Writing
My research and writing centre on questions of urban governance and public policy in Canada and North America, with a particular focus on intergovernmental relations. Who governs our cities and city-regions? And how?
To answer these questions, I have developed broad expertise in local government, regional and metropolitan governance, and federalism, as well as many interrelated fields of urban policy, such as land-use planning, housing, transportation, infrastructure, economic development, and climate change.
“Urban policy making necessarily involves all levels of government."
— Eidelman (2020), Reimagining the Canadian Federation through an Urban Lens
My academic research has been published in numerous respected journals, such as Cities, Urban Affairs Review, the Journal of Urban Affairs, the Journal of Urban History, Review of Policy Research, Politics & Policy, and the Canadian Journal of Political Science, as well as several academic presses. For my work, I received the Vincent Lemieux Prize by the Canadian Political Science Association, and the Clarence Stone Scholar and Norton Long Young Scholar awards from the American Political Science Association.
I also write policy reports for leading think tanks and institutes in the field of urban policy and Canadian governance. Most recently, I am co-editor of the "Who Does What" report series published by the Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance. I also authored Reimagining the Canadian Federation through an Urban Lens for the Centre of Excellence on the Canadian Federation and the Institute for Research on Public Policy, and co-authored The Case for a Canadian Urban Policy Observatory for the Canadian Urban Institute.
Selected Publications
For a complete list of research publications, visit my Google Scholar page.
Reports
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Eidelman, Gabriel, Kass Forman, and Enid Slack, eds. 2023. The Municipal Role in Transportation. Who Does What series, No. 6. Toronto: Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance.
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Eidelman, Gabriel, Kass Forman, Tomas Hachard, and Enid Slack, eds. 2022. The Municipal Role in Policing. Who Does What series, No. 5. Toronto: Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance.
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Eidelman, Gabriel, Kass Forman, Tomas Hachard, and Enid Slack, eds. 2022. The Municipal Role in Public Health. Who Does What series, No. 4. Toronto: Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance.
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Eidelman, Gabriel, Tomas Hachard, and Enid Slack, eds. 2022. The Municipal Role in Climate Policy. Who Does What series, No. 3. Toronto: Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance.
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Eidelman, Gabriel, Tomas Hachard, and Enid Slack, eds. 2022. The Municipal Role in Economic Development. Who Does What series, No. 2. Toronto: Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance.
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Eidelman, Gabriel, Tomas Hachard, and Enid Slack, eds. 2022. The Municipal Role in Housing. Who Does What series, No. 1. Toronto: Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance.
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Eidelman, Gabriel. 2020. Reimagining the Canadian Federation through an Urban Lens. Montreal: Institute for Research on Public Policy, Centre of Excellence on the Canadian Federation.
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Cote, Andre, Gabriel Eidelman, and Michael Fenn. 2020. A Playbook for Voluntary Regional Governance in Greater Toronto. Toronto: Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance.
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Eidelman, Gabriel, and Neil Bradford. 2020. The Case for a Canadian Urban Policy Observatory. Toronto: Canadian Urban Institute.
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Eidelman, Gabriel, and Brian F. Kelcey. 2017. A Blueprint for Change: Final Report of the City Hall Task Force. Toronto: School of Public Policy and Governance, University of Toronto.
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Eidelman, Gabriel. 2013. Three’s Company: A Review of Waterfront Toronto’s Tri-government Approach to Revitalization. Toronto: Mowat Centre for Policy Innovation, University of Toronto.
Journal Articles
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Eidelman, Gabriel, and Jack Lucas. 2023. “How Do Municipal Mayors and Councillors Communicate with other Levels of Government? Evidence from a Multi-level Survey of Canadian Elected Officials.” Canadian Public Administration 66(1): 78-95.
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Lucas, Jack, Reed Merrill, Kelly Blidook, Sandra Breux, Laura Conrad, Gabriel Eidelman, Royce Koop, Daniella Marciano, Zack Taylor and Salomé Vallette. 2021. “Women’s Municipal Electoral Performance: An Introduction to the Canadian Municipal Elections Database.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 54(1): 125-133.
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Eidelman, Gabriel, and Maya Hoke. 2020. “The Life, Death, and Legacy of the Toronto Bureau of Municipal Research, 1914-1983” Journal of Urban History.
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Spicer, Zac, Gabriel Eidelman, and Austin Zwick. 2018. “Patterns of Local Policy Disruption: Regulatory Responses to Uber in Ten North American Cities.” Review of Policy Research 36(2): 146-167.
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Eidelman, Gabriel. 2016. “Failure When Fragmented: Public Land Ownership and Urban Waterfront Redevelopment in Chicago, Vancouver, and Toronto.” Urban Affairs Review 54(4): 697-731.
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Eidelman, Gabriel. 2016. “Rethinking Public Land Ownership and Urban Development: A Canadian Perspective.” Cities: The International Journal of Urban Policy and Planning 55: 122-126.
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Eidelman, Gabriel. 2010. “Managing Urban Sprawl in Ontario: Good Policy or Good Politics?” Politics & Policy 38(6): 1211-1236.
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Eidelman, Gabriel, and Zack Taylor. 2010. “Canadian Urban Politics: Another ‘Black Hole’?” Journal of Urban Affairs 32(3): 305-320.
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Taylor, Zack, and Gabriel Eidelman. 2010. “Canadian Political Science and the City: A Limited Engagement.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 43(4): 961-981.
Chapters
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Eidelman, Gabriel, and Martin Horak. 2018. “Federalism and Transportation Infrastructure: The U.S. Experience.” In Canada: The State of the Federation 2015: Canadian Federalism and Infrastructure, eds. John R. Allan, David L.A. Gordon, Kyle Hanniman, and André Juneau. Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press.
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Eidelman, Gabriel, Martin Horak, and Richard Stren. 2017. “Toronto: Metropolitan Transformation and the Governance of Sustainability.” In Steering the Metropolis: Metropolitan Governance for Sustainable Urban Development, eds. David Gómez-Álvarez, Robin Rajack, Eduardo López-Moreno and Gabriel Lanfranchi, pp. 332-340. Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank.
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Eidelman, Gabriel. 2011. “Who’s in Charge? Jurisdictional Gridlock and the Genesis of Waterfront Toronto.” In Reshaping Toronto’s Waterfront, eds. Gene Desfor and Jennefer Laidley, pp. 263-286. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Commentaries
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Eidelman, Gabriel, and Jen Nelles. 2023. “Regional solutions must be our focus, despite dissolution of Peel.” Toronto Star, May 24.
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Graham, Kate, Gabriel Eidelman, and Neil Bradford. 2020. “Time to take urban policy seriously.” The Hill Times, July 13.
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Eidelman, Gabriel, Andre Cote, and Michael Fenn. 2020. “How COVID-19 can catalyze coordination in Greater Toronto.” Spacing Magazine, July 10.
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Eidelman, Gabriel, Neil Bradford, and Kate Graham. 2020. “Our cities and city-regions need an urban policy observatory.” Policy Options, June 26.
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Lucas, Jack, and Gabriel Eidelman. “Municipal leaders happy with “Team Canada” response to COVID.” Policy Options, May 1, 2020.
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Hachard, Tomas, Enid Slack, and Gabriel Eidelman. 2020. “Ontario’s relationships with its cities are ill-fitting and illogical. That must change.” Globe and Mail, January 24.
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Eidelman, Gabriel. 2018. “Why I revived the Bureau of Municipal Research.” Spacing Magazine, June 12.
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Eidelman, Gabriel, and Brian Kelcey. 2017. “How to fix Toronto city council.” Toronto Sun, July 5.
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Eidelman, Gabriel, and Martin Horak. 2015. “Infrastructure promises are merely campaign spectacle.”Toronto Star, October 15.
Projects
Click below for more information about some of my recent collaborative research and writing projects.

An annual survey of mayors & councillors in more than 400 municipalities across Canada.

A paper series examining the role municipalities should play in key areas of urban policy.
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A civic initiative to improve the quality of deliberation and decision making at Toronto City Hall.