What, if anything, is similar about citizen participation at the local level in Canada and China? The answer, of course, is politically sensitive. There are many in Canada who would claim that the question is absurd. How can there be meaningful citizen participation in a country where there are significant restrictions on political activity, including on the right to form organizations with political purposes? Presenting the work of leading scholars, Citizen Participation at the Local Level in China and Canada examines how citizens in each country participate at the local level. The book examines the development of citizen participation in local governance in Canada and China respectively. It then covers the characteristics of political culture and climate on local participation, highlighting factors especially unique to urban poor, class migration, and aboriginal and immigrant populations. The chapters also explore means of protest, demonstration, and articulation of preference by populations and issues where citizen participation has effected change such as land use, housing, urban development, and resource sustainability. The book includes case studies that compare Canadian and Chinese communities and extrapolate interesting policy-level changes at the local level based on citizen behavior and involvement. It underscores the similarities and differences in political participation in both countries and sets the stage for the steps in the citizen participation in both countries.

Vancouver is heralded around the world as a model for sustainable development. In Planning on the Edge, nationally and internationally renowned planning scholars, activists, and Indigenous leaders assess whether this reputation is warranted. While recognizing the many successes of the “Vancouverism” model, the contributors acknowledge that the forces of globalization and speculative property development have increased social inequality and housing insecurity since the 1980s in the city and the region. By evaluating policies at the local, provincial, and federal levels and taking reconciliation with Indigenous peoples into account, Planning on the Edge highlights the kinds of policies and practices needed to reorient Vancouver’s development trajectory along a more environmentally sound and equitable path.

In a globalizing, knowledge-based economy, innovation and creative capacity lead to economic prosperity. Starting in 2006, the Innovation Systems Research Network began a six year-long study on how city-regions in Canada were surviving and thriving in a globalized world. That study resulted in the “Innovation, Creativity, and Governance in Canadian City-Regions” series, which examines the impact of innovation, talent, and institutions on sixteen city-regions across Canada. This volume explores how the social dynamics that influence innovation and knowledge flows in Canadian city-regions contribute to transformation and long-term growth. With case studies examining cities of all sizes, from Toronto to Moncton, Innovating in Urban Economies analyzes the impact of size, location, and the regional economy on innovation and knowledge in Canada’s cities.

"City Politics, Canada will both irritate and please, but it should be read—it raises all the important questions about urban governance in Canada." - Caroline Andrew, Centre on Governance, University of Ottawa

The editors are experienced, well published authors in the area of innovation and economic development. This book offers a wide coverage of issues within Europe.

It is often assumed that think tanks carry enormous weight with lawmakers. In Do Think Tanks Matter? Donald Abelson argues that the basic question of how think tanks have evolved and under what conditions they can and do have an effect is consistently ignored. Think tank directors often credit their institutes with influencing major policy debates and government legislation and many journalists and scholars believe the explosion of think tanks in the latter part of the twentieth century indicates their growing importance in the policy-making process. Abelson goes beyond assumptions, identifying the influence and relevance of public policy institutes in today's political arena in the United States, where they've become an integral feature of the political landscape, and in Canada, where, despite recent growth in numbers, they enjoy less prominence than their US counterparts. By focusing on the policy cycle, issue articulation, policy formation, and implementation, Abelson argues that individual think tanks have sometimes played an important role in shaping the political dialogue and the policy preferences and choices of decision-makers but often in different ways and at different stages of the policy cycle. This revised and updated edition of the book includes up-to-date data (2000-08) on the growing visibility and policy relevance of think tanks in Canada and the United States.

Rapid technological, economic, social and cultural changes are transforming the idea of "Asian space." With the shift to a global economy and an urban population explosion, Asian cities have become a mainstay of progress, national pride, identity, and positioning on the global stage. The extraordinary pace and intensity of the changes have created a situation unique in the history of urban development. Despite the immense diversity of Asian countries, "Asia-ness" is often treated as a distinctive quality that has emerged from unique recent circumstances affecting Asian urbanizations as a whole. In Future Asian Space, 15 authors explore broad concepts relating to the creation and re-creation of "Asian space" and contemporary Asian identity, and their examination of different sites and research approaches highlights the difficulty of pinpointing what Asia-ness is, or might become. Appropriate design and planning of cities is a critical element in building a sustainable future and coping with environmental, social and cultural problems. Future Asian Space is designed to stimulate interests and engagement in discussions of the Asian city, and its trajectories in architecture and urbanism, but the authors' conclusions will intrigue anyone interested in the future of cities and urban life in Asia.

Philip Resnick examines the role of British Columbia in the Canadian unity debate and explores what makes it stand apart as a region. He looks at the views of politicians, opinion-makers, and ordinary British Columbians on the challenges posed by Quebec nationalism, their sense of estrangement from central Canada, and what they see as the future of Canadian unity. He provides a provocative new way of thinking about British Columbia's place within the federation, and his wide range of sources - government documents, media, and academic literature on regionalism and nationalism - capture what underlies the often fractured relationship between Canada's westemmost province and the rest of the country.

Dialogues in Urban and Regional Planning 5 is a selection of some of the best scholarship in urban and regional planning from around the world. The internationally recognized authors of these award-winning papers take up a range of salient issues from the theory and practice of planning. The topics they address include the effects of globalization on world cities, metropolitan planning in France and Australia, and new research in pedestrian and traffic design. The breadth of the topics covered in this book will appeal to all those with an interest in urban and regional planning, providing a springboard for further debate and research. The papers focus particularly on themes of inclusion, urban transformation, metropolitan planning, and urban design. The Dialogues in Urban and Regional Planning (DURP) book series is published in association with the Global Planning Education Association Network (GPEAN) and its member national and transnational planning schools associations.