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Our series of online, candid conversations brings together city builders of all stripes to discuss what’s working, what’s not and what’s next for urban communities across Canada.

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  • Addressing Canada’s Housing Supply: Can Regulations Drive Housing Innovation?

    Alkarim Devani stressed the importance of public education in addressing Canada’s housing crisis, particularly around the misunderstood concept of “missing middle” housing. His company, mddl, has engaged with over 700 participants through intensive training to demystify the development process. Devani argued that enabling homeowners—especially older Canadians—to become small-scale developers could catalyze a transformation of underused…

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  • Single Stair Sessions, Day 2 – The 2 Ss: Safety And Sustainability

    Axel Mossberg shared Sweden’s approach to fire safety regulations for buildings with single exit stairs, focusing on performance-based design. Swedish building codes allow deviations from standard recommendations if safety levels are maintained. For buildings up to 16 stories, single exit stairs are permitted with specific requirements, such as smoke vestibules and fire compartmentalization. For buildings…

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  • Single Stair Sessions, Day 1 – The 3 Ps: Pilot Projects and Prototypes

    Janna Levitt highlighted ongoing research and pilot projects funded by the CMHC Housing Supply Challenge to explore innovative solutions to Canada’s housing crisis. Recent zoning reforms in Toronto have facilitated the development of gentle density housing, but outdated building codes remain a barrier. A key issue is the Ontario Building Code’s requirement for two exit…

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  • Let’s Talk About Placemaking: Scaling Impact, Building Community

    Placemaking is a powerful tool for fostering connection, strengthening local identity, and enhancing public spaces in ways that resonate with people’s lived experiences. It also plays a crucial role in helping communities recover from crises. The discussion highlighted placemaking as an instinctive and universal concept that transcends geography, culture, and history. Ryan Smolar underscored its…

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  • Let’s Talk About Placemaking

    The title of this episode is shared with a report called Let’s Talk About Placemaking 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…

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  • Good Neighbours, Strong Regions: Cultivating Regional, Cross-border Strategies to Build Local Economies

    The discussion highlighted the growing importance of cross-border and regional cooperation in strengthening local economies. Panellists emphasized that economic regions often span provincial and national borders, creating both challenges and opportunities. For example, Isabelle Veilleux noted that while Gatineau and Ottawa are physically close, differing regulations complicate labor mobility and transit systems. Strengthening collaboration across…

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  • When Global Hits Local: Navigating Tariffs on Canada’s Main Streets

    Mayor Justin Towndale of the City of Cornwall highlighted how deeply intertwined Canadian border communities are with their American neighbors. He emphasized that municipalities must address local challenges like housing, healthcare, and economic pressures while navigating the impact of tariffs and trade disruptions. Having already met with some of his peers in New York State,…

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  • From Policy to Prosperity: Local Economic Development That Works

    Panelists agreed that consumers are wielding significant power over the economy, particularly as they grapple with financial pressures. Gordon Stevens noted that consumers “start to talk and act with their pocketbooks” when facing challenges. Shelley Carroll echoed this, stating that “the consumer really is the boss right now,” emphasizing that their spending choices (or lack…

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  • Local Matters: Community Wealth Building

    Bolstering Canada’s local economies has become an instant priority in the wake of proposed actions by the Trump administration. Fortunately, we have no shortage of smart people with innovative solutions already in the works.

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  • Local Matters: The View from the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce

    Host Mary Rowe welcomes another ‘tariff/no tariff’ conversation with Doug Griffiths and Heather Thomson of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce, and frank talk about what could, and what shouldn’t, happen in this moment of economic uncertainty (crisis? opportunity?) for communities across Canada.

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  • Local Matters: Supporting Community Businesses

    We interrupt CUI’s post-State of Canada’s Cities Summit programming for some timely conversation about economic resilience. There’s nothing like the wake-up call of a looming Canada-US trade war to focus the attention of communities everywhere on innovative strategies to generate local strength and reduce impacts of cross-border disruptions.

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  • Culture, Equity, and Infrastructure: Conversations from the Summit

    Mention infrastructure, and it’s hard not to picture things like public buildings, transit systems and water/power distribution. However, other vital elements of urban society are, or should be, integrated into those things and need to be part of their design.

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