Small Business and the City

Rafael Gomez is an associate professor of Employment Relations at Woodsworth College and the Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources at the University of Toronto. Andre Isakov is currently the Manager of Park Planning and Design with the City of Coquitlam, British Columbia. Previously, he was the Community and Economic Development Officer for the Village of Harrison Hot Springs and the Executive Director of Business Improvement Areas of British Columbia (BIABC). Matt Semansky is an award-winning journalist based in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. His work has appeared in publications such as This Magazine, the National Post, The Halifax Chronicle Herald, The Coast, and Marketing.

“A most useful book, especially for the city planner, urban geographer, and anyone who cares about the future of cities.  Relevant case analyses are embedded in a coherent structure that provides practical examples of past successes and failures as well as sensible policy recommendations for the future.  Highly recommended.”- David K. Foot, Professor Emeritus, Department of Economics, University of Toronto, and author of 'Boom, Bust & Echo: How to Profit from the Coming Demographic Shift' “Small Business and the City is a plea for a ‘small is beautiful’ approach to business, urban scale, and public sector decision-making. Gomez, Isakov, and Semansky’s evocative descriptions of Business Improvement Areas teach far more about BIAs, their operations, and the thinking of their members than do tables of statistics on these organizations.”- Pierre Filion, Professor, School of Planning, University of Waterloo “Each atomistic transaction between a small business and a customer provides the flare for a rich economic eruption, encompassing spillovers and interactions with other firms, citizens, and the built environment. This book offers a bold explanation of how cities can succeed by nurturing and harnessing these powerful interactions to create dynamic communities and growing economies.”- Kevin Milligan, Associate Professor, Vancouver School of Economics, University of British Columbia ‘This book provides a rich analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of small firms in a dynamic context like Canada.’- Alessandra Micozzi (Scienze Regionali vol 16:01:2017)

• Foreword, by Michael ThompsonAcknowledgments Introduction: Small Business and City LifePart I: The View from Main Street The BIA Movement: Setting the Stage for Main Street Revitalization The View from Main Street Halifax: The Challenge of Being the Big Fish in a Small Pond The View from Main Street Vancouver: A City Region with an Emerging Sense of Place The View from Main Street Toronto: The Bottom-Up, Top-Down ConundrumPart II: Unlocking the Potential of Small-Scale Enterprise The “Art and Science” of Small Business Survival: Lessons in BIA Practice Of People, Profits, and Place: Lessons in Local Economic Development Small Business and the Main Street Agenda: Lessons in Public Policy Recommendations for Making Small-Scale Enterprise a Transformative Force Conclusion: Cities, Small Business, and Distributed Decision Making Afterword: Or … Why Staying Small, Local, and Independent Matters to City LifeAbout the AuthorsNotesReferencesIndex