The Research and Analysis Division has taken the lead in developing different vehicles for research collaboration and is involved in different research groups in order to foster the development of an active, multi-disciplinary research community on issues related to public infrastructure in Canada's communities.  These research collaborations involve other federal government departments and agencies, other levels of government, universities and research institutes, the private sector and other experts.

GOVERNMENT OF CANADA

Infrastructure Canada's Horizontal Research Roundtable on Infrastructure

Established in the fall of 2003 by the Research and Analysis Division, the Horizontal Research Roundtable on Infrastructure (HRRI) brings together more than 25 federal government departments and organizations to facilitate and foster targeted collaborative research on infrastructure and communities. Members of the Roundtable meet regularly to share and strengthen their knowledge, identify opportunities to advance shared research interests and undertake new research on critical horizontal issues.

The results of the first phase of research undertaken by the HRRI is entitled " Enhancing Knowledge about Public Infrastructure: Perspectives in the Federal Family ".

Six working groups have been created under the HRRI to address the six departmental research priorities which are:

• Communities, Cities and Public Infrastructure;
• The State of Infrastructure in Canada;
• The Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Impacts of Public Infrastructure;
• Financing Mechanisms for Public Infrastructure;
• Technology, Innovation and Transformative Infrastructure; and
• Governance Issues Related to Public Infrastructure.

The Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Impacts of Public Infrastructure

The HRRI Working Group on Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Impacts of Public Infrastructure, under the lead of Infrastructure Canada and Industry Canada, held a workshop on Community-Level Impacts of Infrastructure on February 4th, 2005.  The morning consisted of a series of presentations by external experts on indicators and approaches that can be used to measure infrastructure impacts on communities.  In the afternoon, break-out groups focussed on indicators and measurements for impacts of broadband infrastructure at the community-level.  Below are links to the summary report of the workshop and to the presentations made during the morning session.

• Summary Report [PDF]
• Jason Stanley – “ Investigating the social, economic, and environmental impacts of road infrastructure: a peek at the Labrador road study ” (www) [PDF]
• Ken Jones and Reid Henry – “ Measuring the impact of investments in cultural facilities ” (www) [PowerPoint]

• Michael Curri – “ Economic impacts of IT infrastructure ” (www) [PowerPoint]
• Ricardo Ramirez – " Broadband in rural and remote communities: An exploration of impact assessment" (To come)

OTHERS

CREStech (www)

CREStech is an Ontario Centre of Excellence dedicated to the investment of funds in research and development projects at universities. The Research and Analysis Division is a member of the Sustainable Infrastructure Working Group.

National Housing Research Committee (www)

Established in December 1986, the National Housing Research Committee is an ongoing committee composed of federal, provincial, territorial, municipal, industry, social housing, academic community and consumer representatives. The Research and Analysis Division is a member of the Sustainable Community Planning Working Group.

Artscape (www)

Artscape is a non-profit space and service provider that develops and manages properties, builds partnerships, engages in research and planning, and delivers programs that serve artists while strengthening the broader community. The Research and Analysis Division is a member of the National Research Advisory Committee for Artscape’s Beyond Anecdotal Evidence project as well as a special advisor for their 2005 Creative Places + Spaces2 conference.

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