‘Understanding Post-Pandemic Downtown Recoveries’ with Dr. Karen Chapple, Director of the School of Cities at the University of Toronto

Date: Thursday, August 3

Time: 12pm to 1pm ET

The COVID-19 pandemic influenced major shifts to the way we work as offices emptied out and work moved online. Many workers – especially professionals and knowledge workers – still haven’t returned. As a result, a key debate about cities has emerged as some scholars and pundits have predicted the end of downtown and the central business district as we know it. Dr. Chapple will review the findings of the innovative research project at the University of Toronto’s School of Cities to track and project economic conditions in urban cores across North America, and she will highlight the policy recommendations that result from their in-depth analysis.

Please Note: The link to the webinar will come in the ticket email. If you do not receive a ticket email or the event link by 11am the day of the event, please contact the NEC for that or any other questions at manager@national-economists.org.

About our speaker:

Karen Chapple is the Director of the School of Cities at the University of Toronto, where she also serves as Professor in the Department of Geography and Planning. Chapple studies inequalities in the planning, development, and governance of regions in the Americas, with a focus on economic development and housing.  

She has published on a broad array of subjects, including the use of big data to predict gentrification, the fiscalization of land use, urban displacement, competition in the electric vehicle industry, job creation on industrial land, regional governance in rural Peru, and accessory dwelling units as a smart growth policy.  

Chapple holds a B.A. in Urban Studies (Phi Beta Kappa) from Columbia University, an M.S.C.R.P from the Pratt Institute, and a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley. She has served on the faculties of the University of Minnesota, the University of Pennsylvania, and UC Berkeley. Prior to academia, Chapple spent ten years as a practicing planner in economic development, land use, and transportation in New York and San Francisco.