A
AlvinofDiaspar
Guest
From the Star, GTA section:
Cities Centre to set urban agenda
U of T sinks $1.75 million into academic think-tank
Database to illuminate government funding issues
Jul. 20, 2006. 01:00 AM
LAURIE MONSEBRAATEN
STAFF REPORTER
Municipal leaders looking for ammunition in their quest to squeeze more power, money and respect from senior governments will soon have a new ally at the University of Toronto.
The university is pumping $1.75 million over five years into the creation of a new Cities Centre to serve as an academic think-tank and political lightning rod on urban issues.
Modelled on the prestigious Munk Centre for International Studies, it will be an interdisciplinary hub that will pull academics from faculties as diverse as medicine, engineering and law. And it will invite both visiting scholars and non-academics such as urban planners and former politicians to help build the country's first research-based clearinghouse for scholarship and debate on cities.
As the largest university in Canada's biggest city, it only makes sense for U of T to be sponsoring such an initiative, says businessman and philanthropist Alan Broadbent, who was one of the first people to crusade for a new deal for Canada's large urban areas.
"We really need in this country an academic centre that's focused on cities and city issues so we can begin to define an urban agenda as something distinct from provincial and federal politics," he said. "So I think it's a real step forward in that regard."
Urban issues are one of five areas in which the university is investing new academic funding, said Provost Vivek Goel, who was part of the advisory committee that approved the Cities Centre last spring. Funding began this month.
With 80 per cent of Canadians living in cities and urbanization growing globally, it's important to understand what contributes to the economic, social and environmental health of cities, he said. Although the centre won't have a predetermined political stance on the campaign being waged by Canadian cities for a new deal from senior governments, Goel hopes it will play an important role in informing the debate.
"Our hope is to be able to provide the scholarship," he said.
One of the centre's major challenges will be to find a director with the skills to build more than the typical academic institute, said Broadbent.
The university needs to look for people with energy, vision and drive — like respected architect Ken Greenberg or Conference Board of Canada president Anne Golden, who has headed Toronto's United Way and task forces on governance and homelessness, he said.
"You need somebody who really understands the on-the-ground dynamics," he said.
None of this is lost on U of T architecture dean George Baird, who for the past year has led a team of academics interested in creating the centre.
Baird is putting together a search committee with the hope of filling the position by early next year. After a conference to launch the initiative, the centre will build a national database on urban issues so researchers can compare and contrast best practices among cities here and abroad, he said.
As head of the initiative, Baird is also looking for private capital funding to turn the centre's aging McCaul and College St. location into an attractive storefront and model of sustainable urban restoration.
____________________________________________________
Hmm, Richard Florida? U of T has been rumoured to have been trying to recruit him from CMU. Perhaps this would do the job?
Something to look forward to indeed!
AoD
Cities Centre to set urban agenda
U of T sinks $1.75 million into academic think-tank
Database to illuminate government funding issues
Jul. 20, 2006. 01:00 AM
LAURIE MONSEBRAATEN
STAFF REPORTER
Municipal leaders looking for ammunition in their quest to squeeze more power, money and respect from senior governments will soon have a new ally at the University of Toronto.
The university is pumping $1.75 million over five years into the creation of a new Cities Centre to serve as an academic think-tank and political lightning rod on urban issues.
Modelled on the prestigious Munk Centre for International Studies, it will be an interdisciplinary hub that will pull academics from faculties as diverse as medicine, engineering and law. And it will invite both visiting scholars and non-academics such as urban planners and former politicians to help build the country's first research-based clearinghouse for scholarship and debate on cities.
As the largest university in Canada's biggest city, it only makes sense for U of T to be sponsoring such an initiative, says businessman and philanthropist Alan Broadbent, who was one of the first people to crusade for a new deal for Canada's large urban areas.
"We really need in this country an academic centre that's focused on cities and city issues so we can begin to define an urban agenda as something distinct from provincial and federal politics," he said. "So I think it's a real step forward in that regard."
Urban issues are one of five areas in which the university is investing new academic funding, said Provost Vivek Goel, who was part of the advisory committee that approved the Cities Centre last spring. Funding began this month.
With 80 per cent of Canadians living in cities and urbanization growing globally, it's important to understand what contributes to the economic, social and environmental health of cities, he said. Although the centre won't have a predetermined political stance on the campaign being waged by Canadian cities for a new deal from senior governments, Goel hopes it will play an important role in informing the debate.
"Our hope is to be able to provide the scholarship," he said.
One of the centre's major challenges will be to find a director with the skills to build more than the typical academic institute, said Broadbent.
The university needs to look for people with energy, vision and drive — like respected architect Ken Greenberg or Conference Board of Canada president Anne Golden, who has headed Toronto's United Way and task forces on governance and homelessness, he said.
"You need somebody who really understands the on-the-ground dynamics," he said.
None of this is lost on U of T architecture dean George Baird, who for the past year has led a team of academics interested in creating the centre.
Baird is putting together a search committee with the hope of filling the position by early next year. After a conference to launch the initiative, the centre will build a national database on urban issues so researchers can compare and contrast best practices among cities here and abroad, he said.
As head of the initiative, Baird is also looking for private capital funding to turn the centre's aging McCaul and College St. location into an attractive storefront and model of sustainable urban restoration.
____________________________________________________
Hmm, Richard Florida? U of T has been rumoured to have been trying to recruit him from CMU. Perhaps this would do the job?
Something to look forward to indeed!
AoD