Program summary
The cross-disciplinary Minor program in Urban Public Policy and Governance equips students with the conceptual tools and methodological skills they will need to understand and analyze processes of city-regional and municipal governance and policy making in Canadian and comparative perspective. The main emphasis is placed on the policy and governance dilemmas of contemporary local governments and how these are distinct from those experienced at other levels: structural revenue constraints, infrastructure deficits, socio-spatial polarization, competition for investment, inadequate accountability and ethics regimes for politicians and public servants, and the distinctive ways in which local policymaking takes place through public deliberation.
Students completing the Minor program in Urban Public Policy and Governance are encouraged to combine with a Major program in City Studies, Public Policy, Human Geography, Political Science, Economics for Management Studies, History, Critical Development Studies or other relevant programs. Our students will be well prepared for graduate studies in public policy and governance, urban planning, and public administration, and for public sector careers at the municipal and provincial levels, or in the non-profit and advocacy sectors.