Urban problems are now a dominant social issue: the essays in this volume consider the direction some of these problems may take in Central Canada. Three broad themes are discussed: forecasting (a spectrum of methodologies and urban forecasts); assessing the consequences of these forecasts at two levels (the growth of cities as an urban system and the growth and form of individual cities or urban regions); and assessing the role of changes in public policy. Specific topics include forecasting methodology in a spatial context, population and employment growth, migration, transportation, innovations, communication linkages, regional economic structure, economic fluctuations, the effects of public policy controls within a system of cities, land use and redevelopment, household mobility and social change, the spread of urban fields, and communities and neighbourhoods within cities. 

Larry S. Bourne is Professor Emeritus of the Department of Geography and former Director of the Centre for Urban and Community Studies at the University of Toronto.

Ross D. MacKinnon was Associate Professor of the Department of Geography at the University of Toronto.

Jay Siegel was Associate Professor of Geography, University of Toronto.

James W. Simmons is Professor Emeritus of the Department of Geography at the University of Toronto.