Mariana Valverde

  • Urban law and governance, infrastructure researcher; professor of socio-legal studies, University of Toronto
Recent reports suggest Airbnb is having an impact on housing markets in cities popular with tourists. (Shutterstock)

Airbnb’s adverse impact on urban housing markets

It’s now clear that a single American company, Airbnb, has upended local housing markets, pushed rental prices skyward and could be contributing to poverty, especially in cities popular with tourists.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Sidewalk Labs CEO Dan Doctoroff shake hands at an announcement in Toronto in October 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn

The controversy over Google’s futuristic plans for Toronto

Google’s proposals for a high-tech development on Toronto’s lakefront is a radical departure from the principles that have guided city planning in Canada for decades.
Spanish National Police block people trying to reach a polling station in Barcelona, Spain, on Oct. 1. Catalan leaders accused Spanish police of brutality and repression. AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

The hypocrisy of the European Union on the Catalan referendum

The European Union is quick to condemn countries like Venezuela and Turkey when they engage in anti-democratic tactics. So why is it so silent on Spain’s treatment of the Catalan?
Ontarians got a taste of privatization in the 1990s, when the Conservative government of Mike Harris handed over the lucrative Highway 407 toll road in a 99-year lease for a fraction of its value.

Financiers are now controlling public works, much to the public’s confusion

Canadian governments aren’t completely selling off major public works, but their embrace of public-private “partnerships” is giving private financiers control of major infrastructure projects.

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