U of T’s new School of Cities to bring wide-ranging experts together to address urban challenges

Toronto skyline
U of T's new School of Cities will tap into a rich resource of urban knowledge, creating opportunities for cross-disciplinary collaboration across the university.

files from Romi Levine

The University of Toronto is establishing a new School of Cities that brings together researchers from across various disciplines to address the myriad challenges facing the world’s urban areas, where more than half the population now lives.

 “There is really no other institution in the world that has attempted to create something like this,” said U of T President Meric Gertler. “It is ambitious in terms of its disciplinary scope, its focus on research and teaching as well as outreach, bringing the best insights from research and scholarship to applications in the city.”

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The number of people living in urban centres around the world continues to grow, creating a host of challenges when it comes to keeping urban centres livable, sustainable and equitable.  The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs estimates that, by 2050, 66 per cent of the world’s population will live in urban areas, up from 54 per cent in 2014.

“The most challenging issues facing cities today will require solutions drawn from the widest possible range of disciplines in order to be effective,” said President Gertler.

The establishment of the School of Cities was approved by the Faculty of Arts & Science Council on March 21 and will begin operations on July 1. It followed three years of extensive consultations and input from a steering committee and working group made up of faculty members from all three campuses.

“So many people were interested in playing a role, and we were really delighted to discover how widespread the interest was and how hungry people seem to be to collaborate across these disciplinary boundaries,” said President Gertler.

The School of Cities is unique because it draws scholars from very different regions of the Greater Toronto Area through its three campuses – downtown Toronto, U of T Mississauga and U of T Scarborough.

“So many of the challenges and the opportunities that city regions face are situated in more suburban parts of cities like this one, so we are extremely fortunate to be able to draw on colleagues in Scarborough and Mississauga in order to tap into their expertise,” said President Gertler.

 “I think increasingly the future success of a region like this one will be determined in our suburban neighbourhoods where so many newcomers to this country are actually settling.”

Read more about the School of Cities AT U OF T NEWS

To mark the official launch of the School of Cities, here’s a look at recent city-building work being done by faculty and students at U of T Scarborough.

Just recently the campus hosted a community summit entitled 'Building a Vision for Scarborough' organized by the Scarborough Community Renewal Organization.

The group called on Mayor John Tory to create a training centre in Scarborough that would ensure that local residents would benefit from transit, hospital infrastructure and waterfront revitalization projects planned for the area.

Now in its 12th year, the Imani mentorship program at U of T Scarborough continues to inspire Black youth in East Scarborough to pursue their university dreams.

Since 2005, more than 1,000 students between Grades 1 and 12 have taken part in the after-school program. In that same time, more than 500 U of T Scarborough students have volunteered as mentors, facilitators and coordinators.

Two undergrads at U of T Scarborough were among 10 young women taking part in the City of Toronto’s Protégé Program, a mentorship that pairs women between the ages of 18 and 24 with female councillors and staff. The program aims to encourage protégés to share their experiences with others and hopefully consider one day running for political office.

“What makes this program so special is that you’re able to see yourself at city council,” says Yasmin Rajabi, a fifth-year student double majoring in public policy and city studies.

A class of U of T Scarborough students have been recognized for their podcasts exploring the unique experiences of indigenous and immigrant communities living in Scarborough.

Imani
On the left, Nana Frimpong, a U of T Scarborough student who just finished her term as SCSU VP Equity, with Tiera-Lyn Ragbeer, a mentee in the Imani academic mentorship program. Since 2005, more than 1,000 local students from Grade 1 to 12 have taken part. (Photo by Raquel Russell)

The “Negotiating Multiple Worlds” podcast received the Lieutenant Governor’s Ontario Heritage Award in the Youth Achievement group category. The 16 students of the Winter 2017 Migration and Ethnicity (SOCD15) course focused on amplifying the voices of marginalized Scarborough communities through the modern medium of podcasting.

The City of Toronto looked to U of T Scarborough students earlier this year to crowd-source development ideas. City staff assembled a think-tank of international development, city studies and environmental science students at the Instructional Centre for their “Smart Cities Workshop” in February.

Students offered their insights on a range of issues including ways to make communities more child-friendly, improving infrastructure, transportation and social services, renovating aging apartment buildings and increasing public engagement.

Our campus also helped organize and host a Scarborough Studies Symposium, the first in a series focused on the critical study of Scarborough. Scarborough Studies was created and hosted by two alumni, Niyosha Keyzad, a course instructor at the English Department, and Felix Chu, working in public policy.

“The genesis of this comes from reading the novel Scarborough by Catherine Hernandez,” said Chu. “I remembered how growing up in Scarborough gives you a different set of values from a lot of people who grew up in other parts of the city. Values of solidarity, values of being kind to each other, empathy.”

We also continued our commitment to Hammer Heads, an innovative program designed to help young people from under-resourced Toronto neighbourhoods and Indigenous communities learn a trade in the unionized construction industry.

“This program has really changed my life,” says Kamol Arif, an Afghan-born 21-year-old who grew up in the Flemingdon Park area and is an apprentice sprinkler fitter.

Thanks to U of T Scarborough’s support for the program, run by the Central Ontario Building Trades (COBT), four other apprentices from Hammer Heads are also currently working on Highland Hall, all of them from racialized and underserved communities in Toronto.