Applications open for 2021-22 UPL Graduate Fellowships

March 23, 2021 in News

UPL grad fellows

The Urban Policy Lab’s Graduate Fellows program offers Munk students interested in cities and urban policy the chance to participate in unique experiential learning opportunities, help coordinate the School’s urban-oriented extracurricular programming, and contribute to the Lab’s collaborative research, civic education, and outreach projects.

Eligibility and Financial Support

Up to four fellowships are available to second-year MPP or MGA students. Each fellowship comes with a $3,000 tuition bursary, in recognition of the time commitment involved (approx. 10-15 hours/week, September 2021 to April 2022).

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UPL graduate fellows produce podcast on support for main streets

January 11, 2021 in News

In partnership with Beyond the Headlines, the Munk School’s student-led current affairs show, UPL graduate fellows Sara Szot, Stephanie Bertolo, and Madison Leisk produced a podcast investigating supports for main streets and local economic recovery during the global pandemic.

Fellows sat down with Toronto City Councillor Brad Bradford, Ariana Holt, Senior Planner at the Canadian Urban Institute, and Jason Spicer, Assistant Professor in U of T’s Department of Geography and Planning to learn more.

Click here to listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts.

UPL Case Competition 2021

January 7, 2021 in Events

The UPL Case Competition is an annual case competition organized by and for graduate students. It challenges MPP and MGA students to analyze and solve a pressing urban policy issue by working in teams and presenting their solution to a distinguished panel of judges. The topic for this year’s case competition is community economic development on a street level. The case competition will be on January 22nd from 12-5pm.

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Apply now to be a UPL Graduate Fellow

August 7, 2020 in News

UPL grad fellows

The Urban Policy Graduate Fellows program is an initiative by the Urban Policy Lab that offers students interested in cities and urban policy at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy the chance to participate in unique experiential learning opportunities, help coordinate the School’s urban-oriented extracurricular programming, and contribute to the Lab’s collaborative research, civic education, and outreach projects.

Eligibility and Financial Support

Up to four fellowships are available to second-year MPP or MGA students. Each fellowship comes with a $3,000 tuition bursary, in recognition of the time commitment involved (approx. 10-15 hours/week, September 2020 to April 2021).

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First look at Canadian Municipal Barometer 2020 survey results

April 12, 2020 in Projects

Canadian Municipal Barometer

The Urban Policy Lab is a proud partner in the Canadian Municipal Barometer project, which surveys more than 3,500 mayors and councillors across Canada to capture the pulse of local democracy.

Between April 3rd and April 17th, the Canadian Municipal Barometer asked mayors and councillors in municipalities across Canada how long they expect the negative consequences of the pandemic to last in their communities. The answers – from more than 550 mayors and councillors, across more than 300 municipalities – provide an insightful first look at what political leaders across Canada expect in the months to come.

For more information, including a first look at 2020 survey results, visit the Canadian Municipal Barometer website.

Recap: UPL Case Competition 2020

January 31, 2020 in Events

On January 24, more than 35 students participated in the 2020 edition of the Urban Policy Lab Case Competition, organized by UPL Graduate Fellow Josh Cho. Eight teams of students were tasked with developing an implementation strategy to advance transit-oriented development in Toronto that also addresses challenges with affordability, gentrification and buy-in from developers and local communities. Continue reading »

Recap: UPL Career and Skills Development Day 2020

January 20, 2020 in Events

On January 10th, the Urban Policy Lab hosted its second annual Career and Skills Development Day, a jam-packed schedule of interactive panels and small-group workshops to help MPP students gain specialized skills and knowledge relevant for a career in urban policy in multiple sectors and levels of government. UPL communications coordinators Kelly Husack and Kimberley Chan sat in on several sessions — a portion of over 11 hours of concurrent programming — and shared what they learned.

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UPL hosts inaugural Toronto Black Policy Conference

December 1, 2019 in Events

On Saturday, November 30, the Urban Policy Lab hosted the inaugural Toronto Black Policy Conference, in partnership with the City of Toronto’s Confronting Anti-Black Racism Unit. The first-of-its-kind event was organized by Munk School alumni Anna-Kay Russell, Sharnelle Morgan, and Eunice Kays, founders of the Toronto Black Policy Network. Continue reading »

Recap: Service Design for Municipalities

November 28, 2019 in Events

On October 11th, the Urban Policy Lab launched its interactive speaker series ‘Get Lunched!’ with a lesson on service design from Taylor Cook and Andrew Do from the City of Austin. UPL graduate fellow Jolene Funk, who organized and attended the event, shares what she learned from our guests. 

On October 11th, Taylor Cook and Andrew Do from the City of Austin came to the University of Toronto and led an interactive workshop on Service Design for Municipalities. The event was attended by Master of Public Policy Students and MPP alumni working in provincial and municipal governments.

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UPL sets out to measure local policy capacity in the GTHA

October 10, 2019 in Projects

It has long been presumed that local governments suffer from limited policy capacity compared to other orders of government. Yet few efforts have been made to empirically measure and test this assumption.

The Lab has begun a new research project, led by Prof. Gabriel Eidelman in collaboration with Prof. Daniel Henstra (University of Waterloo), to estimate policy capacity within the 30 local governments in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area. Our goal is to calculate the extent of the municipal policy workforce, by identifying the number of practitioners responsible for policy research, analysis, evaluation, and advice, and assessing the prevalence and characteristics of policy work at the local level.

If you work for a GTHA municipality and wish to contribute to our research, be sure to contact us.

UPL launches Munk in the City 2019, federal election edition

September 25, 2019 in Events

Our Munk in the City initiative, now in its second year, invites students from the Munk School’s MPP and MGA programs to step out of the classroom and into the community, to explore and report on key election issues in each of Toronto’s 25 federal ridings.

This year’s edition kicked off with a civic engagement workshop led by Zahra Ebrahim (@zahraeb), an award-winning city builder and chair of Jane’s Walk, to prepare and inspire students to chronicle the city around them.

Follow our students’ adventures by looking out for the #munkinthecity hashtag across social media. A compilation of student submissions will be posted to the UPL website later this fall.

UPL joins Canadian Municipal Barometer partnership

September 10, 2019 in Projects

Canadian Municipal Barometer

The Canadian Municipal Barometer is a first-of-its-kind survey of mayors and councillors in more than 400 municipalities across Canada that will provide new insights for academic researchers, municipal policymakers, and the general public.

Supported by a SSHRC Partnership Development Grant, the project brings together academic researchers from across the country, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, and the Samara Centre for Democracy, to generate high-quality data and rigorous analysis of Canadian municipal democracy and public policy.

The Urban Policy Lab will coordinate survey work for municipalities in Ontario, and work with the Samara Centre to publish an annual municipal democracy “checkup.” The first annual survey will be distributed in Spring 2020. Visit the project website to learn more and subscribe for updates.

Register now for Munk in the City 2019

September 9, 2019 in Events

In the weeks leading up to the federal election, 25 pairs of students from both the Master of Public Policy and Master of Global Affairs programs will step out of the classroom and into the community, venturing to all corners of the city to explore and report on key issues and concerns in each of Toronto’s 25 ridings.

For more information and to register, visit our events page.

Recap: Toronto Indigenous History Walking Tour

August 26, 2019 in Events

On August 12, the Urban Policy Lab arranged a walking tour for MPP students and alumni exploring the connections between public policy and Indigenous knowledge and history. UPL graduate fellow Jolene Funk organized the walk and shares her reflections on the experience.

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Recap: Applying Behavioural Insights in Cities

June 14, 2019 in Events

The field of behavioural science — the science of understanding, analyzing and motivating human behaviour — holds enormous potential to improve public policy and the delivery of public services. In recent years, behavioural insights derived from scientific knowledge and methods in the fields of psychology, cognitive/neuroscience, and economics have been applied by governments around the world. Most of these applications, however, have been limited to national and provincial contexts.

On June 5, the Urban Policy Lab co-hosted a half-day workshop for municipal practitioners from across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton region, in partnership with Behavioural Economics in Action at Rotman (BEAR) and the University of Toronto’s School of Cities.

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Reflections from CivicAction’s 2019 Canvas Summit

May 29, 2019 in Dispatches from the Field

On April 29, CivicAction held their quadrennial city summit, Canvas, which brought together nearly 1,200 civic leaders from all sectors to discuss solutions to pressing urban challenges in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton region. The UPL was an official event partner. Incoming 2019-20 UPL graduate fellow Jolene Funk attended the event and shares her reflections on the day’s conversations.

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Meet the 2019-20 Urban Policy Graduate Fellows

May 1, 2019 in News

The Urban Policy Lab is excited to announce the 2019-20 cohort of Urban Policy Graduate Fellows, a team of second-year Master of Public Policy students at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy who will contribute to the Lab’s education, research, and outreach projects.

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Apply now to be a UPL Graduate Fellow

March 12, 2019 in News

The Urban Policy Graduate Fellows program is an initiative by the Urban Policy Lab that offers students interested in cities and urban policy at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy the chance to participate in unique experiential learning opportunities, help coordinate the School’s urban-oriented extracurricular programming, and contribute to the Lab’s collaborative research, civic education, and outreach projects.

Eligibility and Financial Support

Up to four fellowships are available to incoming second-year MPP or MGA students. Each fellowship comes with a $2,000 tuition bursary, in recognition of the time commitment involved (approx. 10-15 hours/week, September 2019 to April 2020).

Continue reading »

Nearly 100 students participate in Urban Policy Career & Skills Development Day

February 28, 2019 in Events

As part of the Munk School’s MPP Professional Development Week, on January 16th, the Urban Policy Lab organized Urban Policy Career & Skills Development Day, a full day of interactive panels and small-group workshops to help MPP students gain specialized skills and knowledge relevant for a career in urban policy.

Nearly 100 first- and second-year MPP students participated in sixteen hours of concurrent programming, organized into eight different activities. Sessions tailored for first-year students highlighted career opportunities in urban policy and helped prepare students for internship opportunities related to the municipal sector. For second-year students, workshops focused on specialized topics, such as infrastructure planning, regional growth management, and municipal budgeting, delivered by urban policy practitioners (and in many cases, MPP alumni) working at all levels of government.

Below is a recap of the day’s events.

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Four Great Ideas from the Urban Policy Lab Case Competition

January 29, 2019 in Events

Members of the winning team Arsalan Esmaeili, Cindy Liu, and Nicholas Chu pictured with the Urban Policy Lab’s graduate fellows Rebecca Hellam, Samuel Jerez, Matthew Plouffe, and Breanne Bateman, and judges Carolyn Kim and Kelly Strueby.

The Urban Policy Lab Case Competition is an annual student-led initiative, organized by the Lab’s Graduate Fellows, that focuses on tackling municipal and urban policy problems. This year marks the fifth edition of the event formerly known as the Municipal Policy Action Case Competition, which offers students at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy the chance to hone their creative and analytical abilities in a fast-paced, real-world simulation exercise.

Past topics have ranged from mental health within Toronto Community Housing, to digital government, to affordable housing. This year’s competition challenged thirty Master of Public Policy students to brief a panel of expert judges on innovative policy solutions to the first and last mile transit problem in Toronto. 

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Dispatches from Abroad: Singapore

December 4, 2018 in Dispatches from Abroad

The Urban Policy Lab’s “Dispatches from Abroad” blog series provides an opportunity for students at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy to share their experiences working or studying in cities outside Toronto, whether during their internships, while on exchange, or via extracurricular activities. In this dispatch, Andrew Thies, a second-year Master of Public Policy student, reflects on his academic exchange at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, in Singapore, and what the experience taught him about urban heritage preservation.

 

In the face of rapid development, urban areas around the world struggle to prevent historically significant buildings from being torn down (R.I.P Honest Ed’s).

Why should a city preserve its built heritage? Because heritage preservation amounts to an effort to foster and grow a collective identity in the face of rapid social and economic changes. It is a source of pride for communities, as well as a chance to develop personal and shared identities. We can learn from heritage, and sometimes it can better help us to face the future.

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Dispatches from Abroad: Paris

December 4, 2018 in Dispatches from Abroad

The Urban Policy Lab’s “Dispatches from Abroad” blog series provides an opportunity for students at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy to share their experiences working or studying in cities outside Toronto, whether during their internships, while on exchange, or via extracurricular activities. In this dispatch, Michael Zusev, a second-year Master of Public Policy student, reflects on his academic exchange at Sciences-Po, in Paris, and what the experience taught him about urban density and spatial economics.

 

Two opposing characteristics make the shape of the Parisian urban area extremely unique: low building heights and extreme density.

A strict city ordinance that began in 1667 leaves building no higher than 121 feet, roughly one-fifth the average height of New York skyscrapers. Yet amazingly, Paris is twice as dense as New York City.

Density is something you can feel walking down Parisian streets — apartment blocks are lined up so there are no alleyways, and sidewalks connect immediately with buildings and roads. There are few lawns, commercial plazas, or parking lots. Land is extremely valuable in the city centre, so it is used very precisely.

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Dispatches from Abroad: Berlin

December 4, 2018 in Dispatches from Abroad

The Urban Policy Lab’s “Dispatches from Abroad” blog series provides an opportunity for students at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy to share their experiences working or studying in cities outside Toronto, whether during their internships, while on exchange, or via extracurricular activities. In this dispatch, Katerina Stamadianos, a second-year Master of Public Policy student, reflects on her academic exchange at the Hertie School of Governance, in Berlin, and what the experience taught her about parks policy and public space.

 

You know the drill. Young twenty-something girl goes on exchange to Berlin and is here to tell you about how much better things are in Europe. Swears she has found herself and will never be the same – ad infinitum.

I’ll spare you from the exchange student trope – all to say, this blog post is about a park not because I’ve got the girl-abroad glasses on. This blog post is about a park because my flat in Berlin is situated next to a really, really great park – Park am Gleisdreieck. Living next to am Gleisdreieck has gotten me thinking about why going to the park seems to be a more popular activity in Berlin than Toronto, and what Toronto may be able to do to get more people into public spaces.

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Reflections: Munk in the City

December 4, 2018 in Dispatches from the Field

Photo credit: Jolene Funk

Munk in the City is an initiative organized by the Urban Policy Lab that asks students to step out of the classroom and into the community to grapple with urban policy issues first-hand. In the weeks leading up to the 2018 Toronto municipal election, 25 teams of students from both the Master of Public Policy and Master of Global Affairs programs ventured out to all corners of the city to explore and report on key issues and concerns in each of the 25 new municipal wards. To see all student submissions, visit the project’s Tumblr page, or search the hashtag #MunkintheCity on your favourite social media platform. In this blog post, Graduate Fellow Matthew Plouffe picks out a few of his favourite submissions.

Now that the election has come and gone, and the controversy around shrinking Toronto city council has subsided, it’s time to reflect on the Munk in the City initiative.

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Exploring Ward 21 with Munk in the City

October 22, 2018 in Dispatches from the Field

 

Guest blog by: Meredith Nelson (MGA) and Jolene Funk (MGA)
Munk in the City is an initiative organized by the Urban Policy Lab that asks students to step out of the classroom and into the community to grapple with urban policy issues first-hand. To see all student submissions, visit the project’s Tumblr page.

Hi all! This is Jolene and Meredith, two students from the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. We began our morning of exploring Ward 21 Scarborough Centre with the Munk in the City initiative commuting from densely populated wards by bus, multiple subway lines, and the Scarborough RT, and met up at the Scarborough Town Centre.

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Urban Policy Lab launches Council Scorecard, partners on Vote Compass Toronto

October 4, 2018 in Projects

 

The Urban Policy Lab is excited to partner with Vox Pop Labs and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) to enhance the Toronto municipal election edition of Vote Compass, an award-winning application that informs voters on how their views align with those of the candidates running for election.

Utilizing data from our newly launched Council Scorecard project, Vote Compass users can now learn not only what mayoral and council candidates promise to do if elected, but also how these promises compare to the actual voting records of council incumbents.

The Urban Policy Lab developed the Council Scorecard in collaboration with municipal affairs analyst and columnist Matt Elliott, who created the original Scorecard in 2011 to track votes at Toronto City Council. It soon became a frequently used resource for city staff, politicians, activists, and engaged residents to understand councillor voting patterns.

In Summer 2018, the Urban Policy Lab teamed up with Elliott to expand and enhance the Council Scorecard as a civic education and democratic accountability tool to help the public keep tabs on their local elected representatives and provide a resource for researchers to compare voting behaviour in different municipalities.

The goal of the Council Scorecard is to present municipal voting records in compelling and accessible formats to make it easier for people to learn how their local representatives voted on issues that matter to them, their community, and the city as a whole. Our partnership with Vox Pox Labs and the CBC on Vote Compass is our first effort toward these ends, with more creative applications to come.

Learn more about the Lab’s contribution to the Vote Compass project here, and be sure to try Vote Compass for yourself to learn about all candidates for Toronto City Council and the voting records of current councillors.

Visit Vote Compass

Urban Policy Lab organizes “Munk in the City” student initiative

September 5, 2018 in Events

The Government of Ontario’s recent decision to slash the number of Toronto city councillors in half, from 47 to 25, has dramatically changed the upcoming municipal election. But on the ground, the city’s 2.8 million residents face the same day-day-to challenges as in major cities around the world: access to affordable housing, poverty and inequality, traffic congestion, immigrant integration, and climate change.

“Munk in the City” is an initiative by the Urban Policy Lab and newly reimagined Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy to motivate students to grapple with these challenges first-hand, and consider the urban policy solutions that can address these issues.

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