Research Groups

• Metropolitan Mindset: How Regional Governments can help Solve the Housing Crisis
  Monday, November 25, 2024
  12:30 pm - 2:00 pm
  Allard Hall - Franklin Lew Forum, Room 101 and Virtually
  
  Don Iveson, Chair of the Board of Directors, CMHC
  Gabriel Eidelman, Director, Urban Policy Lab, University of Toronto
  Alexandra Flynn, Director, Housing Research Collaborative, University of British Columbia
  Michael Epp, Director of Housing Planning and Development, Metro Vancouver
  Rebecca Bligh, President, Federation of Canadian Municipalities; City Councillor, City of Vancouver
  Mary Pointe, Director, Indigenous Relations, YVR
  
  Experts have long observed that hyper-local decision-making means more exclusive, less equitable decisions. When only a small geographic area is considered, narrow interests are more likely to be overrepresented. One manifestation of this phenomenon is ‘NIMBYism’ — or the pernicious problem of ‘not in my backyard’ thinking — where neighbourhood residents may oppose supportive or other forms of low-income housing. Thinking regionally—a metropolitan mindset—can help us address  ‘wicked problems’ of the housing crisis in a more equitable way.
  
  The Metro Vancouver area is home to almost two dozen municipalities and multiple Indigenous communities, which together comprise a population of approximately 2.6 million people. The epicenter of Canada's housing crisis, this region is by any measure deeply unaffordable.
  
  This event will explore the 'Metro Mindset' and how local governments in the Metro Vancouver region can be part of the solution to this crisis by thinking regionally. Engaging decisionmakers, scholars, and thought leaders, the event will feature a panel conversation.
  
   
• Realising the Right to Housing: Respecting the Municipal Role through the Principle of Subsidiarity
  November 28, 2024
  12:30 pm - 1:45 pm
  Allard Hall - Fasken Martineau Classroom, Room 122 and Virtually
  
  Professor Alexandra Flynn
  
  Canada is experiencing a dire housing crisis, decades in the making, which disproportionately impacts middle- and lower-income people. Without adequate affordable housing, the most vulnerable people end up precariously housed, moving between public and private spaces without security of tenure. A significant challenge in addressing this ‘wicked problem’ is that multiple jurisdictions – federal, provincial, municipal – must come together to create sufficient housing stock and ensure affordability. In Canada, the federal government has historically provided funding for housing infrastructure; provinces have introduced legislative measures like residential tenancy protections; and municipalities regulate land-use and provide temporary shelter spaces. In reality, however, measures may be overlapping and should involve coordination amongst all three governments, resulting in a lack of clear accountability. This presentation explores an unintended casualty in this fractured model: the undermining of municipal attempts to address gaps in housing regulation. I outline the issue with a focus on the City of Vancouver, arguing in favour of an expanded application of the principle of subsidiarity by the courts.
  
   

Past Events - 2024

• Law & Cities Research Group Panel
  March 21, 2024
  3:30-5:00PM
  Allard Hall room 335
  This event is in-person and online. 
   
  Join us for presentations and discussion of strata property leasehold interests in Vancouver’s False Creek South, strata property dissolution in Vancouver’s Chinatown, and the possibility of a statutory framework for community land trusts in Canada.
  
  "Constructing Public Urbanity: The Creation of the Strata Leasehold at False Creek South"
  Abi Moore (UBC JD)
  Abstract:
  In the late 1960s in Vancouver, a new vision of urbanity in municipal politics began taking form in the revitalization of publicly-held lands in False Creek South ("FCS") into a public housing project. The Electors' Action Movement ("TEAM") was the political party at the centre of this vision; one that sought to transform the industrial economic base of the City to a form of urbanity, focused on quality of life. Over the next few decades, City Council led the development of FCS housing to reflect an explicit "social objective" that would support an ideal "social mix" of people to live in the new housing development. This "social mix" was to reflect an “ideal” of diversity, including economic and demographic groups. The Council drew on various legal forms of property tenure to manifest this “social objective” that supported its vision of a “liveable inner city". Ultimately, these social ideals led to the creation of a new property form, the strata leasehold.
  
  "Reshaping Property: Strathcona Denture and the Bite of British Columbia's Non-Consensual Strata Property Dissolution Regime"
  Austin Madaisky (UBC JD 3L)
  Abstract:
  In 2016, the provincial government reduced the consent threshold for dissolving a strata corporation from unanimity to 80%.  The amended regime permits a supermajority of owners to involuntarily dispossess a dissenting minority.  Through analyzing the case of Strathcona Denture, I seek to illustrate how British Columbia’s non-consensual dissolution regime facilitates the conceptual and material reshaping of property.  In viewing property as rights, this regime is reshaping property by permitting the private, non-consensual taking of one’s strata unit, challenging strongly held conceptions of what it means to “own” property.  In viewing property as a parcel of land and the buildings constructed upon that land, it is removing barriers to redevelopment which contributes to the physical changing of properties and the larger neighbourhood of which those properties belong.  In this sense, non-consensual dissolution facilitates the changing of place
  
  "Coming to a Canadian Definition for Community Land Trusts"
  Meagan Lauder (UBC JD 3L)
  Abstract:
  Community land trusts (“CLTs”) are non-profit organizations that engage in community stewardship through acquiring and holding land for the community’s benefit, thereby ensuring perpetual property affordability. There are several Canadian CLTs, but CLTs are not mentioned in any Canadian legislation. In contrast, US and UK legislation defines CLTs, with some US states having extensive statutory provisions about CLTs. The goal of this project is to develop a community-led Canadian CLT definition. I will present (1) a survey of US and UK legislation that identifies common elements of CLT definitions in other jurisdictions; (2) a review of Canadian legislation that identifies statutes enabling CLT activities and where a CLT definition might fit; and (3) our engagements with CLT organizations to come to a Canadian CLT definition.
   

• When Billboards Talk: An Experiment in Berlin
  Monday, February 5, 3:30-5:00
  Allard Hall Room 402, Terrace Lounge
  
  Dr. Katya Assaf and Tim Schnetgöke
  
  In this paper, we present the findings of a real-life experiment (living lab) we conducted in the public space of Berlin, Germany, during March-August 2022. We wanted to test a novel tool of democratic and urban participation – one that would create space for individual expression in the fabric of urban semantics.  Specifically, we sought to explore what kind of content people would share in public spaces if asked to make their choice without any pre-given topics and knowing that there will be no selection process.
  
  In March 2022, we invited people in Berlin to submit contributions they wished to present on a billboard in urban public space. In August 2022, these contributions appeared on 1500 billboards throughout Berlin. We analyzed the submitted contributions, as well as other information the participants provided – such as comments and demographic data. In addition, we conducted surveys and interviews with the participants. The paper presents some of the results we obtained and assesses how far they support the feasibility of our idea of individual speech as a meaningful tool of democratic and urban participation.
   
• Volumetric Subdivision and the Architecture of Property
  Allard School of Law Colloquium
  Thursday, February 1, 12:30-1:45
  Allard Hall, Fasken Classroom, Room 122, and Virtually
  
  Professor Douglas Harris
  Nathan T Nemetz Chair in Legal History, Allard School of Law 
  
  Three-dimensional property is an increasingly common feature in cities around the world. Parcels of land delimited by volume are becoming the norm, and these separately titled parcels are frequently stacked in vertical columns many stories high, creating a previously unimaginable density of owners. Condominium provides the legal architecture for much of this subdivision, facilitating the production of independently owned parcels, co-owned common property, and a governing association of owners. In some jurisdictions, condominium property may also be nested within a preceding volumetric subdivision that produces independent and separately titled air space parcels. As a result, land may be subdivided into air space parcels, and then air space parcels into condominium. This paper uses the statutory regime in British Columbia as an example to describe the phenomenon of this layered volumetric subdivision, and it argues that property theorists attempting to construct an architecture for property must engage with the increasingly prevalent three-dimensional legal forms that structure ownership and create another level of government in the modern city.
   

Past Events - 2023

• Constructive Takings at the Supreme Court of Canada: A discussion with Prof. Malcolm Lavoie and Prof. Doug Harris
  Tuesday, November 21 - 12:30 - 1:45 PM
  Ferris Hall, Room 106
  
  Professor Doug Harris
  
  The Supreme Court of Canada’s judgment in Annapolis Group Inc. v. Halifax Regional Municipality, 2022 SCC 36, is important and controversial. The Court held, by a 5:4 majority, that a municipalities’ zoning laws might amount to a constructive taking of private property giving rise to an owner’s right of compensation. Was this an affirmation of longstanding principle? Or was it, as the Court’s dissenting judges charged, a radical change in municipal planning law that gives “a windfall to developers who speculate at municipal taxpayers’ expense”? 
  
  The Law and Cities Research Group invites you to a pizza lunch presentation on this topic with Professor Malcolm Lavoie of the University of Alberta Faculty of Law and Professor Doug Harris of Allard Law. Professor Lavoie, who was an intervener in the Annapolis case, argues that the majority’s holding affirms common law principles and the rule of law. Professor Harris, by contrast, contends that the Court’s judgment represents “a significant failing” for having misunderstood Canadian expropriation law. Join them and moderator Prof. Sam Beswick on November 21 in the Moot Court Room 106 as they break down and debate the Supreme Court’s modern constructive takings jurisprudence. 
   
• Discussion with Professor Malcolm Lavoie
  Tuesday, November 21 - 3:00 - 4:00 PM
  Terrace Lounge, Room 402
  
  Following the lunchtime session on Constructive Takings at the Supreme Court of Canada, Allard Law Faculty, Ph.D. students and Visiting Scholars and Researchers are invited to continue discussions with Professor Lavoie and the Law and Cities Research Group over afternoon tea in the Terrace Lounge at 3:00-4:00pm. Feel free to drop in and out as time permits.
   
• “Un-Democratizing the City? Unwritten Constitutional Principles and Ontario’s Strong Mayor Powers”
  Wednesday, October 18 - 3:30-5:00 PM
  Terrace Lounge, Room 402, Allard Hall
  
  Professor Alexandra Flynn
  
  This paper examines recent challenges to municipal authority in Ontario. In 2022, the Province of Ontario introduced legislation to change the scope of municipal authority and the governance of specific municipalities. The actions piggybacked a 2021 Supreme Court of Canada decision that upheld, in a 5:4 decision, the same provincial government’s unmitigated power to change the City of Toronto’s electoral boundaries mid-election. Ontario’s latest decision concerning the exercise of mayoral power with a one-third vote of city council represents the most recent iteration of the province’s assertion of authority over municipalities. While a violation of the unwritten constitutional principle of democracy could be invoked, I argue instead that municipalities must challenge these actions forcefully and directly by strongly asserting their status as democratic governments – not through the courts, but in their city council chambers.
   
• Urban Transformation Regulations and Applications in Turkey
  September 21, 2023 – 3:30 - 5:00 PM
  Terrace Lounge, Allard Hall ​​​
  
  Professor Gül Üstün
  Marmara University Faculty of Law, Istanbul, Turkey
  
  In Turkey, intensive migration started from rural to urban areas in the 1950s. Because of these population movements, cities have entered the process of dilapidation and started to lose their characteristics over time. In other words, the deformation in cities results from uncontrolled and irregular settlement in Turkey. To solve this problem, defined as unplanned urbanization or urban sprawl, methods such as sanitation, gentrification, and urban renewal (demolition and reconstruction of urban structures) have been developed.
  
  The most recent method used to intervene in urban sprawl is urban renewal. In Turkey, urban transformation is inevitable since earthquake risk has added to the problem of unplanned urbanization after the Marmara Earthquake in 1999. And it became popular again after the 2023 Earthquake. This presentation will consider a range of national laws, including the legislation that grants and defines municipal powers as well those dealing with historical and cultural properties and others addressing disaster risk, that are intended to guide urban renewal in Turkey.
  
   
• International Research Forum on Multi-Owned Properties 
  24-26 May 2023 
  
  The International Forum brings together researchers from around the world to share work on multi-owned properties, including condominium, strata property, common interest developments, and homeowner associations. Organized by the City Futures Research Centre, UNSW, and hosted by UBC’s Allard School of Law, the Forum includes two days of meetings at UBC and a field trip to one of Metro Vancouver’s neighbourhoods in transition from single-house lot developments to multi-owned condominium housing.
  
  The Forum keynote speakers are  Professor David Ley from UBC’s Department of Geography and Professor Ute Lehrer from York University’s Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change.
  
  There is an option to attend the first two days online. More information, including the program and registration details, is available on the Eventbrite registration site. Early-bird registration rates are available until March 24.
  
  The event qualifies for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) credits.
   
• Workshop - Who owns the city? Expropriation in the contemporary metropolis
  April 6, 2023 - 1:30 – 3:30 PM
  Terrace Lounge, Allard School of Law
  
  We invite anyone interested in questions around property, (urban) ownership struggles and housing to a small workshop that considers emancipatory potentials vs. colonial traps of expropriation. 
  
  Short presentations by:
  - Débora Ungaretti (School of Architecture and Urbanism, University of São Paulo), “Coloniality trap: expropriation as dispossession in contemporary São Paulo”
  - Hannah Vögele (Center for Applied Philosophy, Politics and Ethics, University of Brighton), “From Expropriation to Socialisation: Notes from the Housing Struggle in Berlin” 
  
  Response from Brenna Bhandar (Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia).

Past Events - 2022

• Reassembling the city: understanding resident-led collective property sales
  December 8, 2022 - 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm
  
  This presentation will provide an overview of an ongoing research project examining the phenomenon of resident-led collective sales (land assemblies) in Vancouver and in Sydney, Australia, which is being undertaken by researchers from the University of New South Wales and Macquarie University in Sydney. The project aims to understand the group dynamics that arise when residents come together to sell their properties ‘in one line’, as well as identifying how different intermediaries facilitate this process and the implications of these sales for neighbours and the city more broadly.
   
• 8th Annual International and Comparative Urban Law Conference
  14-16 July 2022
  
  Organized in collaboration with the Urban Law Centre at Fordham University, New York City. Details of the Urban Law Conference, including the program and speakers, are available on the ICULC website.

2022

• Hoi L. Kong and Tanya Monforte, eds, Sustainability, Citizen Participation, and City Governance: Multidisciplinary Perspectives (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2022).
• Alexandra Flynn, “The Implications of Stakeholder Group Involvement in Urban Sustainable Development” in Kong and Monforte, eds, Sustainability, Citizen Participation, and City Governance: Multidisciplinary Perspectives (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2022).
• Hoi Kong, “Sustainable Urban Design: The Case of Montreal” in Kong and Monforte, eds, Sustainability, Citizen Participation, and City Governance: Multidisciplinary Perspectives (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2022)

2024

• Hoi Kong, “Constitutional Amendment and the Canadian City” in Flynn et. al. eds., Cities and the Constitution Giving Local Governments in Canada the Power They Need (McGill-Queen’s, 2024), 201-224.
• Alexandra Flynn, Richard Albert, and Nathalie Des Rosiers, “Can Canada’s Constitution Keep Pace with Canadian Cities?” in Flynn et. al. eds., The Past, Present, and Future of Canadian Cities: Where the Law Went Wrong and How We Can Fix It (McGill-Queen’s, 2024), 3-20.

2022

• Hoi L. Kong, “Constitutional Theory, Federalism, and Cities” in Erika A. Arban (ed.), Cities in Federal Constitutional Theory (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022), 120.

2021

• Alexandra Flynn, "Business Improvement Districts and the Urban Commons" in Sheila Foster & Chrystie Swiney, eds, Cambridge Handbook of Commons Research Innovations (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press (PDF)
• Alexandra Flynn & Amelia Thorpe, "Pandemic Pop-Ups and the Performance of Legality" in Brian Doucet, Rianne van Melik & Pierre Filion, eds, Global Reflections on COVID-19 and Urban Inequalities: Volume 1: Community and Society (Bristol: Bristol University Press, 2021), 25. (PDF)

2022

• Sarah Ferencz, Alexandra Flynn, Nicholas Blomley & Marie-Eve Sylvestre, "Are Tents a 'Home'? Extending Section 8 Privacy Rights for the Precariously Housed" McGill LJ [Forthcoming in 2022]. (PDF)

2024

• Alexandra Flynn, “Operative Subsidiarity and Indigenous-Municipal Legal Relationships” in Flynn et. al. eds., Cities and the Constitution Giving Local Governments in Canada the Power They Need (McGill-Queen’s, 2024), 139-158.

2021

• Alexandra Flynn, "With Great(er) Power Comes Great(er) Responsibility: Indigenous Rights and Municipal Autonomy" (2021) 34 JL & Soc Pol'y 111 (PDF)

2023

• Douglas C Harris, “Condominium to the Country: The Sprawl of Ownership within Private Local Government in British Columbia” (2023) Law & Social Inquiry.
• Douglas C Harris, “Tending Gardens, Ploughing Fields, and the Unexamined Drift to Constructive Takings at Common Law” (2023) 61:1 Alberta Law Review.

2022

• Douglas C Harris, “Condominium: A Transformative Innovation in Property and Local Government” in Nicole Graham, Margaret Davies, & Lee Godden, eds, The Routledge Handbook of Property, Law, and Society (Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2022) 113. (PDF)

2021

• Douglas C Harris, "Embedded Property" in Randy K Lippert & Stefan Treffers, eds, Condominium Governance and Law: Global Urban Perspectives (Abingdon: Routledge, 2021) 29. (PDF)

2022

• Kristen Thomasen, Private Law & Public Space: The Canadian Privacy Torts in an Era of Personal Remote-Surveillance Technology (PhD Thesis, University of Ottawa, 2022). Available at uOttawa Research.

2021

• Kristen Thomasen, Suzie Dunn, Kate Robertson, Pam Hrick, Cynthia Khoo, Rosel Kim, Ngozi Okidegbe, Christopher A. Parsons, Submission to the Toronto Police Services Board’s Use of New Artificial Intelligence Technologies Policy - LEAF and The Citizen Lab (December 15, 2021). Available at SSRN.

• Graduate Student Workshop
  17-18 March 2023
  
  This two-day graduate student workshop will offer participants the chance to receive personal feedback on their writing and to discuss their work in a relaxed environment. The workshop will take place at the Peter A. Allard School of Law - UBC Campus and be facilitated by faculty members in various disciplines. We welcome applications from doctoral and post-graduate students at Canadian universities whose projects, themes, methodology, or approaches are at the intersection of law and the humanities, or that otherwise have a significant law and humanities component.​​​​
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  More information is available on the Canadian Network of Law & Humanities website.