing how these relationships can be utilized to best address the complex challenges Canada faces today. Second, our discussion of urban policy opened my eyes to the realities and complexities of actually designing policies which consider the disparate objectives, concerns, and abilities of each level of government.
When I began my studies at the Munk School, I was primarily interested in improving lives by pursuing careers in international development or with the federal government. Over the past year and a half, I have come to realize it is local governments who have the greatest capacity to improve the lives of their constituents, due to the infrastructure and varied services they provide. However, my background always helped me understand the importance of the multi-level urban governance discussed in our reading, recognizing that, while municipal governments may be best suited to deliver solutions to urban challenges, they can only do so effectively with proper support from higher levels of government.
Despite this, it was not until our discussion of urban policy this week that I realized that solving urban problems is not simply a matter of senior levels of government empowering municipal governments to deliver solutions as they see fit. Instead, many urban challenges are beyond what local government can realistically tackle and require a more holistic policy approach involving decisions and actions from multiple levels of government in order to be truly addressed.
Further, it’s clear that the list of such urban challenges, which require comprehensive multi-level urban policy approaches, is large. From the infrastructure deficit, to climate change, to the COVID-19 pandemic, which is straining municipal, provincial, and federal budgets, there is a growing number of issues with consequences extending beyond municipal boundaries. Recognizing that the current state of intergovernmental cooperation and collaboration within Canada’s federation is in need of reimagining and improvement, I am eager to speak with various urban actors over the coming weeks to understand the role they play in addressing these challenges. I’m looking forward to attaining a better grasp of Canada’s urban policy making landscape, how stakeholders interact and operate within it, and identifying ways in which it might be improved so as to better support the everyday lives of Canadians.
