Cities of Migration: The Role of Municipal Planning in Immigrant Settlement and Integration

<p dir="ltr">The recent waves of immigration have dramatically changed the urban landscape of Canada’s metropolitan regions with two major signifiers: increasing ethnocultural diversity and growing concentrations in metropolitan areas. These changes have presented unprecedented challenges and opportunities to local municipalities, who have no jurisdictional authority over federal immigration policies, yet, are responsible for the provision of services and social and physical infrastructure to facilitate and support immigrant settlement and integration. This chapter presents multifaceted challenges to the local municipal planning system in various forms, from housing, transportation, retailing, places of worship, to place-making in the public realm and community-building. Municipalities should consider meaningful and community- and equity- based approaches to engage immigrants and support inclusive community-building. It is ultimately the integration of immigrants into Canada’s multicultural society, not their mere presence, that builds and strengthens a nation.</p>