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This executive learning experience is tailored for mid- to senior-level leaders across the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors, and aims to empower participants with the essential skills and tools to drive equitable urban transformation at local, regional, and national levels.

The course runs from November 18-December 16. Apply by October 23.

This policy brief series translates academic research into impactful solutions. The School of Cities seeks to leverage our extraordinary community of urbanists and urban-oriented researchers to create a rich, multidisciplinary community of urban faculty, researchers, and students across disciplines and perspectives.

School of Cities publishes occasional policy briefs, which aim to distill research findings and data, make recommendations, and draw links to policy initiatives.

Visiting experts are influential practitioners in civil society, the arts, business, media and government; members of the global urban academic community; and emerging leaders in their urban-related sectors.  While at School of Cities, they engage in intellectual, cultural and artistic exchange; nurture new ideas; and support research, collaboration and knowledge creation across geographies, disciplines and communities.  

The Covid-19 pandemic renewed longterm debates about the future of downtowns in North America. Since January 2020, School of Cities Director Karen Chapple has lead a team that is researching visits over time tomdowntown areas across North America, using mobile phone data to compare recent activity to pre-pandemic levels. They are finding wide variation in the extent of recovery, and have identified the key factors influencing recovery rates for downtowns.