Policy Innovation

Public infrastructure decisions must stand the passage of time. Once built, buildings, roads, and transit shape where and how people live and work for many years to come. Infrastructure decisions made today take years to complete. Forecasting the impact of new roads and transit on what the region will look like in the future requires a broader understanding of the markets that create housing and employment infrastructure and a broadly based understanding of the needs of future generations.

SRRA provides a forum where innovative new policy can be developed and tested by experts in both government and the private sector, in a non-partisan evidenced-based setting. By connecting silos of government policy and private sector expertise the impacts and value of new infrastructure can be measured and evaluated in a transparent environment.

The inquiry and research conducted by SRRA with a diverse range of influencers closes the gap between the realities of markets and community expectation.

SRRA publications and Forums address and link three key areas of policy innovation, transportation, land use, and funding innovation.

 
 
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TRANSPORTATION

Growth in the Region has exceeded 100,000 people annually for 30 years and is projected to continue at that rate or higher. This is leading to intensification, increased density and congestion.

Pressure on the limited capacity of roads to move people, goods, and services has lead to demand for more public transportation. For transit to be a viable option for people it must compete with roads for convenience, cost, and speed.

Effective investment in public transit ought to be measured first by understanding the impact of each project on the number of new transit users it brings to the network.

SRRA's transit research is focused on understanding the relationship between where people live, where they will live in the future and how effectively each new transit project is at creating a viable mobility option for people.

 

LAND USE

New development of homes and workplaces benefit from transit proximity. And transit operators benefit from ridership originating from people living and working in close proximity to transit.

Why then does land use and taxation policy not sufficiently recognize the value of intensification surrounding existing and new transit projects? Getting intensification right benefits both transit operators and builders.

Policy innovation in land use implemented early in the development of new transit capacity will provide a beneficial environment for the development community. Before a new major transit project is approved land use policy must be put in place which eliminates the risk of transit-oriented development not supporting the transit.

SRRA's research suggests that a collaborative approach utilizing direct partnerships and/or implementing innovative tax and planning policy will create greater intensification around transit. In turn, this will lead to greater transit use, reduce congestion and facilitate continued growth in the Region.

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FUNDING INNOVATION

Funding the capital expansion of transit capacity has until now been the exclusive domain of governments. The need for more capital investment than governments are willing to contribute requires innovative approaches to securing funding.

Public private partnerships in the financing of transit have been part of public policy for over 15 years. But little has been done to in the GTA to create the environment where public pension funds and other institutional pools of capital can augment government funding.

Innovative models building upon existing P3 approaches and reflective of current international experience can be adapted to meet the needs of the Region.

SRRA has been pursuing the problem of the funding of transit beyond the public sector since its inception and believes that the principles and processes of transit delivery employed in other cities have to become part of the way new projects are funded in the GTA to accelerate the development of more mobility in the Region.

Iain Dobson has devoted the last 16 years of his career to public policy and city building with an emphasis on the importance of aligning development and public transit. Prior to 2000, he spent 25 years in the commercial real estate industry.

In 2006, Iain Dobson along with Glenn Miller and the Canadian Urban Institute formed a working partnership to develop solutions to the ever growing problem of connecting home to work and the solutions to congestion. This partnership of urban planning and commercial real estate prompted the creation of Strategic Regional Research Alliance (SRRA) to conduct research on the problems of aligning transit infrastructure with development.

He has received numerous industry awards and has spoken at many of North Americas leading real estate associations, including NAIOP, SIOR, Canadian Land Economists, Real Estate Forums and has appeared on radio and TV programs such as Metro Morning and Cross Canada Check Up among others.

He currently serves on the Board of Metrolinx. He has also served as a member of the Transit Investment Strategy Advisory Panel, a member of the CivicAction Commercial Building Advisory Panel, and on the expert panel on the Sheppard transit corridor.

Active in the community, he volunteers as a member on the advisory panel of LIGHTS, which is a unique program working in partnership with Community Living Toronto to help house the intellectually disabled citizens in Toronto. He has previously sat on the UTS Alumni Board and was former Chair of the Jackman Institute of Child Study Daycare. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Trent University.

For more than 20 years, Glenn Miller led the Canadian Urban Institute’s education and research program, focusing on growth management, downtown revitalization and the impact of demographic change. He is now a Senior Associate with the CUI, which is co-founder of the Strategic Regional Research Alliance (SRRA), a not for profit organization dedicated to providing non-partisan research on the connections between infrastructure, land use and the regional economy. SRRA is a joint venture between CUI and Real Estate Search Corporation.

Glenn holds a masters in urban planning from McGill’s School of Urban Planning and an Honours B.A. in Urban Studies from Concordia University. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Planners and for 25 years was editor of the Ontario Planning Journal (1986-2011), the professional practice magazine of the Ontario Professional Planners Institute. He has taught at Seneca College’s Centre for the Built Environment, Ryerson University’s School of Urban and Regional Planning and in 2012 was Planner in Residence at the University of Waterloo. Glenn is also a member of the City Institute External Advisory Board at York University.

Insights that create measurable results