Small Business and the City examines the power of small-scale entrepreneurship to transform local neighbourhoods and the cities they inhabit. In their evaluation of the factors that help small businesses survive and thrive, the authors highlight the success of a Canadian concept which has spread worldwide: the Business Improvement Area (BIA). By encouraging small-scale entrepreneurs to pool their resources with like-minded businesses, BIAs become sources of urban rejuvenation, magnets for human talent, and incubators for local innovation.

The book also analyses the policies necessary to support urban vitality, describing how cities can stimulate and support locally owned independent businesses. Through inspiring accounts of examples of urban transformation, Small Business and the City introduces a new “main street agenda” for the twenty-first century city.

RAFAEL GOMEZ is Associate Professor of Employment Relations at Woodsworth College and the Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources at the University of Toronto.

ANDREA 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.

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.