Toronto: planning for diversity, inclusion and urban resilience

Recent waves of global migration have generated significant and unprecedented changes to metropolitan regions of major immigrant settlement. The impacts on these cities are profound, socially, culturally, economically, politically, physically, and environmentally. As the World Migration Report points out, increasing research has been drawn to the relationship between migrants and cities. [1] Cities are playing an important role in the processes of immigrant settlement and integration, because they are not only the reception areas for newcomers to live, work, learn, play, socialize like any other city inhabitants, but also important places for building diverse, inclusive, resilient, and equitable communities in the long run. It has become imperative for municipalities to understand the dynamics and complexity of the global migration phenomenon and tackle the challenges and opportunities it presents locally. This report highlights the key takeaways from Toronto’s planning practices as part of the Building Inclusive Cities initiative. [1]. Duncan, H. and Popp, I. 2017. Migrants and Cities: Stepping Beyond World Migration Report 1 2015’, in World Migration Report 2018, Geneva: IOM.