Armine Yalnizyan | Neighbourhood Change Research Partnership

A one-day invitational symposium with the SSHRC Partnership Grant proposal team, June 23, 2011, Neighbourhood Change Research Group, University of Toronto. Much has occurred in the broader socio-economic context that requires new ways of thinking about how and why urban neighbourhoods change, and how we should study neighbourhood change. Little consideration has been given to how traditional ideas about neighborhood change affect analyses of urban areas. We need to move forward to new ways of thinking, researching, and offering policy advice about the often dramatic changes that are taking place in urban socio-spatial patterns.

The presentations of six of the speakers are posted here.

1. How should we study neighbourhood change today?

Janet Smith, U of Illinois at Chicago PDF of presentation
Peter Marcuse, Columbia University

2. Socio-spatial Inequality: What to Focus Research on and Why?

John Myles, Sociology, UofT
Armine Yalnizyan, Economist, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives PDF of speaking notes
Neil Smith, Geography, City University of New York

3. Population Groups: Defining Priorities for Cross-Disciplinary Thematic Neighbourhood Research

Kathleen Gallagher, UofT, Youth & Urban Schooling PDF of presentation
Jino Distasio, U Winnipeg, Urban Aboriginal Neighbourhood Issues PDF of presentation
Sheila Neysmith, UofT, Age Friendly Neighbourhoods PDF of presentation
Bob Murdie, York U., Immigrant Settlement and Integration PDF of presentation

4. From the Field: Emerging Issues & Research Needs

Local Government

Mike Buda, Director, Policy & Research, Federation of Canadian Municipalities
Harvey Low, Social Policy Analysis & Research, City of Toronto

Low-income Neighbourhoods

Social Planning Toronto, Community development planners who work in Toronto’s “City #3”

Canada’s richest 1% — the 246,000 privileged few whose average income is $405,000 — took almost a third of all growth in incomes in the fastest growing decade in this generation, 1997 to 2007.Think that’s normal? The last time the economy grew so fast was in the 1950s and 60s, when the richest 1% of Canadians took only 8% of all income growth.The richest 1% took almost a third of all growth in one of the slowest growing decades in recent history too, 1987 to 1997. This eclipses anything seen before in Canadian history, including the share of gains eaten up by the richest 1% in the Roaring Twenties.This is the result of a stunning reversal of long-term trends, from steady increases in equality during the post-war years to growing inequality over the past generation, in good times and bad.From the beginning of the Second World War to 1977, the income share of the richest 1% was cut almost in half, from 14% to 7.7%, as the gains from growth led to more people working and better paid jobs.

Neighbourhood Inequality, Diversity & Change: A Symposium on Research Challenges. June 2011

The Rise of Canada’s Richest 1%