Critical Dialogues of Urban Governance, Development and Activism
London and Toronto
Susannah Bunce (Editor), Nicola Livingstone (Editor), Loren March (Editor), Susan Moore (Editor), Alan Walks (Editor)
Cities have been sites of some of the most visible manifestations of the evolution of processes of globalization and population expansion, and global cities are at the cutting edge of such changes. Critical Dialogues of Urban Governance, Development and Activism examines changes in governance, property development, urban politics and community activism, in two key global cities: London and Toronto.
The analysis is inherently comparative, but not in the traditional sense – the volume does not seek to deliver a like-for-like comparison. Instead, taking these two cities as empirical cases, the chapters engage in constructive dialogues about the contested and variegated built forms, formal and informal governmental mechanisms and practices, and policy and community-based responses to contemporary urban concerns.
The authors position a critical dialogue on three central issues in contemporary urban studies: governance, real estate and housing, and community activism and engagement. Their less traditional approach to comparative framing seeks to understand London and Toronto from a nuanced perspective, promoting critical reflection on the experiences and evaluative critiques of each urban context, providing insight into each city’s urban trajectory and engaging critically with wider phenomena and influences on the urban governance challenges beyond these two cities.
List of figures
List of tables
List of acronyms
List of contributors
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Critical dialogues of urban governance, development and activism: London and Toronto Susan Moore, Susannah Bunce, Nicola Livingston, Loren March and Alan Walks
Part I: Perspectives on governance
1. Capital flows in the capital: Contemporary governmental Imaginations in London’s urban development
Mike Raco and Nicola Livingstone
2. The elusive, inclusive city: Toronto at a crossroads Shauna Brail and Tara Vinodrai
3. Regulating property conditions in the private rented sector: The complex geography of property licencing in London Tatiana Moreira de Souza
4. Metromobility and transit-led urbanisation in London and Toronto Theresa Enright
5. The governance of urban public spaces in London: In the public interest or in the interest of local stakeholders? Claudio De Magalhães
6. London, its infrastructure and the logics of growth
Daniel Durrant
7. Governing urbanisation in the global city: A commentary
Alan Walks and Mike Raco
Part II: Real estate and housing
8. Governing urban development on industrial land in global cities: Lessons from London
Jessica Ferm
9. Global city, global housing bubble? Toronto’s housing bubble and its discontents Alan Walks
10. Trends and Issues in the (unaffordable) London housing market Tommaso Gabrieli
11. Housing crisis in a Canadian global city: Financialisation, buy-to-let Investors and short term rentals in Toronto’s rental market Emily Hawes and Sean Grisdale
12. Planning for densification and housing in London: Urban design and real estate agendas in practice
Michael Short and Nicola Livingstone
13. Addressing equity concerns in land value capture: The spatial distribution of community benefits in Toronto’s urban redevelopment Jeff Biggar and Matti Siematycki
14. Real estate and housing: A commentary. Dynamics of a housing crisis – the politics and planning of housing in London and Toronto Susannah Bunce and Nicola Livingstone
Part III: Community, activism and engagement
15. DIY: making space in Toronto’s ‘Creative City’ Loren March
16. Pragmatic fix or a farewell to welfare? Making sense of and contesting the financialisation of public land and council housing in London Joe Penny
17. Community-based responses to exclusionary processes of neighbourhood change in Parkdale, Toronto Elena Ostanel
18. Time to be an activist: Recent successes in housing activism in London Pablo Sendra and Daniel Fitzpatrick
19. Engagement and activism in community land ownership: The emergence of community land trusts in London and Toronto Susannah Bunce
20. Community, activism and engagement: A commentary Loren March and Susan Moore
Conclusion: Critical dialogues on urban governance, development and activism in London and Toronto Alan Walks, Susannah Bunce, Nicola Livingston, Loren March and Susan Moore
Index
DOI: 10.14324/111.9781787356795
Number of illustrations: 23
Publication date: 01 December 2020
PDF ISBN: 9781787356795
EPUB ISBN: 9781787356825
Hardback ISBN: 9781787356818
Paperback ISBN: 9781787356801
Susannah Bunce (Editor)
Susannah Bunce is Associate Professor in the Department of Human Geography and City Studies Program at the University of Toronto Scarborough.
Nicola Livingstone (Editor)
Nicola Livingstone is Associate Professor in Real Estate at the Bartlett School of Planning, UCL.
Loren March (Editor) 
Loren March is a PhD student in human geography at the University of Toronto’s Department of Geography and Planning.
Susan Moore (Editor)
Susan Moore is Associate Professor in Urban Development and Planning at the Bartlett School of Planning, UCL.
Alan Walks (Editor)
Alan Walks is Professor of Urban Planning and Geography at the University of Toronto.
Listen to the editors of Critical Dialogues of Urban Governance
Listen to Susan Moore, Nicola Livingstone and Susannah Bunce discuss Critical Dialogues of Urban Governance on The Bartlett Planning Podcast
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