Planning for Play? A Systematic Literature Review.

Play has well-established physical and mental benefits for people of all ages. Urban spaces, such as parks, provide important public arenas in which to play. But to what extent do planners or planning scholarship focus on facilitating play? Our systematic literature review of 3,800 articles in nineteen academic planning journals returned 126 articles related to play.

The 'Double Risk' of Aging: Examining Vulnerability and (Un)supportive Built Environments in Canadian Cities.

The confluence of rapid population aging and the overwhelming desire of older adults to age in place begs the question: Do our cities support the health and well-being of aging populations? Using a neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood approach, this macro-scale investigation explores the "double risk" that many older adults live with - the potential of being disadvantaged by socio-demographic risk factors (being older, living alone, low income) and by living in an unsupportive built environment. It is an integration of what we know about supportive built form for older adults and applies this knowledge to Canadian cities, using a spectrum approach to classifying built environments. We found that most older adults with socio-demographic risk factors are living in unsupportive built environments in Canada; however, the distribution between built environments along the spectrum and between municipalities reveals a variegated landscape of double risk.

Mega Regions and Pandemics.

The ongoing COVID-19 crisis has put the relationship between spatial structure and disease exposure into relief. Here, we propose that mega regions - clusters of metropolitan regions like the Acela Corridor in the United States are more exposed to diseases earlier in pandemics. We review standard accounts for the benefits and costs of locating in such regions before arguing that pandemic risk is higher there on average.

Vacancy in shrinking downtowns: a comparative study of Québec, Ontario, and New England.

In North America and around the globe, there has been emerging recognition of the size and scope of urban shrinkage, yet little is understood about how decline impacts commercial centers and downtowns. In order to facilitate geographically targeted policymaking, this paper examines the physical patterns of downtown decline in three distinct regions. We seek to test the hypothesis that differences in the process of urban decline in downtown districts vary due to national or historic context.