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Metropolitanization, Urban Governance, and Place (In)equality in Canadian Metropolitan Areas

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Inequality and Governance in the Metropolis

Part of the book series: Comparative Territorial Politics ((COMPTPOL))

Abstract

This chapter examines how different provincial regimes of municipal governance and different municipal government structures affect levels of inequality in municipal revenues and expenditures across a number of different categories. It begins by discussing the concept of place (in)equality in the Canadian urban context, and reviews the state of municipal governance structures across Canadian provinces. Then, it discusses the restructuring of urban governance across Canadian cities and the various modes of (partial) equalization that exist among the different provinces. The empirical section examines the relationship between fiscal disparities and place (in)equalities, via OLS regression modeling of a large dataset for the three largest metropolitan areas in the country (Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver). The results demonstrate that the geography of most forms of municipal spending and revenue generation has little to do with municipal governance structures and more to do with provincial welfare state regimes. Thus, high levels of fiscal disparities at the municipal level do not correlate with more unequal outcomes, mainly because the important revenue and expenditure decisions are made at the provincial level.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    R. Alan Walks

Authors
  1. R. Alan Walks
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA

    Jefferey M. Sellers

  2. University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Marta Arretche

  3. University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Daniel Kübler

  4. The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel

    Eran Razin

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Walks, R.A. (2017). Metropolitanization, Urban Governance, and Place (In)equality in Canadian Metropolitan Areas. In: Sellers, J., Arretche, M., Kübler, D., Razin, E. (eds) Inequality and Governance in the Metropolis. Comparative Territorial Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57378-0_4

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