From June 30 to July 3, 2011, researchers from the Governance group, the MCRI Advisory Board, and several international collaborators met at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in Leipzig to hold a workshop on the theme of Suburban Governance.
The papers presented at the workshop included both theoretical studies such as "Governing Suburbia: Modalities and Mechanisms of Suburban Governance" by Pierre Hamel and Roger Keil, as well as papers that examine the processes of suburban governance in specific places, including North America, Europe, Africa, and South-East Asia.
The goal of the workshop was to present and refine these papers in preparation for an edited book on suburban governance.
Click here for the Suburban Governance Workshop program.
Critical Urban Planning Workshop in Leipzig
In addition, 13 master’s students from York’s Faculty of Environmental Studies traveled to Berlin and Leipzig to participate in a graduate urban planning course, co-taught by a team of York University faculty members under the directorship of FES Professor Ute Lehrer, urban studies coordinator Douglas Young, as well as CITY postdoctoral fellow Will Poppe. The students learned first-hand how German planners are responding to large-scale population decline in urbanized areas.
From June 24 to July 9, the students spoke with urban researchers, local
planners, activists and residents. Through these conversations, along with many hours of exploring Leipzig, Berlin and Halle-Neustadt on foot and by bike, and taking
hundreds of photographs, the students pieced together a picture of how East German cities are working to adapt to their shrinking populations and socio-economic
challenges, and what these changes have meant for the everyday lives of residents.
Drawing on their research in Germany, the students authored a report Lessons from Leipzig aimed at planners and policy-makers in Toronto and the GTA.
