Canadian Journal of Urban Research

Getting the job done: Barriers and enablers to municipal climate action in Greater Victoria

2024-12-10T17:14:07-06:00

Climate action is high on the agenda for many local governments across Canada and yet greenhouse gas emissions do not decline. The literature on policy implementation points to the importance of the working level in understanding the scope for climate action and the types of barriers that professionals face in advancing climate goals. This study contributes to this literature by exploring the barriers and enablers to municipal climate action through focus groups with municipal staff members across Greater Victoria, British Columbia, in the key sectors of buildings and energy, transportation, and solid waste. Six categories of barriers and enablers are identified: funding, staffing, legislation/regulation, governance, information, and politics, with the first categories representing a form of government capacity. Given the overall lack of power in implementing economic and regulatory policies, municipal government officials emphasize the importance of collaboration, data communication, and political leadership in implementing climate action at the local level.

The asocial society and urban form in Canada: A scoping study

2024-12-10T17:31:22-06:00

In 2018, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) in Canada identified the ‘Emerging Asocial Society’ as a Future Global Challenge Area. This ‘asociality’—our collective lack of engagement and disconnection; the pandemic of loneliness—is escalating. And while perceived as worsening, it is not new, and had been identified as a concern in the latter half of the mid-twentieth century. Because this phenomenon also coincides with a significant shift in built form / neighbourhood configuration patterns during the post-War era, a possible link between asociality and urban design is difficult to ignore. Based on the hypothesis that urban form contributes to growing disengagement, this scoping study documents recent research examining the relationship between urban form and social outcomes in Canada. The intent is two-fold: First, to document the extent and nature of social outcome-based urban form research in Canadian municipalities, and second, to examine the research as a body of work. This review reveals an overall lack of Canadian-specific studies on this topic, and what is available lacks geographic and methodological diversity. Though limited by these two aspects, and despite most articles not examining third spaces specifically, the research points to the important role ‘third spaces’ play in creating social connectivity. Nuanced information about organizing urban form around third spaces also emerges, providing insight into opportunities at different urban scales. Further, viewing the research through this ‘third space’ lens reveals gaps in knowledge and therefore helps identify future research opportunities capable of influencing residential development policy in municipalities across Canada.

We can’t access invisible services: A qualitative study on the visibility of homelessness services in Toronto

2024-12-10T17:46:12-06:00

Policy and service visibility are key characteristics to ensuring the accessibility and uptake of government supports. If target populations are unaware of a service or cannot identify it in the complicated landscape, then it is rendered invisible. In a complex policy space, like homelessness in Canada, the visibility of policy is particularly prudent and for many a question of survival. This article introduces findings from a qualitative research study in Toronto where we conducted focus groups with 31 participants accessing homelessness services. Our project investigates to investigate how visible homelessness services are to those experiencing homelessness, and how information about services is shared. Our findings highlight the invisibility of services in the homelessness landscape and the importance of visibility to access. Participants offered recommendations around how best to share information and spoke about the need for more visibility throughout the homelessness delivery system. To avoid continued policy failures in addressing Canadian homelessness, there is a need to ensure the invisible is rendered visible, and for the fragmented services to be accessible to those that need them most.

Homelessness and housing insecurity among im/migrants in Canada: A scoping review

2024-12-10T17:56:18-06:00

While housing insecurity has been a concern for im/migrant households for decades, it is only relatively recent that im/migrant homelessness has emerged as a growing problem. This article presents the results of a scoping review of 52 published Canadian studies on housing insecurity and homelessness among im/migrants. Findings confirm that im/migrant experiences of housing insecurity must be understood intersectionally, with social location, discrimination, health, cultural and family considerations playing into housing outcomes. In terms of homelessness, economic challenges were unsurprisingly paramount, but family dynamics, health crises and language barriers all played important roles. We conclude with a discussion of how recent shifts in migration patterns, particularly the increase in numbers of im/migrants within a context of housing crisis, have brought the risk of im/migrant homelessness to the fore with underscoring the urgent need for further research on the topic.