Indicators and core area planning: applications in Canada’s mid-size cities
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Transcript of Indicators and core area planning: applications in Canada’s mid-size cities
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Indicators and core area planning: applications in Canada’s mid-size cities
Mark SeasonsSchool of Planning
University of Waterloo
Canadian Evaluation Society Conference
Vancouver, BC June 3, 2003
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Presentation structure
About mid-size cities (MSCs) Core area challenges Monitoring, evaluation and indicators (MEI) Indicators Indicators and core areas Research findings Implications for research and practice
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About mid-size cities (MSCs)
Different definitions (e.g. Brookings) Size matters…some of the time Canada: 85 MSCs (50-500K range) Core cities, peripheral or “stand-alone” Significant resource issues Complex challenges; overlooked in research Large-city solutions: poor fit?
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Core areas are special places
Functional role – retail hub, cultural centre, institutional centre, residential, etc.
Symbolic role – barometer of community health, well-being, confidence
Provide and represent community sense of place
Important as cultural landscapes in selves, and as part of community cultural landscape
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Core area challenges
Built form – run-down Disproportionate share of marginalized Obsolescent infrastructure Loss of traditional role (e.g. commercial) Investment in suburban and exurban fringes Negative image: crime, safety, aesthetics Result: cycle of disinvestment, QOL suffers,
and community image affected
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What we’re trying to avoid…
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The preferred alternative
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Typical interventions
Parking Banners Street furniture Paving stones Marketing Patrols Property acquisition Projects
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Tough questions…
are we achieving our goals? are they the right goals? are they the right policies and projects? should we try something else? if so…what? how do we know? who says? what was the problem, again?
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Monitoring, evaluation and indicators
Considerable attention in public sector Influences: Sustainable development, quality
of life (QOL), healthy community, and performance measurement cultures
Issues: time, resources, skills, receptive organizational culture, data management
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Indicators…
“indicate” or tell us something important provide key signals, information establish direction (positive or negative) of
change establish extent of change provide basis for decisions re: policies,
programs or projects
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I+M+E
indicators provide information that permits… monitoring of activities, trends and
phenomena that are interpreted through… evaluation of policy, program or project
activities and outcomes re: intentions
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Indicators
Dozens of models to consider Examples: FCM-QOLRS, CPRN, SCIP… Hundreds of indicators available Majority at city-wide scale Recent work at neighbourhood level (NNIP) Little work on indicators in MSCs Core areas in MSCs – paucity of research
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We wanted to know…
Which indicators used? Why used? Sources for information? Roles: collection and analysis? Clients and stakeholders? Communications strategies? Facilitating/obstructive factors?
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Research approach
Web-based survey (Zoomerang) Structured questionnaire 56 Canadian MSCs (English-speaking) Two rounds of email contact 43/56 responded (78%); national coverage Simple analysis: percentages and some
ranking
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Research findings
Most MSCs use traditional economic indicators (e.g. unemployment, vacancies)
Social indicators next in importance (e.g. use of social services)
Environmental indicators least used Some movement towards QOL and SD Non-traditional indicators: homeless data Data collection and analysis constraints
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Research findings
Urban planners – collection and analyst role; external stakeholders (BIA groups)
Clients: Council, internal and external stakeholders
Communications – conventional reports, some innovation (newspaper inserts, Web)
Factors: resources and accessibility to data (rarely available at sub-community level)
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Implications for research and practice
Gap between literature and practice How to move beyond basic indicators? Guidelines and models for indicators in MSC
context Broader organizational culture issues Resource support – chronic issue Training and education: roles for Planning
programs?
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UW research initiatives
Centre for Core Area Research and Design (CCARD)
Waterloo CURA (Community-University Research Alliance)
Mid-size City Research Centre (MCRC)
www.fes.uwaterloo.ca/research/[email protected]
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Thanks/Merci!