Small cities face intricate challenges. No Straight Lines provides the basis for a refined model of community engaged leadership and research designed to realize equality of quality of life. With particular attention to the small city of Kamloops, BC, this collection explores the impact of extended, short term, and unique leadership collaborations. It addresses local responses to homelessness, sustainability, food security, and more. It offers insight into the role of the university in the...

Small Canadian cities confront serious social issues as a result of the neoliberal economic restructuring practiced by both federal and provincial governments since the 1980s. Drastic spending reductions and ongoing restraint in social assistance, income supports, and the provision of affordable housing, combined with the offloading of social responsibilities onto municipalities, has contributed to the generalization of social issues once chiefly associated with Canada’s largest urban cent...