The October 2018 edition of the Urban Policy Lab newsletter is out! Catch up on all our latest projects and events, and make sure to subscribe to receive future updates right to your inbox.
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.
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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Update September 7, 2018: The inaugural edition of the Urban Policy Lab newsletter is out! Catch up on all the latest news here.
The Urban Policy Lab is excited to announce the inaugural cohort of Urban Policy Graduate Fellows, a team of second-year Master of Public Policy students who will contribute to the Lab’s research projects, participate in unique experiential learning opportunities, and help coordinate the School’s urban-oriented extracurricular student programming.
With the creation of the new Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, the Urban Policy Lab is pleased to announce the following list of affiliated faculty, drawn from both the former School of Public Policy and Governance and Munk School of Global Affairs:
The Urban Policy Lab is excited to announce a new Student Fellowship Program offering Master of Public Policy students interested in cities and urban policy making the chance to participate in unique experiential learning opportunities, contribute to the Lab’s research projects, and help coordinate the School’s urban-oriented extracurricular programming.
As part of the recent Ontario 360 project, Prof. Gabriel Eidelman, director of the Urban Policy Lab, in collaboration with Prof. Zack Taylor, director of Western University’s Centre for Urban Policy and Local, called for an independent review of the relationship between the province and its 444 municipalities and the creation of a ‘Who Does What’ Advisory Panel for the 21st century.
The Urban Policy Lab is pleased to announce the launch of its first research and civic education project, a digital archive of urban policy reports published by the former Bureau of Municipal Research.
The School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Toronto is excited to announce the creation of the Urban Policy Lab, a hybrid teaching and research hub that will serve as a focal point for the School’s urban initiatives, offering students new experiential learning opportunities through a range of collaborative research and civic education projects.