CityTalk Canada

Vancouver’s Downtown East Side has long been associated with high levels of homelessness and substance abuse, issues which many cities across the country are now facing. Host Mary Rowe speaks with two people who help deliver services and housing supports to people in the neighbourhood, and share lessons that other communities can learn. Donna-Lynn Rosa is CEO of Atira Women’s Resource Society and Corey McCallum is Atira’s Director of Outreach Programs. They talk about how to engage respectfully with people experiencing homelessness, addiction and mental health challenges, misconceptions about the Downtown East Side, and why they encourage people to not think of homelessness and substance use as “problems” with a clear solution. This is part of an ongoing series on CityTalk about how to address the interconnected challenges of substance use, mental health and homelessness that many cities are facing.

Across the country, people are increasingly turning to encampments for shelter. These informal communities spotlight many complex challenges, from housing affordability to substance use and mental health issues. Encampments also present challenges to the social and economic functioning of neighbourhoods and downtown areas. For the last few years CUI has been very involved in convening a broad range of stakeholders - with lived experience, community leaders, civic organizations, business operators – to look for mutually respectful, effective solutions to ensuring our cities are accessible, safe and equitable for everyone. We are continuing to work with partners from coast to coast to coast to identify the best approaches, as communities try different ways to address these challenges. The mayor of Barrie, Ontario, Alex Nuttall, reached a tipping point and has chosen to declare a state of emergency to address it there. He talks to host Mary Rowe about what led to this decision, how he intends to move forward, as well as the limits of the city’s power. CityTalk will be featuring a variety of voices and perspectives on this topic in the coming months, as communities of every size continue to grapple with how to ensure their places are equitable, safe, desirable and productive for everyone.

Many of our cities’ biggest challenges right now are playing out inside public libraries. Library staff come face-to-face daily with issues relating to homelessness, substance use, mental and physical health, and, of course, education. As they continue to adapt to their communities' increasing needs, their funding is not growing. Two library CEOs from opposite ends of the country join host Mary Rowe to talk about the reality of running a library in 2025. Åsa Kachan is the CEO and chief librarian for Halifax Public Libraries. Pilar Martinez is the CEO of Edmonton Public Libraries. You can read more on this topic in CUI’s report, Overdue: The Case for Canada’s Public Libraries. https://canurb.org/wp-content/uploads/CUI_Overdue_report_10.04.23.pdf

The increased threat of extreme weather has made it increasingly clear that we need to better prepare for - and respond to - these events. Author Adam Greenfield thinks one answer is to create a new kind of institution at the heart of each neighbourhood. He calls it a “lifehouse”, a community hub to provide refuge and resources during emergencies, as well as ongoing services like daycare and workshops. Adam talks to host Mary Rowe about what a lifehouse is, how he took inspiration from the Occupy Sandy hurricane relief effort, and why getting to know your neighbour may be the radical thing you can do. Adam Greenfield’s book is called Lifehouse: Taking Care of Ourselves in a World on Fire.

Further reading: “How resilient is New Orleans Today” at The Brookings Institution.

Last summer, Beth Sanders was getting ready to lead a new planning department for Jasper, Alberta when the municipality was evacuated due to wildfires. The fires ended up destroying about a third of the town. Beth joins Mary to talk about the challenges and opportunities of rebuilding, as well as lessons for other municipalities facing increasing threats from climate change. Beth is the Director of Urban Design and Standards for the Municipality of Jasper and the author of Nest City.

Murtaza Haider, Executive Director at the Cities Institute, and Carolyn Whitzman, senior housing researcher at the University of Toronto, dive deep into Canada’s pressing housing crisis. They discuss historical roots and the gap between income and soaring housing prices. The conversation touches on obstacles posed by local politics and groups opposing housing development. They propose innovative solutions like upzoning, regulatory reform, and the Housing Accelerator Fund's role in driving municipal changes to ensure affordable housing for all.

Festivals can be a great excuse to get out and see something new. But they can also be disruptive to local residents and businesses. So when do they help a place thrive, and when are they more trouble than they’re worth? CityTalk host Mary Rowe gets the perspectives of two guests who helped shape iconic downtown areas. Tim Tompkins was president of the Times Square Alliance in New York City from 2002 to 2020. He’s now director of the Sustaining Places Initiative at the NYU Marron Institute. And Mark Garner is executive director at Calgary Downtown Association. He’s the former CEO and executive director of Toronto's Downtown Yonge Business Improvement Association.

Leona Medley, Executive Director of the Joe Louis Greenway Partnership, champions equitable transportation and urban revitalization. Lanrick Bennett Jr., Toronto's official cycling mayor, advocates for inclusive cycling spaces. Eleanor McMahon, founder of the Share the Road Coalition, fights for safer cycling infrastructure in Ontario. Anneke Smit focuses on urban issues and cycling advocacy at the University of Windsor. They discuss the transformative power of cycling, the necessity of collaboration for urban connectivity, and the intersection of race and urban mobility.

The title of this episode is shared with a report recently released by the Canadian Urban Institute. It compiles the findings from thousands of community-level placemaking projects along with perspectives on placemaking from leading practitioners, including Jerome Barth of Belleville Placemaking (NYC) and Marc-André Carignan of Kollectif (Mtl.) featured in conversation with host Mary Rowe. Report author Jacquelyn West also discussed key findings with Bridget MacIntosh, a Toronto-based cultural strategist and contributor to the report.  Download a copy of Let's Talk About Placemaking here.