Zack Taylor
Associate Professor
PhD, University of Toronto
Telephone: 519.661.2111 ext. 85169
E-mail: zack.taylor@uwo.ca
Office: Social Science Centre 7247
www.zacktaylor.com
Google Scholar Profile
Academia.edu Profile
ResearchGate Profile
ORCID iD
Research Interests
Professor Taylor specializes in urban political economy and Canadian and comparative politics and policymaking, with an empirical focus on historical and contemporary multi-level governance of cities. He also pursues parallel interests in municipal campaigns and elections, local public finance, and political geography. Professor Taylor was the founding director of Western’s Centre for Urban Policy and Local Governance and leads NEST’s Canadian Communities Policy Observatory initiative. He is a Fellow at the Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance in the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy and a non-practicing Registered Professional Planner.
Graduate Supervision
Professor Taylor is excited to work with Political Science and Public Administration graduate students on a wide range of topics, including public policy, local and metropolitan governance, multi-level governance, public administration, urban politics, ideas and institutions, campaign finance, and political geography.
Current Research Projects
1. Place and Politics
How does space inflect politics? This project employs spatial analysis techniques to examine, first, how urban location and neighbourhood characteristics may influence electoral behaviour, and second, how the relative spatial clustering of groups within ridings may drive political party strategy in national elections. Initial research for this project was funded by an Insight Development Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council in 2016–19, and further supported by small grants from the Faculty of Social Science. The Urban Archipelago, a book on place and politics in Toronto, Chicago, and London (UK), coauthored with Daniel Silver (Toronto) and Jan Doering (McGill), is in preparation.
2. The City in Comparative Political Development
Building on a growing American literature that examines the role of urbanization in American Political Development (APD), this project investigates urbanization as a motivator of change in Canadian politics and the national political economy since Confederation. This project, undertaken in collaboration with Jack Lucas (Calgary) and Dave Armstrong (Western) is funded by a 2019–24 Insight Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
3. Multi-Level Urban Governance in Theory and Practice
Cities and neighbourhoods are increasingly the targets of place-based public policies and municipalities increasingly function as policy makers rather than policy takers are full participants in intergovernmental policy partnerships. Professor Taylor researches current and historical multi-level governance processes and institutions in relation to cities and urbanization. His book Shaping the Metropolis, a comparative historical analysis of multi-level urban governance in Canada and the United States, was published in 2019. In collaboration with Neil Bradford (Huron), Alison Smith (Toronto), and Martin Horak (Western), he is also principal investigator of a 2019–23 Insight Development Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council on Canada’s Implicit Urban Policy.
4. Urban Political Economy and Local Elections
What influence does money have in politics and governance, and at the local level in particular? Prof. Taylor is the principal investigator of the Money and Local Democracy Project / Projet sur l’argent et la democratie locale, a five-year, mixed-methods project investigating municipal campaign finance regulation and local election campaigning. Funded by a SSHRC Insight Grant, the project is a collaboration with Martin Horak, Sandra Breux (l’Institut national de la recherche scientifique, Montréal), and Kristin Good (Dalhousie). The project will contribute new insights, both nationally and internationally, into whether differently configured campaign finance regimes create more competitive elections, how local candidates campaign, and enduring questions regarding the influence of money in politics.
Selected Publications
Book
- 2019: Taylor, Zack. Shaping the Metropolis: Institutions and Urbanization in the United States and Canada. Montréal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press. Reviewed in Perspectives on Politics, Regional Studies, Journal of Urban Affairs, and Canadian Public Administration.
Refereed Journal Articles
- In press: Breton, Charles, Jack Lucas, and Zack Taylor. “Local Autonomy: Unconditional Elites and Conditional Publics.” Local Government Studies.
- 2022: Taylor, Zack. “Regionalism from Above: Intergovernmental Relations in Canadian Metropolitan Governance.” Commonwealth Journal of Local Governance 26, pp. 139–159.
- 2021: Taylor, Zack. “The Political Geography of Immigration: Party Competition for Immigrants’ Votes in Canada, 1997–2019.” American Review of Canadian Studies 51:1, pp. 18–40.
- 2021: Armstrong, David A., Jack Lucas, and Zack Taylor. “The Urban-Rural Divide in Canadian Federal Elections, 1896–2019.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 55:1, pp. 84–106.
- 2021: Taylor, Zack and Shanaya Vanhooren. “Local Election Campaign Finance Regimes in Canada: Toward a Research Agenda.” Canadian Public Administration 64(1), pp. 99–121.
- 2021: Lucas, Jack, Reed Merrill, Kelly Blidook, Sandra Breux, Laura Conrad, Gabriel Eidelman, Royce Koop, Daniella Marciano, Zack Taylor, and Salomé Vallette. 2021. “Women’s Municipal Electoral Performance: An Introduction to the Canadian Municipal Elections Database.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 54:1, pp. 125–133.
- 2020: Doering, Jan, Daniel Silver, and Zack Taylor. “The Spatial Articulation of Urban Political Cleavages.” Urban Affairs Review. 57:4, pp. 911–951.
- 2020: Taylor, Zack, Joanne Fitzgibbons, and Carrie Mitchell. “Finding the Future in Public Policy: An Analysis of 100 Resilient Cities Plans.” Regional Studies 55:5, pp. 831–843.
- 2020: Silver, Daniel, Zack Taylor, and Fernando Calderón-Figueroa. “Populism in the City: The Case of Ford Nation.” International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society 33, pp. 1–21.
- 2019: Taylor, Zack and Sandra McEleney. 2019. “Do Institutions and Rules Influence Electoral Accessibility and Competitiveness? Considering the 2014 Toronto Ward Elections.” Urban Affairs Review 55:1, pp. 210–230.
- 2019: “Pathways to Legitimacy.” Planning Theory 18:2, pp. 214–236.
- 2018: Allen, Jeff and Zack Taylor. 2018. “A New Tool for Neighbourhood Change Research: The Canadian Longitudinal Census Tract Database, 1971–2016.” Canadian Geographer 62:4, pp. 575–588.
- 2014: Taylor, Zack. “If Different, Then Why? Explaining the Divergent Political Development of Canadian and American Local Governance.” International Journal of Canadian Studies, 49:1, pp. 53–79.
- 2013: Taylor, Zack. “Magnusson’s Challenge: Can Political Science Learn to ‘See Like a City’?” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 37:2, pp. 800–802.
- 2013: Taylor, Zack. 2013b. “Rethinking Planning Culture: A New Institutionalist Approach.” Town Planning Review 84:6, pp. 683–702.
- 2010: Taylor, Zack and Gabriel Eidelman. 2010. “Canadian Political Science and the City: A Limited Engagement.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 43:4, pp. 961–81.
- 2010: Eidelman, Gabriel and Zack Taylor. 2010. “Canadian Urban Politics: Another ‘Black Hole’?” Journal of Urban Affairs 32:3, pp. 305–20.
Book Chapters
- In Press: Slack, Enid and Zack Taylor. “Canada.” In Steytler, Nico, ed., Forum of Federations Handbook on Local Government in Federal Systems.
- In Press: Taylor, Zack. “From City Autonomy to the Metagovernance of Place.” In Nathalie Des Rosiers, Richard Alpert, and Alexandra Flynn, eds., Unlocking the Constitutional Handcuffs on Canadian Cities: New Possibilities for Municipal Power. McGill-Queen’s University Press.
- In Press: Stephens, Gail and Zack Taylor. “Leading Beyond: Building Relationships for Intergovernmental Collaboration.” In David Siegel, Michael Fenn, and Gordon Mackintosh, eds., The Roles of Canadian City Managers: In Their Own Words. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
- 2022: Triadafilopoulos, Triadafilos and Zack Taylor. “Canada: The Quintessential Migration State?” In James F. Hollifield and Neil Foley, eds., Understanding Global Migration. Redwood City, CA: Stanford University Press.
- 2020: Triadafilopoulos, Triadafilos and Zack Taylor. “The Political Foundations of Canadian Exceptionalism in Immigration Policy.” Chapter in Yiagadeesen Samy and Howard Duncan, eds., International Affairs and Canadian Migration Policy. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
- 2020: Taylor, Zack. “Toronto.” In Richardson Dilworth, ed., Oxford Bibliography of Urban Studies.
- 2020: Taylor, Zack and Neil Bradford. 2020. “Governing Canadian Cities.” In Markus Moos, Ryan Walker, and Tara Vinodrai, eds., Canadian Cities in Transition, 6th ed., Toronto: Oxford University Press. pp. 33–50.
- 2015: Taylor, Zack and Neil Bradford. “The New Localism: Canadian Urban Governance in the Twenty-First Century,” in Pierre Filion, Markus Moos, Ryan Walker, and Tara Vinodrai, eds., Canadian Cities in Transition, 5th ed., Toronto: Oxford University Press: 194–208.
Research Reports
- 2021: Taylor, Zack and Jonathan Taylor. Representative Regionalization: Toward More Equitable, Democratic, Responsive, and Efficient Local Government in New Brunswick. Centre for Urban Policy and Local Governance Research Report 4. London: Centre for Urban Policy and Local Governance, Western University. Also in French.
- 2020: Taylor, Zack. Theme and Variations: Metropolitan Governance Innovation in Canada. IMFG Papers on Municipal Finance and Governance 49. Toronto: Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance, Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto.
- 2020: Taylor, Zack and Alec Dobson. Power and Purpose: Canadian Municipal Law in Transition. IMFG Papers on Municipal Finance and Governance 47. Commissioned by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and the Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance, Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto, as part of The Urban Project (https://theurbanproject.ca/).
- 2018: Taylor, Zack. “Suburbanization and Politics.” SPP Research Papers 11(22). Calgary: School of Public Policy, University of Calgary. pp. 13–17.
- 2016: Taylor, Zack. Good Governance at the Local Level: Meaning and Measurement. IMFG Papers on Municipal Finance and Governance 26. Toronto: Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance, University of Toronto.
- 2016: Taylor, Zack and Leah Birnbaum. Toward Regional Resilience in Toronto: From Diagnosis to Action. Centre for Urban Policy and Local Governance Research Report 1. London: Centre for Urban Policy and Local Governance, Western University.
- 2014: Taylor, Zack, Marcy Burchfield, and Anna Kramer. “Alberta Cities at the Crossroads: Urban Development Challenges and Opportunities in Historical and Comparative Perspective.” SPP Research Papers 7(12). Calgary: School of Public Policy, University of Calgary.
- 2011: Taylor, Zack. “Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics”: A Critical Examination of City Ranking Studies. Toronto: Intergovernmental Committee on Economic and Labour Force Development.
Recent Research Funding
- 2022–26: Money and Local Democracy Project / Projet sur l’argent et la démocratie locale. Principal Investigator with Co-Applicants Martin Horak (Western), Kristin Good (Dalhousie), and Sandra Breux (INRS-Urbanisation). SSHRC Insight Grant. $99,496
- 2022–23. Research Network on Devolution and Local Autonomy. British Academy New Frontiers Seed Grant. £5,000
- 2021–23. Canadian Census Discovery Partnership. Co-Investigator with PI Leanne Trimble (Toronto); CIs Alex Guindon (Concordia), Amber Leahey (Toronto), Graeme Campbell (Queen’s), Katherine Cuyler (Alberta), Sandra Sawchuck (Mount Saint Vincent), Susan Mowers (Ottawa), and Tracey Lauriault (Carleton). SSHRC Partnership Development Grant. $199,270
- 2020–22: Canadian Communities Policy Observatory Project. Co-Investigator with Victoria Esses (Western) and David Armstrong (Western). Faculty of Social Science, Western University. $137,500
- 2019–20: Party Strategy, Electoral Incentives, and the Immigrant Vote Since Confederation. Co-Investigator with PI Robert Wardhaugh (Western) and Collaborator Triadafilos Triadafilopoulos (Toronto). Collaborative Research Grant, Faculty of Social Science, Western University. $9,945
- 2019–23: Canada’s Implicit National Urban Agenda: Multilevel Governance for Place-based Policy. PI with Co-Applicants Neil Bradford (Huron) and Alison Smith (Toronto). SSHRC Insight Development Grant. $62,542
- 2019–24: Cities in Canadian Political Development. Co-Investigator with PI Jack Lucas (Calgary) and Collaborator Dave Armstrong (Western). SSHRC Insight Grant. $95,727
- 2019–20: Early Postwar Canadian Urban Change Data Creation Project. Principal Investigator. Faculty Research Development Fund Research Grant, Faculty of Social Science, Western University. $8,925
- 2017–20: The Process and Politics of Planning for Resilience in Canadian Cities. Collaborator with PI Carrie Mitchell (Waterloo), Co-Investigator Greg Oualahen (Ryerson), and Collaborator Sarah Burch (Waterloo). SSHRC Insight Development Grant. $65,518
- 2016–19: Place and Politics Project. Principal Investigator with Co-Investigators Daniel Silver (Toronto) and Jan Doering (McGill), and collaborator Steven Farber (Toronto). SSHRC Insight Development Grant. $53,577
- 2016–17: Canadian Neighbourhood Change Database Principal Investigator. Faculty Directed Research Fund Small Grant, Faculty of Social Science, Western University. $5,000
Selected Recent Conference Presentations
- 2021. Taylor, Zack. “From City Autonomy to the Metagovernance of Place.” Massey Cities Summit: Constitutional Space for Cities.” Massey College, University of Toronto.
- 2021. Taylor, Zack and Dave Armstrong. “Coalition Formation on a Nonpartisan City Council: Toronto, 1998–2020.” Southern Political Science Association.
- 2020. Taylor, Zack. “The Politics of Process: Explaining the Revival of Provincial Planning for the Toronto Region in Historical Perspective.” Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning.
- 2019: Taylor, Zack. “Populism, Party Politics, and Immigration Policy in Canada.” Workshop on Canadian Exceptionalism, Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto.
- 2019: Taylor, Zack, Dan Silver, and Jan Doering. “The Spatial Articulation of Urban Political Cleavages: Evidence from Chicago, Toronto, and London.” American Political Science Association, Washington, DC.
- 2019: Taylor, Zack. Panelist, “Ideas and Urban Political Development: US-UK-Canada Comparisons” in the “How Ideas Shape Urban Political Development” half-day short course, American Political Science Association, Washington, DC.
- 2018: Allen, Jeff and Zack Taylor. “A New Tool for Neighbourhood Change Research: The Canadian Longitudinal Census Tract Database, 1971 to 2016. Statistics Canada: 100 years and Counting Conference, Ottawa.
- 2018: Taylor, Zack and Jack Lucas. “Putting Politics in its Place: Urbanization and the City in Canadian Political Development.” Urban Affairs Association, Toronto.
Awards and Distinctions
- 2020: Dean’s Excellence Award, Faculty of Social Science, Western University.
- 2016: Best Doctoral Dissertation, Urban Politics Section, American Political Science Association.
- 2010: Clarence N. Stone Scholar, Urban Politics Section, American Political Science Association.
- 2009: Excellence in Planning Award, Planning Publications category, Canadian Institute of Planners.