Martin Horak

Associate Professor
Associate Director, Centre for Urban Policy and Local Governance

Horak_M

Ph.D., University of Toronto
Telephone: 519.661.2111 ext. 85002
E-mail: mhorak@uwo.ca
Office: Social Science Centre 7237

Research Interests

Professor Horak specializes in Canadian and comparative urban politics.  His research and publications address a range of related subjects, including multilevel urban governance, urban transit and housing policy, local political institutions, public opinion on municipal issues, local election candidates, and the possibility and practice of self-governing cooperation in cities.

Current Research Projects

1. Canadian Municipal Barometer

I am a co-investigator for this project, led by Jack Lucas (Calgary) and Sabndra Breux (INRS), and funded by a seven-year SSHRC Partnership Grant. The project involves a comprehensive program of annual surveys of local politicians and publics, as well as a range of qualitative case study work, which will give us wide-ranging insights into attitudes about governance, representation and policy in Canadian municipalities. In my role as the lead for the project’s Public Policy Pillar, I coordinate the research activities of five faculty members, two non-academic partners and a doctoral-level Research Assistant.

2. Money and Local Democracy

I am co-investigator on this project (together with Zack Taylor, Kristin Good, and Sandra Breux), funded by a SSHRC Insight Grant. This multi-method project involves surveys of candidates for local office across Canada, complemented by two detailed qualitative studies of local elections (Halifax 2024 and Montreal 2025). It aims to build our understanding of why and how candidates run for local office in Canada, how they assemble and use resources, and how they develop and disseminate campaign messaging.

3. Canadian Municipal Attributes Portal (C-MAP)

This ongoing project gathers baseline data on over 50 institutional characteristics of Canadian local governments. The database, developed with support from student research assistants, currently contains verified information on 189 municipalities that are home to 73% of all Canadians.

4. City Politics in Canada: 40 Years of Change and Continuity

Jack Lucas, Zack Taylor and I are co-editing this volume, which revisits and builds on Magnusson and Sancton’s classic 1983 volume, City Politics in Canada. Forthcoming with University of Toronto Press in 2025.

5. COVID-19 and Urban-Rural Migration

This comparative research (conducted with several European colleagues) explores the political and policy implications of the migration of urban professionals from large cities to small towns during COVID-19 pandemic. The research is supported by a European Union grant. 

Selected Publications

Books

  • Forthcoming. Horak, Martin, Jack Lucas and Zack Taylor, eds. City Politics in Contemporary Canada. To be published in 2025 with University of Toronto Press.
  • 2015. With Clarence Stone et al.  Urban Neighborhoods in a New Era: Revitalization Politics in the Postindustrial City.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  • 2014. Úspěch i Zklamání: Demokracie a Veřejná Politika v Praze, 1990-2000.  Prague: Karolinum Press.
  • 2012. Edited with Robert Young.  Sites of Governance: Multilevel Governance and Policy Making in Canada’s Big Cities, McGill-Queens University Press.
  • 2007. Governing the Post-Communist City:  Institutions and Democratic Development in Prague. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Refereed Journal Articles

  • 2025. “Pursuing the Promise of Transit Justice: Learning From Austin.” Urban Affairs Review, 0(0). https://doi-org.proxy1.lib.uwo.ca/10.1177/10780874251318264.
  • 2024. With Charlotte Kurs and Zack Taylor. “Dimensions of Local Authority: Mapping Local Political Institutions in Canada’s Cities.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 57(1): 139–55. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0008423923000768.
  • 2024. With Shanaya Vanhooren. “Somebody to Lean On: Community Ties, Social Exchange, and Practical Help during the COVID-19 Pandemic.” City & Community, 23(1), 3-25. https://doi.org/10.1177/15356841231159370.
  • 2023. With Shanaya Vanhooren. "Somebody to Lean On: Community Ties, Social Exchange, and Practical Help during the COVID-19 Pandemic." City & Community. https://doi.org/10.1177/15356841231159370. 
  • 2023. With Caleb Althorpe. "The end of the right to the city: A radical-cooperative view." Urban Affairs Review. https://doi.org/10.1177/10780874211057815.
  • 2014. With Marilyn Dantico.  “The Limits of Local Redistribution: Neighbourhood Regeneration Initiatives in Toronto and Phoenix”.  International Journal of Canadian Studies 49, 135-158. 10.3138/ijcs.49.135.
  • 2013. "State Rescaling in Practice: Urban Governance Reform in Toronto".  Urban Research & Practice 6:3, 311-328. 10.1080/17535069.2013.846005.
  • 2001. “Environmental Policy Reform in the Post-communist Czech Republic: the Case of Air Pollution”.  Europe-Asia Studies 53:2 (March), 313-327. 10.1080/09668130020032316.

Book Chapters/ Refereed Papers

  • 2024. “Multilevel Urban Governance in Canada”. In Kristin Good and Jennifer Nelles, eds.  Canadian Urban Governance in Comparative Perspective.  Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 108-140.
  • 2024. “Toronto and the GTA: Governing Ontario’s Global City”. In Cheryl Collier and Jonathan Malloy, eds. The Government and Politics of Ontario, 2nd ed. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 310-3282021.
  • 2021. With Andrew Sancton and Allison Bramwell. “Bob Young, Big Projects, and the Study of Local and Urban Politics in Canada”. In André Blais, Cristine de Clercy, Anna Esselment and Ronald Wintrobe (eds), Across Boundaries: Essays in Honour of Robert A. Young, Kingston and Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 15-32.
  • 2018. With Andreanne Doyon. “Metropolitan governance in Canada: Lessons from Toronto and Vancouver”. In Richard Tomlinson and Marcs Spiller, eds. Australia’s Metropolitan Imperative: An Agenda for Governance Reform. Clayton: CSIRO Publishing, 109-122.
  • 2018. With Gabriel Eidelman. “Federalism and Transportation Infrastructure: The U.S. Experience”.  In John R. Allan and Robert Young, eds. Canadian Federalism and Infrastructure. Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 247-262.
  • 2017. With Richard E. Stren and Gabriel Eidelman. “Toronto: Metropolitan Transformation and the Governance of Sustainability”. In David Gómez-Álvarez, Eduardo López-Moreno, Robin Rajack, and Gabriel Lanfranchi, eds. Steering the Metropolis: Metropolitan Governance for Sustainable Urban Development. Washington, DC: IDB, 332-340.
  • 2016. “Toronto and the GTA: Changing Contours of Governance in Ontario’s Global City”. In Cheryl Collier and Jonathan Malloy, eds. The Government and Politics of Ontario. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 312-328.
  • 2012. With Talja Blokland. “Neighborhoods and Civic Practice". In Susan Clarke, Peter John and Karen Mossberger, eds., Oxford Handbook of Urban Politics, Oxford University Press.
  • 2012. “Multilevel Governance in Toronto: Overcoming Coordination Challenges in the ‘Megacity’”. In Robert Young and Martin Horak, eds., Sites of Governance: Multilevel Governance and Policy Making in Canada’s Big Cities, McGill-Queens University Press.
  • 2012. “Conclusion”. In Robert Young and Martin Horak, eds., Sites of Governance: Multilevel Governance and Policy Making in Canada’s Big Cities, McGill-Queens University Press.
  • 2008. Governance Reform From Below: Multilevel Politics and Toronto’s ‘New Deal’ Campaign. Global Dialogue Series, No. 4. Nairobi: UN-Habitat.
  • 1998. “The Power of Local Identity: C4LD and the anti-amalgamation mobilization in Toronto.” Research Paper 195. Toronto: Centre for Urban and Community Studies.

Recent Conference Presentations

  • 2024. With Zack Taylor. “Does Money Win Votes? Evidence from Local Elections.” Canadian Political Science Association Meeting, Montreal, June.
  • 2023. “Campaign Capital and Resource Mobilization by Candidates in Canadian Municipal Elections.” Canadian Political Science Association Meeting, Toronto, May.
  • 2022. With Karl Koessler. “Urban Outmigration in Times of COVID: The Phenomenon and its Impacts on Local Government.” Research presentation at the Centre for Urban Policy and Local Governance, Western University, August 3.
  • 2022. With Jesse Helmer. “Pork or Policy?: Distributive Politics in Canadian Infrastructure Transfers.” Urban Affairs Association Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, April 13.
  • 2021. With Charlotte Kurs. “Dimensions of Local Authority: Mapping Local Political Institutions in Canada’s Cities”. Canadian Political Science Association Annual Meeting, June 10 (online).
  • 2021. With Shanaya Vanhooren. “Somebody to Lean On: Community Ties and Practical Help During COVID-19”. Canadian Political Science Association Annual Meeting, June 9 (online).

Awards and Distinctions

  • 2013-2017. University Student Council Teaching Honour Roll, University of Western Ontario.
  • 2010. Nominated for SSHRC Aurora Prize, an interdisciplinary Canada-wide prize ($25,000 award) for an outstanding new researcher in the social sciences or humanities.  Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.   
  • 2008. American Political Science Association Prize for Best Urban Politics Book published in 2007.  Awarded for Governing the Post-Communist City: Institutions and Democratic Development in Prague.