urban case study report

Housing and the City: case studies of integrated urban design

This case study report assembles a series of housing initiatives from different cities that are developed to promote inclusive, sustainable and integrated designs. The schemes range in scale and geographic location, but in each case represent a clear commitment to achieve positive social and environmental outcomes through innovative yet people and planet-focused design.

Housing is the backbone of a well-functioning and equitable city. The way in which housing is procured, financed, designed and allocated has significant implications for the lives of all urban residents. However, governments are failing to provide the human right of housing for all. The Council on Urban Initiatives has argued that mission-oriented approaches are needed to galvanise the whole of government engagement, while sectoral investment and cross-disciplinary collaboration are needed to realise the right to housing and prioritise the common good.

Housing has a profound spatial impact on cities. Apartment blocks, condominium towers, detached and terraced houses, self-built shacks and informal slums occupy by far the largest portion of urban land in cities around the world. Decisions about the physical distribution and design of housing will shape the social, economic and environmental dynamics for millions of urban residents for decades to come – particularly in Asia and Africa where urban populations are projected to balloon. Irresponsible development, poor community engagement, and overly permissive regulations and standards have encouraged architectural and urban design practices that foster inequality, exclusion and negative environmental impacts.

The report is divided into three sections: inclusive design, sustainable design and integrated design. Each section highlights examples of housing initiatives with short descriptive texts authored by individual Council members and their teams. From small-scale retrofits in Bogotá’s informal areas to Singapore’s massive state-driven investments, the case studies highlight that governing and designing housing for the common good is critical to the creation of just, green and healthy cities.

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• Published: 12 February 2021

Perspectives on urban transformation research: transformations in , of , and by cities

• Katharina Hölscher   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4504-3368 1 &
• Niki Frantzeskaki 2  

Urban Transformations volume  3 , Article number:  2 ( 2021 ) Cite this article

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The narrative of ‘urban transformations’ epitomises the hope that cities provide rich opportunities for contributing to local and global sustainability and resilience. Urban transformation research is developing a rich yet consistent research agenda, offering opportunities for integrating multiple perspectives and disciplines concerned with radical change towards desirable urban systems. We outline three perspectives on urban transformations in , of and by cities as a structuring approach for integrating knowledge about urban transformations. We illustrate how each perspective helps detangle different questions about urban transformations while also raising awareness about their limitations. Each perspective brings distinct insights about urban transformations to ultimately support research and practice on transformations for sustainability and resilience. Future research should endeavour to bridge across the three perspectives to address their respective limitations.

Science highlights

We outline three perspectives on urban transformations for explaining, structuring and integrating the emerging urban transformations research field.

Transformation in cities focuses on unravelling the diverse factors, processes and dynamics driving place-based transformations in cities. This perspective represents research that aims to examine and explain why transformations occur and are supported in some places and not others.

Transformation of cities examines the outcomes of transformative changes in urban (sub-)systems. It serves to understand and evaluate the emergence of new urban functions, new interactions and their implications for sustainability and resilience.

Transformation by cities looks at the changes taking place on global and regional levels as a result of urbanisation and urban development approaches. The perspective emphasises the agency of cities on a global scale and how transformation concepts travel between places.

Future research should aim to bridge across the perspectives to address their respective limitations, for example by bringing in place-based knowledge (‘in’) into global discussions (‘by’) to facilitate cross-city learning.

Policy and practice recommendations

Experimental, collaborative and place-based governance approaches facilitate the integration of local knowledge, the development of inspiring narratives that boost sense of place and empower local communities to boost transformations in cities.

To assess and coordinate urban transformations, transformations, policy and practice actors need to employ systemic concepts and visions that advance solutions with multiple benefits for synergies and  minimal trade-offs.

Multi-level partnerships and (transnational) networks for policy knowledge exchange between cities help mobilising the potential of cities as agents of change for sustainability at a global scale.

Introduction

The notion of ‘urban transformation’ has been gaining ground in science and policy debates. Urban transformations to sustainability and resilience are enshrined in the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (UN 2016 ) and the New Urban Agenda (UN-Habitat 2016a ). A rich research field around questions of urban transformations has started to emerge, combining multiple scientific disciplines, ontologies and methods (Elmqvist et al. 2018 , 2019 ; Wolfram et al. 2017 ; Vojnovic 2014 ). Key to these debates is the aim to put cities on a central stage for accelerating change towards local and global sustainability and resilience.

Urban transformation narratives have been driven by the recognition of the need and opportunity for radical change towards sustainable and resilient cities. Cities constantly experience changes, but contemporary urban change processes are unparalleled. Cities grapple with a variety of interrelated challenges, including pollution, poverty and inequality, ageing infrastructure and climate change (Haase et al. 2018 ; UN-Habitat 2016b ; Seto et al. 2017 ). Urbanisation in its current form causes significant changes in land use, energy demand, biodiversity and lifestyles and raises questions about the contribution of cities to global environmental change (Haase et al. 2018 ; Alberti et al. 2018 ; Elmqvist et al. 2013 ; Seto et al. 2017 ). At the same time, cities concentrate the conditions and resources for realising the fundamental changes in energy, transportation, water use, land use, housing, consumption and lifestyles that are needed to ensure liveability, wellbeing and sustainability of our (urban) future (Romero-Lankao et al. 2018 ; Koch et al. 2016 ; Elmqvist et al. 2018 ). The potential and momentum in cities is visible in for example the ‘climate emergency’ declarations of local governments that call for accelerated climate action in view of international stalemate.

The notion of urban transformation guides and formulates a better understanding of urban change. On the one hand, ‘transformation’ serves as an analytical lens to describe and understand the continuous, complex and contested processes and dynamics manifesting in cities, as well as how these dynamics alter urban functions, local needs and interactions between cities and their surroundings (McCormick et al. 2013 ; Iwaniec et al. 2019 ). On the other hand, the transformation perspective provides a normative orientation that emphasises the need for radical and systemic change in order to overcome persistent social, environmental and economic problems and to purposefully move towards sustainable and resilient cities in the long-term (Hölscher et al. 2019 ; Kabisch et al. 2018 ). Accordingly, sustainability and resilience are complementary concepts to asses and orient urban transformation processes (Elmqvist et al. 2019 ; Pickett et al. 2014 ; Simon et al. 2018 ).

In this paper, we distinguish three perspectives on urban transformations to structure and guide research and practice on urban transformations. Urban transformation research is an emergent, loosely connected interdisciplinary field combining urban studies and complex system studies. Various research fields and disciplines converge in urban transformation research; the multitude of disciplines has been systematically reviewed in Wolfram et al. ( 2017 ) and Wolfram and Frantzeskaki ( 2016 ). This diversity engenders multiple entry points and provides complementary concepts, theories and insights. However, the diversity causes ambiguities in ontologies, use of concepts and fragmented knowledge about how urban transformations unfold and can be supported.

Urban transformation research would benefit from “gradual interconnection, and the articulation of a certain range of research perspectives” (Wolfram and Frantzeskaki 2016 : 2). To facilitate this, we distinguish and describe three perspectives on urban transformations that provide areas of convergence across diverse research approaches. Each perspective provides distinct starting points to generate, structure and integrate knowledge along certain questions. Ultimately, the perspectives outline an agenda for advancing theory and practice on urban transformations for sustainability and resilience: they generate implications for urban policy and practice and a way forward to bridge across the perspectives to address the respective limitations.

Perspectives on transformations in, of and by cities

We distinguish between perspectives on urban transformations in , of and by cities. The perspectives provide entry points for formulating and structuring research questions on urban transformations, integrating research approaches and knowledge, and deriving implications for practice.

The three perspectives start from similar assumptions about cities and urban transformations. They focus on urban transformations as complex processes of radical, systemic change across multiple dimensions (e.g. social, institutional, cultural, political, economic, technological, ecological) (Hölscher et al. 2018 ; Frantzeskaki et al. 2018a ; McCormick et al. 2013 ). Cities are understood as complex, adaptive and open systems (Alberti et al. 2018 ; McPhearson and Wijsman, 2017 ; Ernstson et al., 2010 ; Collier et al. 2013 ). This implies that urban transformations are not spatially limited, and driven by and driving cross-scale and cross-sectoral dynamics: cities are “local nodes within multiple overlapping social, economic, ecological, political and physical networks, continuously shaping and shaped by flows of people, matter and information across scales” (Wolfram and Frantzeskaki 2016 : 143; see also Hansen and Coenen 2015 ; Chelleri et al. 2015 ). To describe, explain and evaluate urban transformations, cities are increasingly approached as social-ecological-technical systems (SETS), including (1) socio-economic, political and institutional dimensions (social); (2) natural resource flows and physical phenomena (ecological); (3) as well as the manmade surroundings (technological) (McPhearson 2020 ; Alberti et al. 2018 ; Bai et al. 2017 ). Actors have a central position within urban systems, influencing how cities are organised and resources are produced and consumed. Given the open character of urban systems, actors are diverse and include household members, local governments, and entrepreneurs also regional and national governments, international bodies and multinational companies, amongst others (Glaas et al. 2019 ; Webb et al. 2018 ).

Urban transformations can be desirable or undesirable (Elmqvist et al. 2019 ; Hölscher 2019 ). A shared aim across urban transformation research perspectives and approaches is to generate actionable knowledge to intervene in urban transformation processes and support radical change towards sustainable and resilient urban systems (cf. Wittmayer and Hölscher 2017 ).

Despite these shared starting points and aims, the perspectives ask distinct questions about transformations vis-à-vis urban systems. They look at systemic change dynamics taking place in cities (“in”), the outcomes of systemic change of cities (“of”), or systemic change on global and regional levels driven by cities (“by”). These entry points and corresponding questions manifest in differences along key descriptors of urban transformations (cf. Hölscher et al. 2018 ). The differences are not contradictory: they generate complementary insights for understanding and supporting urban transformations given the different level of aggregation, analysis and understanding of system dynamics and points of intervention (Table 1 ). 

The main aim of the perspectives is to facilitate structuring of urban transformation research along shared themes and questions. Specifically, in articulating these, we show the actionable knowledge generated through each perspective to support urban transformations for sustainability and resilience. We also show that the perspectives offer bridges across knowledge to strengthen research and practice.

Transformation in cities: cities as places of transformations

Transformation in cities focuses on unravelling the diverse, local, regional and global factors, processes and interactions that converge in cities as places of transformations, thus driving or constraining place-based transformations.

The perspective zooms in on cities as spaces and places. Cities are geolocated in an objective, abstracted point, i.e. space, which is for example demarcated by geographical and administrative boundaries. Cities as places are defined by the physical (i.e. urban form) and philosophical (i.e. imagination and representation) relationships between people and place (Roche, 2016 ; Knox 2005 ). Thus, cities as places are both “a centre of meaning and the external context of people’s actions” (Knox 2005 : 2). As spaces and places of transformations, cities harbour specific potentials, driving forces and barriers (Hansen and Coenen 2015 ).

Place-based transformations are the result of the social construction by people responding to the opportunities and constraints of their particular locality (Fratini and Jensen 2017 ; Späth and Rohracher 2014 ). Endogenous conditions and developments include geographic location, climate, local economic structure, population dynamics and the built environment. For example, urban segregation and inequality result from and are reinforced by interactions between residential choices, personal preferences, job markets, land and real estate markets and public policies (Alberti et al. 2018 ). The construction of place-based transformations does not take place independently of societal norms and representations of the world. Economic and cultural globalisation and the resulting ‘network society’ becomes manifest in cities and shape place-based transformation dynamics (Roche, 2016 ). Scholars seeking to understand the ‘geography in transitions’ emphasise that cities are positioned within cross-scale spatial and institutional contexts that influence local change dynamics (Hansen and Coenen 2015 ; Truffer et al. 2015 ; Coenen et al. 2012 ; Hodson et al. 2017 ; McLean et al. 2016 ). Along similar lines, Loorbach et al. ( 2020 ) show the translocal character of social innovations that are locally rooted but globally connected.

This perspective positions transformative agency as deeply embedded in socio-spatial contexts. A central research focus is on urban niches that experiment with and scale new solutions (McLean et al. 2016 ; Ehnert et al. 2018 ), governance arrangements (Wolfram 2019 ; Hölscher et al. 2019a ) and ways of relating and knowing (Frantzeskaki and Rok 2018 ). Urban experimentation or real-world laboratories have become process tools to facilitate co-creative and innovative solution finding processes that empower actors to deal with urban problems, for example related to mobility, regeneration, community resilience or green job creation (Bulkeley et al. 2019 ; von Wirth et al. 2019 ; Hölscher et al. 2019c ). Such approaches represent situated manners of  place-making to co-develop inspiring ‘narratives of place’, empower local communities and foster urban transformative capacities (Wolfram 2019 ; Jensen et al. 2016 ; Ziervogel, 2019 ; Castán Broto et al. 2019 ). The idea of place-specificity recognises the particular role of ‘sense of place’ and ‘place attachment’, which can be an outcome of experimentation and in turn drive transformative change (Frantzeskaki et al., 2016 ; di Masso et al. 2019 ; Brink and Wamsler 2019 ). Ryan ( 2013 ) describes how multiple small ‘eco-acupuncture’ interventions can shift the community’s ideas of what is permissible, desirable and possible.

A key value of this perspective lies on its embedded research inquiry into the ‘black box’ of a city, including social, economic and ecological situated and contextual knowledge. A main implication for urban policy and planning practice is to facilitate place-based innovation by going beyond sectoral infrastructuring and top-down masterplanning towards situated and cross-sectoral place-making. Experimental and co-creative governance approaches help recognise and mobilise place-specific capacities. The need for place-based innovation further calls for higher-level policies to be centred on the local dimension. For example, the current European Union Cohesion Policy puts a place-based approach into practice that recognises place variety (Solly 2016 ) and further extends it to a governance capacity building programme that engages with cities on the ground through the URBACT program ( www.urbact.eu ).

A limitation of this perspective is that knowledge about and actions instigating transformations in a specific city context are very entrenched in context dynamics. This can  limit transferability or scaling other than ‘scaling deep’ pathway (Moore et al.  2015 ; Lam et al. 2020 ) if not connected with mechanisms for global and transnational learning and knowledge transfer (Section 2.3). In (Moore et al. 2015 ; Lam et al. 2020 ) addition, neighbourhood-level interventions need to be connected to knowledge about city-level outcomes. This calls for critical evaluations of systemic outcomes in urban systems (Section 2.2).

Transformation of cities: outcomes of transformation dynamics in urban systems

Transformation of cities examines and evaluates the outcomes of transformation dynamics in urban (sub-)systems in terms of new urban functions, local needs and interactions and implications for sustainability and resilience.

This perspective focuses on urban (sub-)systems defined by specific functions (e.g. economy, energy, transport, food, healthcare, housing). Compared to the other perspectives, it most explicitly applies socio-technical and social-ecological, and increasingly SETS, frameworks to describe urban (sub-)systems. Urban transformations are the outcome of radical changes of dominant structures (e.g. infrastructures, regulations), cultures (e.g. values) and practices (e.g. mobility behaviours) of such urban (sub-)systems. As a result of these changes, what kind of and how system functions are delivered is fundamentally altered (Ernst et al. 2016 ).

The main aim of this perspective is to explain and evaluate how transformation dynamics affect urban systems’ functions. Frameworks and models to investigate how transformation dynamics influence urban (sub-)systems pay attention to the complex processes and feedback loops within, across and beyond urban systems and the accumulated effects on the urban system level. For example, studying social-ecological-technical infrastructure systems in cities advances understanding of urban structure-function relationships between green space availability, wellbeing, biodiversity and climate adaptation (McPhearson 2020 ). Similarly, urban metabolism analysis and ecosystem studies seek to understand energy and material flows (Bai 2016 ; Dalla Fontana and Boas 2019 ). An emerging perspective on cities as ‘multi-regime’ configurations investigates dynamics across different functional systems (e.g. energy, water, mobility, food) (Grin et al. 2017 ; Irvine and Bai 2019 ). This provides opportunities to unveil interactions across multiple urban systems and scales. For instance, rapid changes in electricity systems can have knock-on effects for urban mobility or heat systems (Chen and Chen 2016 ; Chelleri et al. 2015 ). The relational geography perspective puts forth a differentiated view of urban systems: it zooms in on different boroughs, districts or neighbourhoods and raises questions such as how innovation and change in one location affects neighbouring locations (Wachsmuth et al. 2016 ).

This perspective most explicitly addresses prescriptive, ‘goal’-driven and recently mission-driven orientations for reinventing cities to be more sustainable, resilient, inclusive, attractive, prosperous, safe and environmentally healthy (Elmqvist et al. 2018 ; Kabisch et al. 2018 ; Rudd et al. 2018 ). Researchers and urban practitioners and planners employ concepts like ‘sustainability’ and ‘resilience’ as frames to evaluate the state of urban systems and to inform urban planning and regeneration programmes (Elmqvist et al. 2019 ). The systemic focus and application of such concepts also helps to identify synergies and trade-offs across urban systems and goals. For example, the sustainability paradigm of maximising efficiency in mobility or energy systems might result in vulnerability to natural disasters when systems lack parallel or redundant back-up systems (ibid.). Similarly, scholars point to the risks of green gentrification: while urban greening interventions have multiple benefits for the environment and climate adaptation, if not planned and governed inclusively, they can create unintended dynamics of exclusion, polarisation and segregation (Anguelovski et al. 2019 ; Haase et al. 2017 ).

This perspective takes a meta-level view on the agency and governance in cities, highlighting strategic partnerships and interventions based on desired system-level outcomes. From this perspective, cities may act as coherent strategic entities based on systemic understandings of city-specific and long-term effects to pursue managed transitions of their large-scale (sub-)systems (Jensen et al. 2016 ; Hodson et al., 2017 ). Urban transformation governance needs to facilitate alignment, foresight and reflexive learning to recognise, anticipate and shape transformation dynamics and leverage points (Hölscher et al. 2019b ). Key starting points are shared definitions of what ‘desirability’ means in specific contexts. Orchestration can align priorities and connect emerging alternatives, ideas, people and solutions (ibid.; Hodson et al., 2017 ). Shared and long-term visions re-orient short-term decisions and interventions that create synergies across multiple priorities. For example, Galvin and Maassen ( 2020 ) analyse Medellín’s (Columbia) mobility transformation that also contributed to inclusiveness and public safety. Transition management is a practice-oriented framework to co-develop shared visions, pathways and experiments in an ongoing learning-by-doing and doing-by-learning way (Frantzeskaki et al. 2018b ; Loorbach et al. 2015 ).

In summary, this perspective provides a view on interpreting transformation dynamics and developing orientations and practical guidance for intervention. It becomes visible in urban planning and policy practice through the development of systemic urban concepts as ‘anchor points’ or attractors for urban transformations such as ‘sharing cities’, ‘circular cities’, or ‘renaturing cities’. Cities like Rotterdam in the Netherlands and New York City in the USA are using such concepts to formulate long-term climate, sustainability and resilience agendas and establish cross-cutting city-level partnerships for their implementation (Hölscher et al. 2019a ). A main implication of this perspective is about the need to institutionalise and prioritise such long-term agendas into policy and planning across sectors and scales (ibid.).

A limitation of this perspective is that it overlooks place-specific implications and can nuance or be agnostic to politics and contestations at local sub-system level. Strategically linking place-based initiatives (Section 2.1) with systemic urban concepts and visions provides a powerful tool to align the multitude of activities taking place in cities and to coordinate urban transformations on (sub-)system scale. Additionally, this perspective requires explicit attention to the relationships between urban systems and their hinterlands or other distant territories, which affect and are affected by urban system’s functioning (Section 2.3).

Transformation by cities: cities as agents of change at global scale

The third perspective on transformation by cities draws attention to the changes taking place on global and regional levels as a result of urbanisation and urban development.

The main emphasis is here placed on cities as “agents of change at global scale” (Acuto 2016 ). As open systems, cities are not just influenced by developments outside their spatial boundaries (see Section 2.1). Urban transformations also have implications on global resources, environmental conditions, commodities and governance.

On the one hand, cities – including their social-ecological-technological configurations and the diversity of actors influencing them – can be viewed as culprits driving global high emissions, resource depletion and unsustainability. This raises critical questions about the relationship between current and unprecedented urbanisation and global sustainability (Seto et al. 2017 ; Haase et al. 2018 ). For example, the expansion of cities will triple land cover by 2030, compared to 2000, with severe implications on biodiversity (Alberti et al. 2018 ; Elmqvist et al. 2013 ). Different frameworks and concepts are employed to describe and assess the linkages between cities and their hinterland and other distant territories, including ‘urban land teleconnections’ (Seto et al. 2012 ), ‘regenerative cities’ (Girardet 2016 ) and ‘urban ecological footprint’ (Folke et al. 1997 ; Hoornweg et al. 2016 ; Rees and Wackernagel 2008 ).

On the other hand, cities have become key loci for trialling sustainable approaches and solutions that inform the global sustainability agenda (UN-Habitat 2016b ; Seto et al. 2017 ; Bai et al. 2018 ). Cities – especially local governments – play key roles in shaping global sustainability programmes and discourses and in developing and sharing knowledge and best practices. Local governments have also become celebrated for taking action when the national government is not (van der Heijden 2018 ; Acuto 2016 ). Governance strategies such as experimentation, best practices or imaginaries have been taken up globally (Haarstad 2016 ; McCann 2011 ; van der Heijden 2016 ). This raises questions about how the experiences and best practices showcased in cities become knowledge to be diffused and shared, as well as how transformations travel between places and across scales (Lam et al. 2020 ).

This perspective supports a polycentric and multi-level approach to global environmental governance. Global environmental governance is becoming increasingly decentralised and polycentric, which is visible for example in climate governance (Ostrom 2014 ; Jordan et al. 2018 ; Hölscher and Frantzeskaki 2020 ) and the urban SDG (UN 2016 ). The recent ‘city charters’ of global organisations such as the IPCC Cities and Climate Change, the Convention on Biological Diversity and Cities and Future Earth Urban Knowledge Network, showcase the recognition of ‘cities’ as key players on a global level. While urban sustainability governance has often proliferated without leadership at national levels, the nestedness of local governance in legal and institutional frameworks at regional, national and international levels requires alignment of priorities and legislation across governance levels (Hughes et al. 2017 ; Keskitalo et al. 2016 ).

In summary, this perspective creates knowledge about the role of cities in contributing to global change and what it means for governance, policy and planning at global, national, metropolitan and regional levels. It provides and requires big data from cities and their resource footprints, flows and dynamics so as to draw on patterns and pathways for change that can inform and reinforce global agendas for action. A key mechanism for urban practitioners is to strengthen policy knowledge exchange across frontrunning cities (Hölscher et al. 2019a ). Transnational city networks such as the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), C40 and 100 Resilient Cities facilitate knowledge exchange and inter-city learning, foster the creation of collective goals, lobby for international attention, and enable the transplantation of innovative, sustainable and resilient policy and planning approaches (Acuto et al. 2017 ; Lee 2018 ; Mejía-Dugand et al. 2016 ; Frantzeskaki et al. 2019 ; Davidson et al. 2019 ).

A danger of this perspective is that this global discourse is mainly focused on ‘global cities’. Medium-sized and middle-income cities are leaders in terms of actual sustainability performance and need to be actively acknowledged and considered (Vojnovic 2014 ). Florida ( 2017 ) criticises how “winner-take-all cities” reinforce inequality, while many cities stagnate and middle-class neighbourhoods disappear. This requires more research into how resources and opportunities are distributed and made accessible across different cities, for example ‘global’ cities, metropolitan cities and developing countries’ cities (Coenen et al. 2012 ; Gavin et al. 2013 ). Additionally, cities are not necessarily a united front: priorities and interpretations differ across cities (Growe and Freytag 2019 ). To address these issues, this perspective would benefit from a more critical and contextual research approach on place-based transformations (Section 2.1), questioning why transformations occur and are supported in some places and not others. Comparative analyses into the factors and dynamics influencing place-based transformations can facilitate transnational knowledge transfer and upscaling of place-based initiatives.

Conclusions

We offer three perspectives on urban transformations research as a means to cherish and celebrate, but also structure the diversity of the growing urban transformations research field. Our paper is a first attempt to distinguish these perspectives, by discussing key questions, entry points, practical implications and limitations. We show that the perspectives help converge research approaches and clarify how different perspectives provide evidence for urban policy and planning.

The perspectives are not merely conceptual devices: they show up in cities’ agendas, programmes and approaches and give guidance to practitioners. The ‘transformation in cities’ perspective asks practitioners to experiment with collaborative place-making approaches like urban living labs to integrate local knowledge and strengthen a sense of place and empowerment. The ‘transformation of cities’ perspective appears as underlying integrative systems’ approach for core urban strategies such as climate change and biodiversity strategies. The ‘transformation by cities’ perspective highlights the need to invest in policy knowledge exchange between cities, for example through transnational city networks.

The three perspectives on urban transformation do not exist in isolation from one another. We have shown how the perspectives can feed into and complement each other to address respective research gaps and practical challenges. The main future research direction we put forth is to bridge across the perspectives to address their respective limitations and generate comprehensive actionable knowledge. This means to formulate integrative research questions bridging across perspectives: How do place-making initiatives in a specific neighbourhood affect urban systems’ functioning? How can place-based transformation knowledge be transferred to other city contexts? How can place-based experiments and transformation initiatives or projects inform policy at city and city-network level? What are the conditions for downscaling strategic initiatives from global level – for example, post-Aichi biodiversity targets – considering capacities of urban sub-systems?

Availability of data and materials

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.

Abbreviations

US Department of Housing and Urban Development

International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives

International Panel on Climate Change

Sustainable Development Goal

Social-ecological-technological system

United NationsMeerow, S

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Hölscher, K., Frantzeskaki, N. Perspectives on urban transformation research: transformations in , of , and by cities. Urban Transform 3 , 2 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s42854-021-00019-z

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Uniquely urban: case studies in innovative urban development.

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Cities in the Asia and the Pacific face challenges to provide adequate infrastructure and services to their growing population. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has long recognized that cities need large scale investment to develop and maintain infrastructure and services.   

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Urban case study: safer and resilient - chennai, india.

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Focused global contribution and policy change at neighbourhood, district and citywide levels through helping 1,312 of the most vulnerable families come out of poverty through alternative livelihoods (Sustainable Development Goal 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable (SDG11)); personal safety and positive discipline training in 27 schools with 2,000 teachers (SDG 4); citywide End Violence Against Children Child Sexual Abuse Campaign – over 5,000 people gathered to discuss child protection (SDG 5); and promoting women’s and children’s safety through a policy level initiative by the police department partnered with World Vision (SDG 16).

Enhanced citywide partnerships for citywide impact through collaboration and partnerships that provided 15,645 households with appropriate assistance during the 2015 South India floods; and forming a taskforce and strengthening community disaster preparedness plans in 54 communities.

Enhanced social inclusion and urban governance through the creation of diverse children’s groups for child protection training and values-based education; creating social cohesion among children and their families; empowering children, families and communities through World Vision’s social accountability approach to access government services; and forming and building the capacity of child protection units and linking with Child Helpline, the Child Welfare Committee and the Tamil Nadu Commission for the Protection of Child Rights.

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City Parks Alliance is leading a national initiative to research, curate, and disseminate innovative strategies and models for funding parks and green infrastructure in low-income communities.

The seven case studies included in this document showcase cities that are leading the way in using data-driven approaches to ensure more equitable distribution of funding.

As a foundation to this work on funding and equity, City Parks Alliance commissioned Urban Institute to lead research about funding models and their equity considerations in U.S. cities of various sizes. The resulting report, Investing in Equitable Urban Park Systems: Emerging Strategies and Tools , was published in July 2019. It explores twenty funding models and their equity considerations in cities of various sizes across the country. Beyond new sources of funding, the research turned up a number of strategies that utilize an equity lens to shape funding decisions. City Parks Alliance has also partnered with Groundwork USA to identify a framework to help communities use these strategies successfully, to be released in 2020.

This work is made possible with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

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City of detroit parks and recreation, detroit: parks & rec improvement plan.

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Pittsburgh Park Conservancy, Pittsburgh Parks and Recreation

Pittsburgh: parks for all.

An equitable investment plan was driven by data and coupled with residents’ input and priorities, resulting in the passage of a park tax referendum.

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NYC Parks analyzed capital investment data from the past 20 years and established long-term community partnerships that sustain investment in the city’s parks.

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The approval of a park revenue measure drove the development of an equity analysis, which leveraged a statewide open data set provided by the EPA.

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Rebuild, funded by a sugary beverage tax, aims to revitalize neighborhood parks, recreation centers, playgrounds, and libraries.

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Minneapolis’ Community Outreach Department uses data-driven racial and economic equity criteria to close park funding gaps and distribute funds.

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Milwaukee Parks Foundation offers grants to grassroots groups seeking to improve parks. Application guidelines and evaluation criteria are outlined.

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• Published: 06 May 2021

Intra-urban microclimate investigation in urban heat island through a novel mobile monitoring system

• Ioannis Kousis 1 , 2 ,
• Ilaria Pigliautile 1 , 2 &
• Anna Laura Pisello 1 , 2  

Scientific Reports volume  11 , Article number:  9732 ( 2021 ) Cite this article

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• Environmental social sciences

Monitoring microclimate variables within cities with high accuracy is an ongoing challenge for a better urban resilience to climate change. Assessing the intra-urban characteristics of a city is of vital importance for ensuring fine living standards for citizens. Here, a novel mobile microclimate station is applied for monitoring the main microclimatic variables regulating urban and intra-urban environment, as well as directionally monitoring shortwave radiation and illuminance and hence systematically map for the first time the effect of urban surfaces and anthropogenic heat. We performed day-time and night-time monitoring campaigns within a historical city in Italy, characterized by substantial urban structure differentiations. We found significant intra-urban variations concerning variables such as air temperature and shortwave radiation. Moreover, the proposed experimental framework may capture, for the very first time, significant directional variations with respect to shortwave radiation and illuminance across the city at microclimate scale. The presented mobile station represents therefore the key missing piece for exhaustively identifying urban environmental quality, anthropogenic actions, and data driven modelling toward risk and resilience planning. It can be therefore used in combination with satellite data, stable weather station or other mobile stations, e.g. wearable sensing techniques, through a citizens’ science approach in smart, livable, and sustainable cities in the near future.

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Introduction.

Within recent decades the rural-to-urban population flow has substantially increased. In 2016, 54% of the world population was reported to live in urbanised areas. At the same time, future projections of urbanization rates are rather alarming. It is expected that by 2050 and 2100 the corresponding fraction will increase up to 66% and 85% respectively 1 . Urbanization is typically followed by high population and building density and consequent land-use and surface alterations, e.g. deforestation, loss of farmland 2 , 3 . Natural-to-urban land alterations affect in turn the local energy balance of cities and thus their microclimatic characteristics and thermal environment in particular 4 , 5 . As a result, cities tend to systematically experience higher surface and air temperatures as compared to the surrounding rural areas, a phenomenon reported as Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 . The driving physics behind UHI is the reduction in latent heat flux and increase in sensible heat flux 10 , 11 . UHI is a significant human-induced environmental change that poses threats to human life. For instance, increased morbidity and mortality 12 , indoor/outdoor discomfort 13 , air pollution 14 , 15 , increased energy consumption 16 and greenhouse gas emissions 17 , 18 , impaired air and water quality 19 and intensification of energy poverty on vulnerable social groups during the hot months of the year 20 , 21 are just some of UHI consequences that usually are interconnected. Also, UHI is associated with global warming and moreover has been found to synergistically act with heatwaves and amplify their impacts 22 , 23 , 24 . Considering the projections linked to the ongoing climate change, the livability of cities will be seriously endangered 25 . In fact, according to IPCC’s Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5, global warming is expected to reach up to 1.5° above pre-industrial levels by 2050, and up to 2.0°–4.9° by 2100 as compared to 1861–1880 26 , 27 . Thus, heat-related risk within urban canopy layers is likely to increase even more in the very near future, making the urban population particularly vulnerable during periods of hot weather.

Measures for counterbalancing UHI and its aftermaths are deemed of critical importance. In fact, techniques for controlling the variables regulating the urban microclimate are receiving increased attention from academics, urban planners and policy-makers 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 . Quantifying, however, the magnitude of each microclimatic parameter is not trivial, especially because affected by dynamic and granular anthropogenic forcing. Instead, due to the complex morphology of urban areas, microclimatic conditions have been found to significantly vary not only among different cities but also among different locations of the very same city 33 . For instance, UHI incidences has been found not only between urban and rural areas but also between urban and suburban areas 34 , 35 . In general, the profile of each investigated urban microclimate is determined by the unique characteristics of the corresponding area 36 . Therefore, the intrinsic inhomogeneity of urban microclimate needs to be in-depth investigated with respect to the spatio-temporal variations originated from the local morphology, anthropogenic actions, urban planning, and temporal weather conditions 37 , 38 , 39 . For precisely determining the gradient and the intra-urban deviations of microclimatic variables, their spatial extent needs to be thoroughly delineated. Mapping out each variable’s footprint can result in a better understanding and evaluation of cities’ function, as well as decreased biases concerning local phenomena, such as UHI magnitude and its consequent heat stress and risk mapping. Furthermore, more efficient comparison analysis among relevant studies will be feasible 40 .

Traditionally, in-situ meteorological stations have been implemented for measuring parameters such as air temperature and humidity, in and out of the city. For instance, Santamouris et al. 41 utilised and retrieved data from a network of 23 experimental weather station within the city of Athens and gauged the corresponding UHI magnitude while the same did Yang et al. 16 in the city of Nanjing, China and Foisard et al. 42 within the city of Rennes, France by implementing networks of 15 and 22 weather stations, respectively. Similarly, Richard et al. 43 employed an extended network of 47 fixed air temperature sensors for identifying thermal zones within the city of Dijon, France during a 3-week heatwave. Another sensor network of high density is established by the Birmingham Urban Climate Laboratory and comprises 29 sensors distributed within the entire city of Birmingham 44 . Results of such studies are of critical importance since not only gauge the magnitude of local phenomena, such as UHI, but also shed light on the corresponding mechanisms of urban climate and hence help towards efficient countermeasures. However, since in most cases meteorological stations are sparsely distributed, data retrieved from this method represent a point-wise momentum of each microclimatic variable and not the overall footprint and the corresponding spatial patterns 16 .

To overcome this limitation, recent studies employed remote sensing techniques. In fact, land surface temperature (LST) data from satellites have been widely utilised for measuring the magnitude of microclimatic variables determining surface UHI mainly due to their high spatial resolution. For example, several studies used MODIS LST data 45 , 46 for assessing UHI and its drivers within high populated cities in China. However, due to their typically low temporal resolution, together with lack of direct air temperature profiles, data retrieved from satellites cannot be used for evaluating an extensive intra-urban distribution of UHI.

Under this framework, mobile meteorological units, placed typically on motorized vehicles, are becoming popular among academics for determining the spatial variability of microclimatic variables within a city. Table  1 gives a brief overview of relevant published scientific works. Unlike fixed units, mobile stations can offer data acquisition of higher spatial resolution within the desired urban context and thus can be used for identifying the intra-urban diversifications of the parameters affecting the urban microclimate and consequently human well-being. For instance, Hart and Sailor 47 utilised vehicular temperature traverses in order to determine the spatial variability of air temperature at two-meter height across the metropolitan area of Portland, US. Santamouris et al. 48 developed a mobile weather station on a telescopic mast placed atop of a vehicular van capable of measuring air temperature, wind speed, and direction at different heights with time-step of 30 s and performed a monitoring campaign before and after the implementation of cool pavements in an urban park at the city of Athens, Greece. Similarly, Busato et al. 34 assessed UHI incidences within the city of Padua, Italy through the development and utilisation of a mobile weather station built on a vehicle and capable to measure air temperature, relative humidity, and solar global radiation with a time-step of 5 s. Mobile weather units were employed also in the study of Parece et al. 49 aiming to capture spatial patterns of air temperature (2 s time-step) across the Roanoke, Virginia, USA. Santamouris et al. 50 also developed a mobile weather station, called “EnergyBus”, that measures air temperature, relative humidity, pressure, and wind speed.

Moreover, mobile weather stations have been also developed on human-wearable helmet 37 and trolleys 62 in order to monitor pedestrian pathways and the corresponding thermal comfort. Nevertheless, areas of vehicular traffic dominate typically the outdoor urban environment 63 . Hence understanding the differing and localized patterns of the parameters that regulate the corresponding microclimate through an exhaustive monitoring techniques is of primary importance. That said, both weather variables, such as temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, and parameters, such as materials implemented into the built environment, must be taken into consideration. Subsequently, thermal environment and comfort can be efficiently accessed and evaluated for safeguarding the well-being of the citizens.

Under this framework, this study aims to contribute towards detailed monitoring techniques that can identify the environmental quality of urban areas and hence safeguard fine standards of the corresponding risk and resilience planning. It presents the application of an advanced mobile weather station within a city of central Italy. The mobile station can monitor profiles of the main parameters that regulate the lower levels of a typical urban canopy layer. More specifically, it can monitor not only scalar or vector variables such as air temperature, humidity, wind profile, and air pollutants’ concentration, but also directionally dependent variables, such as reflected and diffused shortwave radiation and illuminance that are typically affected by the properties of urban surfaces. The start-up of the novel methodology is demonstrated through two transect campaigns during the winter period of 2020 within the historical city of Perugia, Italy. The main variables that define the quality of a typical urban environment were subsequently mapped and evaluated in terms of intra-urban variations within districts of different morphology.

The mobile monitoring station includes five units equipped on the 3D surface of the vehicle (Fig. 1 ). All units are placed above a specifically designed wooden base for minimizing possible affections originated from the van surface. Each unit comprises various sensors (Table 2 ). The variables measured by the mobile station are air temperature, relative humidity, solar global radiation, illuminance, \(\hbox {CO}_2\) and PM10 concentration, and wind speed and direction. Incoming short-wave radiation is among the main regulators of urban microclimate and it is typically measured by a pyranometer facing directly the sky. However, this method is not adequate for accurately depicting solar radiation at a specific height since it compromises shortwave radiation reflected from surfaces at lower heights.

For that reason, in order to ensure an accurate point-wise microclimatic representation of the investigated route, the mobile station presented here is equipped with five pyranometers each one facing towards a different direction. Similarly, five luxmeters were placed towards different orientations for capturing directional illuminance. In more detail, solar global radiation and illuminance are measured each by five different sensors oriented towards (1) the sky, (2) the street, the (3) right, the (4) left, and the (5) backside of the vehicle. The sensors are positioned on the top and back facades of the vehicle so as to minimize both external interferences, e.g. shading effects, and overlapping incidences. Furthermore, in order to ensure an accurate air temperature profile, a corresponding probe is placed in each of the five units. It should be mentioned that in the present study the air temperature probe of unit no. 5 was not utilized. All measurements are taken at the same timestamp every 10 s.

The sensor’s main characteristics, such as operation range, accuracy, and sensitivity error are opted for ensuring the desired level of precision of the corresponding variables. All the main technical characteristics of the installed sensors are summarized in Table 2 . Furthermore, since the station is mobile, apart from monitoring micrometeorological parameters, data related to the specific position of the sensors are retrieved by a Global Positioning System (GPS) antenna which is also installed on the vehicle. Therefore, all variable measurements can be directly linked with the corresponding latitude, longitude, and altitude as collected by the GPS antenna that has a Circular Error Probability (CEP) of less than 2.5 m in sky clear view conditions. The spatial accuracy is expected to be lower when the system is located in an urbanized environment, but the error is assumed as acceptable since data points are collected almost every 50 m and the analysis is focused on areas of monitoring path length of 1.2 km at the minimum, as better specified in section 2.1 (Table 4 ). Furthermore, the GPS antenna is specifically integrated within the wind speed/direction sensor for correcting direction misalignment due to the vehicle’s motion. Further information about the correction algorithm can be found in 64 .

Once the transect is concluded, data loggers of the designed configuration automatically generate a “.csv” file in which all data are saved. Data retrieved from the GPS antenna are also included in the same file and were utilized for intra-urban illustration. In order to minimize overheating incidences and ensure aspiration by vehicle’s motion to the extent possible, the sensors of temperature were placed and ventilated in a PVC radiation shield. All sensors utilised in this study are commercially available products, thus are tested, validated and certified in terms of accuracy by the producing company following the corresponding protocol and standards.

Monitoring system scheme.

Monitoring campaigns

Apart from the development and presentation of the mobile monitoring station this study aims to report on two startup monitoring campaigns, performed on weekdays. In order to demonstrate the suitability of the proposed monitoring architecture both campaigns represent data collection at two significant day-times for microclimate investigation purposes, i.e. day-time (around solar noon) and night-time (after sunset and thus in absence of incoming shortwave radiation). The monitoring campaigns were carried out by the authors during the months of January and February of 2020, i.e. in winter conditions. The winter period is a rather under-reported period in terms of mobile microclimate monitoring, while the UHI phenomenon could lead up to +9° in core cities with respect to rural surroundings 65 . Moreover, during the winter period, the city of Perugia is characterized by standard anthropogenic actions, e.g. standard working and school schedules, affecting the thermal environment and air quality, whilst during the summer period, possible biases may occur due to tourism forcing and varied school and working schedules. Previous studies showed that correlations between microclimate parameters and urban morphology are more accurate in terms of statistical significance during clear sky conditions and generally stable boundary conditions 37 . Hence, one clear sky day-time and one clear sky night-time days were chosen for carrying out the presented monitoring campaigns (Table 3 ).

Both monitoring campaigns followed the very same pathway within the city of Perugia, in central Italy. According to the Köppen and Geiger classification, Perugia is classified as Cfa and is characterized by humid subtropical climate conditions 66 . The pathway (Fig. 2 ) is almost circular and ends where it starts. It is specifically planned to pass through and monitor areas characterized by different types of (1) urban morphology, (2) land-use, and (3) human activity. Under this scenario, three significantly different areas in a radius of almost 2 km from the main train station of the city were identified. These areas present different building densities, prevailing built materials, and amount of greenery and were already identified in previously published research of the same authors in Pigliautile et al. 67 . More specifically, the case study city of Perugia presents an urban structure that comprises: (1) a hilly Medieval city center which is densely built, mainly characterized by stones and bricks as prevailing built materials, and not fully accessible by vehicles; (2) modern urban neighborhoods developed in proximity of the main train station and the main infrastructures connecting the historical city to its surroundings, that are similarly characterized by mid-rise buildings but wider roads, a higher amount of pollutants and anthropogenic heat sources, and prevailing asphalt and concrete as built materials; (3) suburbs that are outer from the center, sparsely built, and with a higher amount of greenery. Further details of each area with respect to the monitoring path can be found in Table 4 . Moreover, the monitoring path was devised so as to be accessible by the equipped van and to be completed in less than one hour in order to minimize the environmental data elapsed time-dependency and thus to focus on spatial variability 56 . However, due to vehicular traffic, the day-2 monitoring transect exceeded the one-hour duration by 10 min.

Concerning mobile monitoring, a vehicle’s speed of 10 km/h is recommended by Oke 36 , while according to Taha et al. 56 measurements of air temperature at vehicle speed lower than 10 km/h should be discarded. Other mobile monitoring studies, however, reported vehicle speeds above 30 km/h 47 , 55 , 57 , 59 . Here, in order to maintain the lowest possible speed within the city area and get a substantial spatial resolution, vehicle speed was maintained around 20 km/h and hence measurements were taken approximately every 50 m.

Pathway of monitoring campaigns, made via GPS Visualizer online application ( https://www.gpsvisualizer.com/ ).

Results and discussion

Boundary conditions.

At first, data derived from a stable weather station built on the roof of the University of Perugia 68 were retrieved for defining the boundary conditions of each monitoring campaign in terms of air temperature and shortwave radiation. As it can be seen in Fig. 3 , profiles of air temperature are rather similar for both days. The daily-mean air temperature values are 4.5 \(^\circ \hbox {C}\) and 7.4 \(^\circ \hbox {C}\) concerning day-1 and day-2, respectively. Furthermore, the mean air temperature values during the time-frame of the monitoring campaigns are 9.4 \(^\circ \hbox {C}\) and 9.3 \(^\circ \hbox {C}\) concerning day-1 and day-2, respectively, whilst the corresponding standard deviations are \(0.4 ^{\circ }\hbox {C}\) and \(0.5^\circ \hbox {C}\) , respectively. Similarly, the daily-mean value of incoming shortwave radiation is \(110\,\hbox {W/m}^2\) concerning day-1, whilst the corresponding maximum value is \(492\,\hbox {W/m}^2\) . The mean value of incoming shortwave radiation during the day-time monitoring campaign of day-1 is \(485\,\hbox {W/m}^2\) and the corresponding standard deviation is \(8\,\hbox {W/m}^2\) .

( a ) 24 h air temperature profile for both day-1 and day-2, ( b ) 24 h solar global radiation profile for both day-1 and day-2.

Intra-urban profiles of the microclimatic variables

A representation of intra-urban variations of some of the collected variables can be seen in Fig. 4 where air temperature (images a and d), \(\hbox {CO}_2\) (images b and e), and PM10 (images c and f) profiles across the followed monitoring paths are depicted with respect to day-1 and day-2. Moreover, further information is given by varying dot size with respect to the desired variable. Here, the size of each illustrated circle-point varies with respect to the corresponding specific humidity (SH) and wind speed (WS) values concerning the air temperature and air pollutant images, respectively. Through this representation, some elementary conclusions can be made, e.g. that high-temperature values occur simultaneously with high values of specific humidity. Also, localized hot-spots with respect to each variable can be identified. For instance, within the monitoring duration of day-1, the highest values of temperature were recorded on the peripheral area of the city center and within the suburbs-2 area. On the night hours of day-2, the higher air temperature values were recorded also in the area of the railway station and in the center. Similarly, the highest values of \(\hbox {CO}_2\) and PM10 concentration were recorded mainly at both railway and its neighboring areas, especially on day-1. During the monitoring hours of day-2, the atmosphere within the investigated area was rather clear in terms of PM10 concentration.

Day-time/Night-time monitoring. ( a ) Day 1—air temperature ( \(\hbox {T}_{\text {air}}\) ) versus specific humidity (SH), ( b ) day 1— \(\hbox {CO}_2\) concentration versus wind speed (WS), ( c ) day 1—PM10 concentration versus wind speed (WS), ( d ) day 2—air temperature ( \(\hbox {T}_{\text {air}}\) ) versus specific humidity (SH), ( e ) day 2— \(\hbox {CO}_2\) concentration versus wind speed (WS), ( f ) day 2—PM10 concentration versus wind speed (WS). \(\hbox {T}_{\text {air}}\) is in \(^{\circ }\hbox {C}\) , SH is in \(\hbox {g}_{\text {v}}/\hbox {kg}_{\text {a}}\) , \(\hbox {CO}_2\) and PM10 in ppm, and WS in m/s \(^2\) .

A more precise picture of the variable profiles can be observed through the illustration of the corresponding time-series. In Fig. 5 the temperature profiles during the two monitoring campaigns are illustrated. A temperature gradient ( \(\Delta \hbox {T}_{max}\approx 1.5^{\circ }\hbox {C}\) ) can be seen between Train-1 and Center areas within day-1. An adverse but more steady gradient can be seen within day-2.

The temperature substantially dropped ( \(\Delta \hbox {T}_{max} \approx -1.5 ^{\circ }\hbox {C}\) ) while entering the Center area of the city and substantially increased when approaching Train-2 area ( \(\Delta \hbox {T}_{max} \approx 1 ^{\circ }\hbox {C}\) ). During both days, a steep drop and increase of temperature can be spotted within the last meters of the Center area. This trend is more evident within day-1 and is attributed to a substantial tree coverage within the specific street crossed in that area. Unlike relative humidity, absolute humidity, do not depend on temperature. However, here, a rather stable profile of absolute humidity can be observed during both day-1 (Standard deviation = \(0.2\,\hbox {g/m}^3\) ) and day-2 (Standard deviation = \(0.1\,\hbox {g/m}^3\) ), mainly due to the absence of water areas or large green areas. A similar profile is observed for specific humidity profile with standard deviation that also do not overpass \(0.2\,\hbox {g}_{\text {v}}/\hbox {kg}_{\text {a}}\) and 0.1 \(\hbox {g}_{\text {v}}/\hbox {kg}_{\text {a}}\) during day-1 and day-2, respectively (Fig. 6 ). Dewpoint temperature (DT) is an alternative way of capturing humidity and comfort and it is regarded as a more accurate metric since it is an absolute measurement. Moreover, it is also used to evaluate moisture, especially during spring and summer periods. During day-1 a significant gradient ( \(\Delta \hbox {D}\hbox {T}_{max} \approx 0.5 ^{\circ }\hbox {C}\) ) towards higher values can be seen as the station was moving from the Center area to the Train-2 one. A rather adverse profile is observed during day-2. Dewpoint temperature decreased as entering into Center area ( \(\Delta \hbox {D}\hbox {T}_{max} \approx -0.6 ^{\circ }\hbox {C}\) ) and remained almost stable ( \(\Delta \hbox {D}\hbox {T}_{max} \approx 4.8 ^{\circ }\hbox {C}\) ) up to the end of the campaign.

Air temperature and absolute humidity for ( a ) day 1, ( b ) day 2 monitoring. Vertical dotted lines stand for the boundaries in-between suburban (first and fifth section), train (second and forth section) and center area of the city.

Dew-point temperature and relative humidity ( a ) day 1, ( b ) day 2 monitoring. Vertical dotted lines stand for the boundaries in-between suburban (first and fifth section), train (second and forth section) and center area of the city.

Figure 7 shows the concentration levels of \(\hbox {CO}_2\) and PM10, i.e. two key metrics of air pollution within an urban microclimate. Concerning \(\hbox {CO}_2\) , no substantial variations were recorded during both day-1 (Standard Deviation = 27.4 ppm) and day-2 (Standard Deviation = 12.3 ppm) time monitoring campaigns. However, on day-1, a small drop ( \(\Delta \hbox {CO}_{2max} \approx -70\,\hbox {ppm}\) ) of \(\hbox {CO}_2\) concentration can be noticed within Center area. At the same day and point a small reduction ( \(\Delta \hbox {PM}10_{2max} \approx -30\,\hbox {ppm}\) ) can be observed also for PM10 concentration. This drop is likely due to the physical characteristics of the specific spot. It is an open-air spot and hence wind could locally remove pollutants. Also, a localized and short-term decrease in vehicular traffic might have occurred. Concerning PM10 during day-2, no significant variations were observed (Standard Deviation = 2.7 ppm).

\(\hbox {CO}_2\) and PM10 concentration ( a ) day 1, ( b ) day 2 monitoring. Vertical dotted lines stand for the boundaries in-between suburban (first and fifth section), train (second and forth section) and center area of the city.

Short-wave radiation regulates urban microclimate during the day-time, whilst illuminance is a good indicator of anthropogenic action during the later hours of the day when sunlight is absent. Therefore, in Fig. 8 the profiles of shortwave radiation and illuminance are presented for day-1 and day-2, respectively. The results presented in this figure represent the average value of the data retrieved from the five sensors for both short-wave radiation and illuminance. Globally speaking, both solar radiation and illuminance are depending on the climatic zone of the investigated area, the time of the year, and the overall urban infrastructure. Of course, illuminance is a rather sensitive variable affected by various boundary conditions and hence its values significantly fluctuate around the mean value ( \(\hbox {E}_{vmax}\) = 347 lux and \(\hbox {E}_{vmin}\) = 229 lux). Nevertheless, several peaks can be seen within Train-1, 2, and Center areas where the most anthropogenic activities take place (Fig. 8 b). Similar fluctuations were found also concerning shortwave radiation (Fig. 8 a). Overall, shortwave radiation follows a somehow similar profile with air temperature. For example, an increase ( \(\Delta \hbox {SR}_{max} \approx 100\,\hbox {w/m}^2\) ) can be seen as entering the Train-1 zone, while a steep drop up to \(205\,\hbox {w/m}^2\) can be seen within the Center area when the station turned to a well-shaded street. The highest values were measured within the substantially unshaded areas of Suburbs-1 and 2.

Solar-wave radiation and illuminance ( a ) day 1, ( b ) day 2 monitoring. Vertical dotted lines stand for the boundaries in-between suburban (first and fifth section), train (second and forth section) and center area of the city.

Day-1 and 2 were specifically chosen for the presented monitoring campaigns due to their relatively stable boundary conditions. As a result, wind speed deviations were rather small (Fig. 9 ), i.e. the wind speed standard deviations were \(2.1\,\hbox {m/s}^2\) and \(1.8\,\hbox {m/s}^2\) for day-1 and day-2 respectively. Two peaks can be observed as entering and leaving from the Center area owing to the corresponding open-air location, while inside the historic walls where the streets are substantially narrower wind speed was lower. Wind direction was in general towards North either North–East (0 \(^{\circ }\) –90 \(^{\circ }\) ) or North–West (270 \(^{\circ }\) –360 \(^{\circ }\) ). It should be noted that the highest values of wind speed occurred most of the time together with North–East wind.

Wind speed and direction ( a ) day 1, ( b ) day 2 monitoring. Vertical dotted lines stand for the boundaries in-between suburban (first and fifth section), train (second and forth section) and center area of the city.

Figure 10 presents the deviation of air temperature and absolute humidity with respect to the corresponding mean value. Significant deviations have been found concerning air temperature within both monitoring campaigns. For instance, during day-1 deviations ranged from − 1.1 to 1.3 \(^{\circ }\hbox {C}\) . The peak negative deviation from the mean value, i.e. 9.9 \(^{\circ }\hbox {C}\) , was recorded as approaching the Train-1 area while the first positive peak deviation was recorded within the Center area. Even higher positive peak deviation values were recorded within Suburbs-2 area owing to their unshaded and open-air environment. A rather adverse profile can be observed during day-2. The corresponding deviations ranged from − 1.0 to 0.8 \(^{\circ }\hbox {C}\) . However, the global positive peak deviation was found for the Train-1 area while the global negative peak was found for the Center area. On the other hand, absolute humidity deviations as compared to the average value were found rather low.

Deviations from the mean value. ( a ) day 1—air temperature and absolute humidity, ( b ) day 2—air temperature and absolute humidity. Vertical dotted lines stand for the boundaries in-between suburban (first and fifth section), train (second and forth section) and center area of the city.

In Fig. 11 , a cluster analysis of the monitoring path can be seen with respect to different areas of the city. During day-1, the highest values of air temperature (Fig. 11 a) were recorded within the suburbs 2 area. The air temperature was slightly lower within Train 2 and Center areas. However, concerning the latter area, the distribution was wider since this area comprises both narrow streets and open places. On the other hand, during day-2, the lowest air temperature values were recorded in Center area and the highest in the Suburbs 1 (Fig. 11 b). Concerning \(\hbox {CO}_2\) , during day-1, the higher concentration values were recorded within the Train and Center areas (Fig. 11 c), while during the day-2, except for Suburbs 1 area, all areas were found with rather similar concentration values (Fig. 11 d). Concerning PM10, during day-1, the concentration within the Center area was found slightly lower as compared to the rest areas (Fig. 11 e), while during day-2, a rather inverse profile was recorded Fig. 11 f). In Fig. 12 the directional profiles of shortwave radiation (day-1) and illuminance (day-2) are presented at different spots within the monitoring path. As it can be seen, especially for the shortwave radiation, the direction of the incident radiation varies among different spots within the city, due to the varied urban morphology, e.g. open-air areas in the suburbs and narrow streets within the center area. On the other hand, illuminance levels during night-time transect did not vary substantially in terms of incident light direction but in terms of absolute value.

Cluster analysis of air temperature and air pollutants.

Directional representation of shortwave radiation ( \(\hbox {W/m}^2\) —left column) and illuminance (lux—right column). The monitoring path map was made via GPS Visualizer online application ( https://www.gpsvisualizer.com/ ).

Statistical analysis of the experimental data

Descriptive statistics.

Figure 13 illustrates the probability density and the central tendency of the monitored variables during the campaigns. Air temperature within day-1 is distributed approximately from 8 to 12 \(^{\circ }\hbox {C}\) with a mean value equal to \(9.9^{\circ }\hbox {C}\) , while on day-2 air temperature is distributed from 10 to \(13.4^{\circ }\hbox {C}\) with a mean value equal to \(12.1^{\circ }\hbox {C}\) . Temperature values were slightly higher during the night-time monitoring campaign due to the imminent ending of the winter period. On the contrary, absolute humidity values of day-2 were lower than the ones of day-1 with corresponding mean values equal to \(6.9\,\hbox {g/m}^3\) and \(6.3\,\hbox {g/m}^3\) respectively. The distributions of air pollutants, i.e. \(\hbox {CO}_2\) and PM10, can be seen on Fig. 13 . The widest distribution, as well as the highest values concerning both \(\hbox {CO}_2\) and PM10, occurred on day-1, most likely due to higher vehicular traffic and other human-induced activities that take place more frequently during the daytime. The corresponding mean values are 484 ppm and 56 ppm concerning \(\hbox {CO}_2\) and PM10 respectively. During day-2 \(\hbox {CO}_2\) concentration is distributed within 413–477 ppm with a mean value equal to 443 ppm while PM10 concentration varies within 2–21 ppm with a mean value equal to 9 ppm. Shortwave radiation values during day-1 followed a rather wide distribution owing to urban morphology variations. In fact, shortwave radiation is distributed from 11 to \(496\,\hbox {W/m}^2\) with a mean value equal to \(196\,\hbox {W/m}^2\) . A slightly narrower distribution is observed concerning illuminance during day-2, with values varying from 229 to 347 lux and a mean value equal to 274 lux.

Probability density and boxplot of the measured variables within ( a ) day 1, ( b ) day 2.

Correlation analysis

A Pearson’s correlation analysis, was performed for investigating possible primary linear relationships among the measured microclimate variables. The corresponding results are illustrated in Fig. 14 . The diagonal of each matrix comprises variable histograms with kernel density estimations and the corresponding rug plots. On the part above the diagonal, the correlation coefficients are reported, whilst on the part below the diagonal the corresponding scatter plots with local regression (loess) fitted lines and covariance ellipses for displaying the strength of the relationship can be seen 69 , 70 .

During the day-time monitoring campaign, the most significant relationship was positive and found for air temperature and absolute humidity, i.e. r = .69, p < .001. Other moderate relationships were found for altitude and PM10 (r = .46, p < .001) and air temperature and PM10). Likewise, primary relationships within the measured variables were moderate to low during night-time monitoring. A negative primary relationship was observed concerning altitude and air temperature (r = − .66, p < .001) on day-2. In addition, during the same day, a positive relationship can be seen for altitude and PM10 (r = .38, p < .001).

Correlation coefficients for day-1 and day-2. One star (‘*’) and two stars (‘**’) denote that the corresponding variable is significant at 5% and 1% level, respectively. Absence of star denotes no significant variable.

Multiple linear regression analysis

Multiple linear regression was employed to further investigate the relationship between air temperature, i.e. dependent variable, and the other measured microclimate parameters, i.e. independent explanatory variables. Air temperature is chosen as the dependent variable since is the main parameter that directly demonstrates the thermal environment of a typical urban environment. Moreover, datasets of both day-1 and day-2 meet the main assumptions of linear regression, i.e. multivariate normality, no multicollinearity, and homoscedasticity. The standardized residuals of the regression, i.e. the errors between observed and predicted values, are normally distributed (Fig.  15 a,b). There is no evidence of significant multicollinearity since Variance Inflation Factors (VIF) of all explanatory variable are less than 4 and rather close to 1 (Tables 5 and 6 ) and the correlations among all independent variables have correlation coefficients less than .80 (Fig.  15 ). In addition, as it can be seen in Fig.  15 c,d, the variance of the standardized residuals across the independent variables and the Loess-locally fit regression red-line that approximates zero, show now clear patterns across all levels of the independent variables.

Residual analysis: ( a ) Histogram of frequency for day-1, ( b ) Residuals versus fits plot for day-1, ( c ) Histogram of frequency for day-2, ( d ) Residuals versus fits plot for day-2.

Concerning both day-1 and day-2, the p -value of model’s F-statistic is < 2.2e−16, which is statistically significant, i.e. at least one explanatory variable is significantly related to the air temperature. Concerning day-1, a significant relationship with p < .001 is found between air temperature and each of absolute humidity, PM10, \(\hbox {CO}_2\) and short-wave radiation (SR), whilst a significant relationship with p = .003 is found between air temperature and altitude (h). Concerning day-2, a significant relationship with p < .001 is found between air temperature and each of absolute humidity, PM10, \(\hbox {CO}_2\) , short-wave radiation (SR), and altitude (h), whilst a significant relationship with p = .001 is found between air temperature and wind speed (WS). The values of the adjusted R-squared suggest that the models explain a 68% and 58% of the variance of air temperature, concerning day-1 and day-2, respectively.

Conclusions

The current study reports on the application of advanced mobile monitoring techniques within a historical lively city of central Italy. Locating hot-spots with respect to each microclimate parameter, as well as identifying possible relationships among them is not trivial. Each city is characterized by its specific peculiarities. Perugia, the city chosen for the present study, is characterized by a diverse morphology. It comprises a city center with narrow and shaded streets with limited vehicular traffic, a more recent neighborhood developed around the main train station with substantial anthropogenic action, and several mostly residential suburban areas with open-air streets, and greenery. Here, a novel mobile monitoring station is implemented for monitoring the main micro-meteorological variables that affect climate and environment with high spatial granularity for both microscale, i.e. neighborhood-scale, and mesoscale, i.e. city-scale. The developed station can be easily adjusted to different type of vehicles such public transportation, electric cars or other dedicated monitoring vehicles. The main stimulus of its development was to gauge and map intra-urban deviations of the main variables determining urban microclimate, also imputable to anthropogenic actions. In this view, the scale of the analysis here reported is the neighborhood scale. Nevertheless, the system’s potentiality in retrieving analysis at higher-granularity is pointed out as well. Following an observational mobile-transect methodology, the station can access and monitor almost all areas accessible by car. Unlike mobile monitoring techniques implemented to date on a macro-scale within urban areas, the presented technique succeeds the detailed monitoring of scalar, vector, and directionally dependent variables. A start-up assessment was carried out in winter conditions, a period under-reported in particular in terms of mobile monitoring, and UHI studies. Results showed that determinants of urban microclimate and hence the quality of the urban environment can substantially vary within the very same urban context and with time (Table 7 ). Moreover, the direction of the incident shortwave radiation varied substantially among different spots of the monitoring path during the day-time transect. A directional dependency was found also for the illuminance levels during night-time transect. Overall, the outcomes of the study may represent a key missing piece for a state-of-the-art characterization of urban environmental quality. A more accurate discussion upon spatial accuracy achievable through the monitoring system according to its technical specifics and the data collection procedure is going to be provided in future research pushing forward a finer intra-urban microclimate variability description. Furthermore, future studies, aiming to extensively monitor and characterize specific urban environments, with respect also to temporal variations, should comprise a large number of transects during various hours of the day. Special focus should be given on the development of standards concerning elapsed time-correction of the data due to weather boundaries variation with respect to the duration of the transects, as well as on the seasonal comparison of parameters’ profiles and accurate calibration of the sensors prior to the monitoring campaigns. Further evaluation of urban environments under the framework of a wide monitoring network comprising also satellite and stable weather station data or other mobile stations, e.g. bicycle and wearable sensing techniques, can contribute towards effective data-driven decision-making policies with respect to risk and urban resilience planning.

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Acknowledgements

Ioannis Kousis’s acknowledgments are due to the European Union’s Horizon 2020 program under Grant Agreement No 765057 (SAFERUP, website https://site.unibo.it/saferup/en ), and to the Italian project SOSCITTA ( https://www.eaplab.eu ) supported by Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Perugia (2018.0499). Ilaria Pigliautile’s acknowledgments are due to the European Union’s Horizon 2020 program - GEOFIT project  under Grant Agreement No 792210 acles. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 792210 (GEOFIT, website  https://geofit-project.eu/ ). All these funded projects are coordinated by A.L. Pisello (corresponding author) on behalf of CIRIAF (UNIPG) and Department of Engineering (UNIPG).

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Kousis, I., Pigliautile, I. & Pisello, A. Intra-urban microclimate investigation in urban heat island through a novel mobile monitoring system. Sci Rep 11 , 9732 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-88344-y

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Impact of urbanization on urban heat island intensity-a case study of Larkana City, Sindh, Pakistan

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The climate change is one of the important problem of the current situation in the world. The urban heat island intensity is a major problem of increasing the climate condition in the developed and developing countries. In current situation, the growth of population in the Pakistan causes over population in the cities. The population of Larkana is increasing rapidly day by day. The purpose of this research was to investigate the impact of Urbanization on the Climate. In this proposed research study, two types of data were collected (i) satellite data of Thematic Mapper (TM) Landsat 5 which was downloaded from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) of 1990, 2000, and 2010, furthermore satellite data of 2023 downloaded the Landsat 8 from USGS. (ii) Second data used from secondary sources of population census report of Pakistan 1981, 1998, 2017 and 2023 was collected from the Pakistan Statistics Bureau. The land surface temperature was found from satellite data of 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2023. The average temperature in 1990 was 4.25 0 C greater than 2000 in summer season and average temperature of 2010 was 4.73 0 C less than from 2023 in summer season. The average temperature in 1990 was 3.15 0 C less than from 2000 in winter season and in 2022 was 1 0 C higher than 2010 in winter season average temperature. Recently census reported above 579,000 populations lived in the urban city of Larkana. The shape file of the Larkana classification total area showed 41 Square kilometers. The supervised classification showed that settlement increased from 8.16 Square kilometers in 1990 to 23.98 Square kilometers in 2023. The correlation was shown between urban expansion and the growth of population strongly positive to each other. Another finding relationship between urban heat islands with urban expansion that correlation showed a positive relationship between each other.

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Man or bear? Hypothetical question sparks conversation about women's safety

Women explain why they would feel safer encountering a bear in the forest than a man they didn't know. the hypothetical has sparked a broader discussion about why women fear men..

If you were alone in the woods, would you rather encounter a bear or a man? Answers to that hypothetical question have sparked a debate about why the vast majority say they would feel more comfortable choosing a bear.

The topic has been hotly discussed for weeks as men and women chimed in with their thoughts all over social media.

Screenshot HQ , a TikTok account, started the conversation, asking a group of women whether they would rather run into a man they didn't know or a bear in the forest. Out of the seven women interviewed for the piece, only one picked a man.

"Bear. Man is scary," one of the women responds.

A number of women echoed the responses given in the original video, writing in the comments that they, too, would pick a bear over a man. The hypothetical has people split, with some expressing their sadness over the state of the world and others cracking jokes. Some men were flabbergasted.

Here's what we know.

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There were a lot of responses, more than 65,000, under the original post. Many wrote that they understood why the women would choose a bear.

"No one’s gonna ask me if I led the bear on or give me a pamphlet on bear attack prevention tips," @celestiallystunning wrote.

@Brennduhh wrote: "When I die leave my body in the woods, the wolves will be gentler than any man."

"I know a bear's intentions," another woman wrote. "I don't know a man's intentions. no matter how nice they are."

Other TikTok users took it one step further, posing the hypothetical question to loved ones. Meredith Steele, who goes by @babiesofsteele , asked her husband last week whether he would rather have their daughter encounter a bear or a man in the woods. Her husband said he "didn't like either option" but said he was leaning toward the bear.

"Maybe it's a friendly bear," he says.

Diana, another TikTok user , asked her sister-in-law what she would choose and was left speechless.

"I asked her the question, you know, just for giggles. She was like, 'You know, I would rather it be a bear because if the bear attacks me, and I make it out of the woods, everybody’s gonna believe me and have sympathy for me," she said. "But if a man attacks me and I make it out, I’m gonna spend my whole life trying to get people to believe me and have sympathy for me.'"

Bear vs. man debate stirs the pot, woman and some men at odds

The hypothetical has caused some tension, with some women arguing that men will never truly understand what it's like to be a woman or the inherent dangers at play.

Social media users answered this question for themselves, producing memes, spoken word poetry and skits in the days and weeks since.

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Canada needs more grocery competition, competition bureau retail grocery market study report.

June 27, 2023

Copyright and permission to reproduce

This publication is not a legal document. It is intended to provide general information and is provided for convenience. To learn more, please refer to the full text of the Acts or contact the Competition Bureau.

For information on the Competition Bureau’s activities, please contact:

Information Centre Competition Bureau 50 Victoria Street Gatineau QC  K1A 0C9

Telephone: 819‑997‑4282 Telephone (toll-free in Canada): 1‑800‑348‑5358 TTY (for hearing impaired): 1‑866‑694‑8389 Fax: 819‑997‑0324 Website: www.competitionbureau.gc.ca

This publication can be made available in alternative formats upon request. Contact the Competition Bureau’s Information Centre at the numbers listed above.

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Except as otherwise specifically noted, the information in this publication may be reproduced, in part or in whole and by any means, without charge or further permission from the Competition Bureau, provided that due diligence is exercised in ensuring the accuracy of the information reproduced; that the Competition Bureau is identified as the source institution; and that the reproduction is not represented as an official version of the information reproduced or as having been made in affiliation with, or with the endorsement of, the Competition Bureau.

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Telephone (toll-free in Canada): 1‑800‑328‑6189 Telephone (international): 613‑954‑5031 TTY (for hearing impaired): 1‑866‑694‑8389 Business hours: 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) Email: [email protected]

© His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of Industry, (2023).

Date: 2023-06-27

Aussi offert en français sous le titre Le Canada a besoin de plus de concurrence dans le secteur de l’épicerie : Rapport de l’étude de marché sur l’épicerie de détail du Bureau de la concurrence

Table of Contents

Executive summary, making the case for more grocery competition, about the competition bureau, how we collected information for this study, public opinion: survey results and what we learned, the state of the supermarket: grocery competition in canada, consolidation among canada’s grocers, domestic grocer margins, property controls, online grocery: the new supermarket, bringing international grocery players to canada, how other countries have increased grocery competition, informing consumers, canadians’ ideas for increasing grocery competition, recommendations to increase grocery competition in canada, how to contact the competition bureau.

Canada Needs More Grocery Competition: Competition Bureau Retail Grocery Market Study Report PDF , 5.46  MB , 52 Pages

Canada’s grocery industry is concentrated. Most Canadians buy groceries in stores owned by a handful of grocery giants. In 2022, Canada’s three largest grocers—Loblaws, Sobeys, and Metro—collectively reported more than $100 billion in sales and earned more than $3.6 billion in profits.

For new players and regional independents, the Canadian grocery industry is tough to break into. Canada is a big country and opening new grocery stores Footnote 1 is expensive and difficult. The industry’s big players operate thousands of stores and are well entrenched in the shopping habits of Canadians.

In recent years, industry concentration has increased, and it has become more difficult than ever for businesses to enter, expand, and compete effectively. Furthermore, the price Canadians pay for groceries has been rising fast. Factors such as higher input costs, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and supply chain disruptions have contributed to recent increases in the price of food. But we have also seen a longer-term trend that pre-dates those events, of Canada’s largest grocers increasing the amount they make on food sales.

Canada needs solutions to help bring grocery prices in check. More competition is a key part of the answer.

On our use of plain language

This report uses language that is different from the Bureau’s previous market study reports. Communicating clearly and accessibly with the public promotes transparency and accountability in the Bureau’s work. It also encourages compliance with the law and promotes awareness of important issues which may impact consumers and businesses. The Bureau is committed to using plain and accessible language wherever possible.

Our Recommendations

Competitive markets empower consumers and drive businesses to lower prices, improve product quality, innovate, and bring valuable new products to market. In this report, we make four recommendations to governments to improve competition in the grocery industry. They are designed to be flexible and provide principles-based guidance on actions that federal, provincial, and territorial governments across Canada can take. The Bureau recognizes that governments will need to consider and weigh other factors in deciding whether, and if so, how to implement these recommendations. However, the Bureau is committed to collaborating with decision-makers to help advance our recommendations in the most pro-competitive way possible.

Our recommendations are as follows:

• Canada needs a Grocery Innovation Strategy aimed at supporting the emergence of new types of grocery businesses and expanding consumer choice. There are new businesses that want to disrupt how the industry works, including by selling groceries to Canadians online. Governments at all levels should work together to encourage the emergence of new types of grocery businesses that are willing to take risks to shake things up.
• Federal, provincial, and territorial support for the Canadian grocery industry should encourage the growth of independent grocers and the entry of international grocers into the Canadian market. There are a number of important independent grocers across Canada who already compete against Canada’s grocery giants. However, given their relative scale, they face real challenges growing into national competitors. To encourage more competition in the industry, governments should implement policies that support the growth of independents, as well as the entry of international and discount grocers. The entry of new competitors and growth of existing independents would increase competition, empower consumers, and drive businesses to lower prices, improve product quality, and innovate.
• Provincial and territorial governments should consider introducing accessible and harmonized unit pricing requirements. It is difficult to compare prices on even a few items between different grocery stores. Canadians need tools to help them compare grocery prices and empower them to make informed purchasing decisions. This information is key to shop better and shop smarter, and to encourage more competition in the industry. To achieve these goals, provincial and territorial governments should consider working together to develop and implement accessible and harmonized unit pricing requirements.
• Provincial and territorial governments should take measures to limit property controls in the grocery industry, which could include banning their use. Property controls limit how real estate can be used by competing grocers. They make it difficult, or even impossible, for new grocery stores to open, which reduces competition in communities.

The Bureau also needs to approach its work in the grocery industry with heightened vigilance and scrutiny to ensure that Canadians benefit from greater choice and more affordable groceries. We need to thoroughly and quickly investigate allegations of wrongdoing, and we need the power to act when issues arise. Therefore, in addition to the above recommendations for governments across Canada, the Bureau commits to taking the following three steps to better promote competition in the Canadian grocery industry:

• Approach our work in the Canadian grocery industry with heightened vigilance and scrutiny.
• Provide a pro-competitive perspective to support the implementation of Canada’s grocery code of conduct.
• Revisit the findings of this study in three years to assess progress on recommendations made to government.

Change will take time. These solutions will not bring Canadians’ grocery bills down immediately. But by acting now, governments at all levels can take steps toward creating a more competitive grocery industry in Canada.

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Why does competition matter? In a nutshell, competition is the driver of Canada's economy . When our economy is more competitive, Canadian businesses and consumers benefit in meaningful ways.

Competition pushes businesses to innovate, to improve the products and services they offer, and to enhance the efficiency of their operations. When these things happen, consumers benefit from increased choice, higher quality goods and services, and lower prices.

Competition matters in all industries and sectors of our economy, but why is it so important in the grocery industry?

Canada’s grocery industry is concentrated . It can be difficult for small and medium-sized businesses to compete effectively against Canada’s grocery giants. It is also challenging for new businesses to enter the industry successfully.

Without changes in the competitive landscape, Canadians will not be able to fully benefit from competitive prices and product choices.

So what is the solution? In our view, Canada needs more grocery competition .

Governments at all levels need to take steps to encourage and support more grocery competition in Canada. We have laid out a path to do so in this report.

The Competition Bureau is an independent law enforcement agency that protects and promotes competition for the benefit of Canadian consumers and businesses.

The Bureau’s activities are focused on those two key terms: protect and promote. To protect competition, we investigate potential breaches of the Competition Act and take appropriate action to remedy any harm. To promote competition , we work with businesses and governments across Canada to champion the key role of competition in the Canadian economy.

Market studies, like this one, are one way that the Bureau works to promote competition. Through this study, we have not investigated any specific allegations of wrongdoing. Instead, we have studied the grocery industry to understand its competitive dynamics and to explore ways that governments across Canada can act to promote greater grocery competition.

The Bureau’s law enforcement mandate

In the law enforcement context, the Bureau is an investigative body, much like the police. Our job is to collect evidence and investigate potential breaches of the Competition Act . Footnote 2 Proving that a person or business has violated the law requires solid evidence that can stand up to scrutiny.

The Competition Act sets out specific conduct—or anti-competitive behaviour—that we investigate. In general terms, this conduct can include:

• Price fixing and bid rigging —when competitors agree to avoid competing by agreeing to set the same prices for goods or services or agreeing that a specific supplier will win a contract.
• Deceptive marketing —when businesses deceive consumers by advertising or marketing products and services in ways that are false or misleading.
• Mergers —when one business buys another and harms competition in the marketplace.
• Abuse of Dominance —when dominant businesses engage in conduct that hurts competition in the marketplace.

Of course, these are just quick summaries of what we look for. The Competition Act is very specific about the type of conduct that may raise concern. We take action when we have sufficient evidence that a person or business has violated the law.

Competition promotion: Helping governments create more competition

It’s not just businesses that take actions that affect competition. Different levels of government can pass laws, policies, and regulations that sometimes make it harder for businesses to compete. As an example, laws that require Canadian ownership of businesses might stop foreign competitors from entering a market, which would reduce the choices available to Canadians and the competitiveness of the market.

There may be good reasons to pass such laws—such as ensuring Canadian control of our supply of an important product. But they also come at a cost, as less choice for consumers and competition can lead to higher prices.

Our retail grocery market study falls under our efforts to promote competition. When we do market studies, we examine an industry to see whether there are ways to improve competition. We do this so that we can suggest ways that governments can work to make competition better for Canada.

Market studies allow the Bureau to examine the competitive dynamics of an industry in an in-depth, holistic way. However, market studies are a bit different than other Bureau activities. When conducting law enforcement investigations, the Bureau can get court orders that compel businesses and people to give us information. For market studies, we do not have this ability. Instead, we generally have to rely on information that is publicly available or provided voluntarily.

In this study, we wanted to hear from consumers, given the impact of rising grocery prices on all Canadians. We used the Privy Council Office (PCO) Survey on Current Issues to assess Canadians’ attitudes and behaviours toward grocery shopping and solicited consumer perspectives on our website. The feedback received informed how we conducted the study and the issues we focused on.

Of course, in conducting this study, we also spoke to a variety of grocers, both in Canada and internationally. Many grocers were happy to speak with us, and we appreciate their candour and assistance with our study. Others were more reluctant to share information with the Bureau. This did limit our ability to fully answer some questions that are top of mind for Canadians, in ways that we discuss later in this report. Nevertheless, the absence of this information did not prevent us from identifying important ways in which grocery competition could be increased.

In addition to consumers and grocers, we benefited from speaking with a number of governments and agencies across Canada and internationally. We spoke with governments in Canada to understand how our current laws, policies, and regulations affect grocery competition. We also spoke to a number of international competition agencies to understand the steps that they have taken to increase grocery competition in their jurisdictions, and how these could be applied to Canada.

We also worked with independent financial and retail experts. These experts helped the Bureau to better understand how certain industry-specific practices affect competition in the grocery industry.

It’s important to note that our focus in this study was on retail grocery competition. We did not focus on issues relating to the purchase of groceries from suppliers, unless they had an impact on retail competition. Although the Bureau recognizes that the relationship between retailers and suppliers can affect the competitive dynamics of the industry, competition law in Canada does not regulate imbalances in bargaining power, and this aspect of the industry is subject to the establishment of a code of conduct that is currently being negotiated among key stakeholders. The Bureau has previously investigated the business practices of certain grocers in their dealings with suppliers, and will not hesitate to take appropriate action should there be evidence of any conduct that could violate the Competition Act .

Key takeaways

• As part of this study, we used the PCO Survey on Current Issues to assess Canadians’ attitudes and behaviours toward grocery shopping.
• Proximity matters: most Canadians buy groceries from stores located near their home.
• Consumers living in urban areas have significantly more options than those located in rural and remote areas of Canada.
• Supermarkets are still the main option for consumers, but more Canadians are buying groceries online.
• Loyalty programs are an important driver of consumer choice.

To inform this study, the Bureau used the PCO Survey on Current Issues. We asked the PCO to include eight questions on their questionnaire to assess Canadians’ attitudes and behaviours toward grocery shopping. This survey was conducted by telephone with a random sample of 1,000 Canadians through two waves from January 23 to January 29 and from January 30 to February 5, 2023. Footnote 3

The Bureau was interested in learning about how and where Canadians shop for their groceries. Responses to the PCO’s survey helped us focus our analysis on what is most important to Canadians. Below, we have presented the survey results. We examine what they tell us about certain identity factors and how they may impact the ways in which Canadians buy their groceries. We then interpret these results and consider how they may affect our thinking about grocery competition in Canada.

Public opinion survey results

How often do you buy groceries.

• Everyday: 3%
• 2-3 times per week: 37%
• Once a week: 44%
• Once every two weeks: 11%
• Once a month: 2%
• Less than once a month: 1%
• I do not buy groceries: 2%

The vast majority (81%) of Canadians said they buy groceries one to three times per week.

What stores do you typically go to when buying groceries?

• Loblaws and the stores they operate: 49%
• Sobeys and the stores they operate: 28%
• Walmart: 25%
• Metro and the stores they operate: 22%
• Costco: 18%
• Other grocery stores: 28%

About half (49%) of Canadians said they shop at Loblaws or a store they operate.

In the past 3 months, have you bought groceries using the following? Footnote 4

• Third-party grocery delivery service (e.g. Instacart): 17%
• Order online with curbside pickup: 12%
• Online order with home delivery service from the grocery store: 9%
• Meal prep delivery services (e.g. GoodFood): 8%
• Dark stores or online-only retailers (e.g. Buggy, SPUD): 2%

30% of Canadians said that they have used at least one online option in the past three months.

How often do you visit multiple grocery stores in order to find the best price?

• Sometimes: 41%
• Very often: 17%

Most Canadians (79%) said that they visit multiple grocery stores to find the best price at least sometimes.

How do you usually get to the grocery store?

• By car: 83%
• On foot: 10%
• By public transit: 5%
• By bike or scooter: 1%

Based on the mode of transportation you usually use to get to the grocery store, how many grocery stores are located within 15 minutes of your home?

Do you have a loyalty card or points card from a grocery store, are you more likely to buy your groceries at a grocery store to which you possess a loyalty or points card.

• Yes, much more likely: 34%
• Yes, somewhat more likely: 28%
• No, not more likely: 38%

How do social, economic and cultural factors shape the way Canadians buy groceries?

To be truly effective, competition policy needs to consider how different social, economic, and cultural factors interact and affect diverse groups of Canadians. Like other organizations around the world, including the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development , the Bureau is moving toward more inclusive competition law enforcement and promotion . By considering these factors in our work, we can protect and promote competition for consumers and businesses more effectively, while also helping build a more inclusive economy. The tools we used are founded on Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus). Footnote 5

The Bureau has taken steps to become more inclusive in its information gathering and analysis because this can affect how we think about competition. For example, more comprehensive information can better inform us about how diverse groups of consumers make purchasing decisions. Likewise, it can contribute to the Bureau’s understanding of how competition can benefit and harm diverse groups of consumers. This helps inform our decision-making, including how we prioritize our work.

A key part of this work is gathering information—consulting and engaging diverse groups of Canadians, and where possible, seeking rich, disaggregated data to inform our competition enforcement and promotion activities. Our engagement with Canadian consumers as part of this study is just one example of our efforts in this area.

Survey findings from a Gender-based Analysis Plus lens

The Bureau applied a GBA Plus lens to the PCO's survey results. Footnote 6 This analysis presented some interesting findings:

• When it comes to shopping for groceries , Canadians living in urban areas said they are less likely to visit multiple grocery stores in order to find the best price. Younger Canadians (aged 18-34 years) also said they are more likely than others to have used a third-party service or a grocery store’s online service to shop for groceries.
• In terms of grocery store proximity , lower-income Canadians (earning less than $40,000 a year) and those living in rural areas said that they are more likely to have fewer than three grocery stores within 15 minutes of their home. Footnote 7
• Survey results also show that mode of transportation varies based on certain socio-economic characteristics. Lower-income Canadians and those aged 18-34 years are more likely to walk or use public transit to get to the grocery store.
• Loyalty or points cards are more popular among women. Lower income (earning less than $40,000 a year) and younger Canadians (18-34 years) are less likely to have a loyalty or points card from a grocery store. However, of the 75% of Canadians that said they have such a card, immigrants (72%) and those aged 18-34 years (79%) said they were at least somewhat more likely to buy their groceries at a store where they have a loyalty or points card.

What we learned about grocery competition from Canadians

We learned a lot from this survey. The responses from Canadians have helped us better understand the factors that drive consumer decision-making when it comes to grocery purchases.

Ultimately, the Bureau drew five conclusions about consumer behaviour in the grocery industry from these results. Footnote 8 Each is discussed in greater detail below:

1. Proximity matters

Consumers tend to stay close to home when thinking about grocery options. This makes a lot of sense, as the extra time, effort, and expense of travelling farther will tend to offset any cash savings they get.

A simple example is a staple item, like a bag of potatoes. How far would a person travel to save even $1 on a 5 lb bag of potatoes? Would they drive to the next town over? If the answer is no, then that store probably isn’t actually a competitive option for them.

Things are a bit more complicated when we consider decision-making around buying a week’s worth of groceries. Some items may be cheaper at a local store, and others more expensive relative to a store that is further away. Does the average Canadian sit down and price compare dozens of items across a number of stores? Or will they simply limit their shopping to a smaller number of local options?

It is important that we get these answers right. If individuals only ever shop within 20 minutes of their home, it would be wrong for us to consider a store 30 minutes away as being a meaningful competitor. Doing so would leave us with the conclusion that there was more competition than there really is.

2. The degree of grocery competition in urban and rural communities varies in meaningful ways

When looking at the availability of grocery products, we often see very different results when comparing cities to smaller towns or rural communities. In a city, residents might easily have five or more grocery stores within 20 minutes of their house. Those who live in a small town or a rural community said that they have much fewer options.

Remote, Northern, and Indigenous Communities

These differences also exist when we look at remote, northern, and Indigenous communities. Grocery prices are typically much higher in these areas than in urban areas. Higher transportation costs are a contributing factor, but the lack of competitive options also plays a role.

Most of Canada’s grocery giants are either not present or have limited operations in these areas. Many residents have access to only one grocery store, or none at all. Although more competition, including from online options , is unlikely to bring these communities the same prices that Canadians see elsewhere, it can help.

3. Supermarkets are still the main option for consumers ...

The vast majority of Canadians said that, when it comes to buying groceries, they primarily shop at grocery stores. That might seem obvious, but it’s important to test our preconceived notions to see if they are supported by evidence.

A simple example comes from buying a box of cereal. Of course, you can find options in any grocery store. But you could also get cereal from a number of convenience stores or pharmacies. If we only looked at cereal, we would think that there are many more options available than if we considered a broader basket of groceries.

This helps us focus our analysis. It tells us that there is something unique about supermarkets that consumers value when doing their weekly shopping. This could be how they price products, or the range of products they offer. Either way, it helps us focus on the competitive options that are most important to Canadians. And Canadians said that they prefer buying groceries in a supermarket format. Footnote 9

4. ... But online options are becoming more important

About a third of Canadians said that they have used at least one online option to buy groceries in the past three months. This could represent a change in how some Canadians buy their groceries. In the past—prior to the pandemic—a much smaller percentage of Canadians bought groceries online . Stakeholders told us they expect this number to keep growing.

Accordingly, in this study, we focused on the competitive role of online options, and how it might change in the near future. For now, supermarkets are still where most Canadians buy their groceries, but that might change.

5. Loyalty programs drive consumer decisions

Most of the major grocery retailers have loyalty programs that allow customers to earn points or rewards that can be used to purchase groceries and other products.

Consumers are encouraged to regularly shop at the same grocery store to earn points faster and benefit from special or targeted offers. In some cases, they may also be able to earn points by shopping at partner stores. As an example, Loblaws’ PC Optimum program applies across a large network of stores, including both its supermarkets and Shoppers Drug Mart (or Pharmaprix in Quebec).

Loyalty programs can bring about lower prices for consumers—either through special offers or by redeeming points for cheaper groceries. They may also drive grocery stores to compete harder to lure customers away from another store that has a particularly strong loyalty program.

Based on the survey responses, we found that these programs have an important influence on consumer behaviour. Roughly three in five Canadians (61%) reported that they are more likely to shop at a grocery store where they can earn rewards points. We also found that loyalty programs were more popular with women, and more likely to affect the purchasing decisions of immigrants. However, lower-income Canadians (earning less than $40,000 a year) were less likely to have loyalty or points cards.

Here’s what follows

What we learned from this survey drives the rest of this report. We analyze competition between supermarkets, as that is where most Canadians do their grocery shopping. We look at online grocery options, as Canadians said that they are becoming more relevant for their shopping habits. And finally, we focus on the steps that can be taken to improve competition—be it by supporting the entry of new competitive supermarkets, or by empowering consumers with more and better information to help them find the most competitive deals.

• Canada’s grocery industry is concentrated. Most Canadians buy groceries from one of five companies: Loblaws, Sobeys, Metro, Costco, and Walmart.
• Some Canadians have access to stores operated by independent grocers. However, this varies a lot depending on where they live.
• Independents face significant barriers in growing to become a competitive threat to the grocery giants.
• Without government support, we should not expect independent grocers to significantly expand in Canada in the near future.
• There is no quick fix to improve the state of competition in the Canadian grocery industry, but there are steps that all levels of government can take to improve the status quo.

The size of Canada’s grocery giants is concerning to Canadians. A number of Canadians wrote to us saying they feel they lack choice in the grocery industry. They feel they are paying higher grocery prices than they should be.

Depending on where Canadians live, they may have access to more options. For example, in some parts of the country, there are competitive independent grocery stores. But this is very community-specific. Most independents operate on a local or regional basis. It can be very difficult for them to expand nationally, or for a new competitor to open grocery stores across Canada. It would take huge investments for a new competitor to catch up to the grocery giants.

There is no quick fix to improve the state of competition in the Canadian grocery industry. But more competition leads to lower prices for consumers. There are steps that all levels of government can take to help.

Canada’s grocery giants

The largest grocery chains tower over Canada’s grocery industry. In 2022, Loblaws, Sobeys, and Metro together reported more than $100 billion in sales. Unlike Loblaws and Sobeys, which have stores across the country, Metro operates only in Ontario and Quebec. But all three companies have over 1,000 stores each, including franchised locations. Footnote 10 And, even if you don’t shop at a store called Loblaws, Sobeys, or Metro, you may be shopping at another store that they own or are affiliated with.

Figure 1: Stores owned by or affiliated with Loblaws, Sobeys, or Metro

The following stores are owned by or affiliated with Loblaws:

• Real Canadian Superstore
• Shoppers Drug Mart / Pharmaprix
• Atlantic Superstore
• Your Independent Grocer

The following stores are owned by or affiliated with Sobeys:

• Thrifty Foods
• Les Marchés Tradition
• Marché BoniChoix
• Lawtons Drugs

The following stores are owned by or affiliated with Metro:

• Food Basics
• Marché Richelieu

Costco and Walmart are the next largest grocers in Canada. While both companies have different business models and sell more than just food, they compete with Loblaws, Sobeys, and Metro for grocery sales. The success of Costco and Walmart across Canada has brought more choice to the grocery industry. But with only about 500 stores between them, Footnote 11 they are not an option in every community.

Loblaws, Sobeys, and Metro face less competition from standalone discount grocery chains than we see in some other countries. That’s because in Canada, the large grocers also own many of the biggest discount stores: Loblaws owns No Frills and Maxi, Sobeys owns FreshCo, and Metro owns Food Basics and Super C (see Figure 1 ). This is different from other countries where large grocers compete against lower-priced options like ALDI or Lidl .

Instead, Canadians looking for more choice may turn to independent grocery stores.

Independent grocers in Canada

According to the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers , there are about 6,900 independent grocery stores in Canada. Many of them are single-store, family-run operations with limited space and less variety than stores operated by the grocery giants. But there are also independent chains with dozens of stores that compete head-to-head with the grocery giants. All of them play an important role in communities across Canada.

Independent grocers may compete by selling different products than the large retailers. For example, independent grocers focusing on the sale of international foods and other specialty products have found success in many parts of Canada. But they usually don’t offer the same breadth of products available in supermarkets owned by the grocery giants.

Many independents may not be big enough to directly compete with the grocery giants on a national level. But some of the larger independent chains do so on a regional basis. For example, according to the PCO’s survey, 23% of British Columbia residents do their shopping at Save-On-Foods, which operates more than 175 stores in Western Canada. However, even the biggest independents face challenges trying to compete against the grocery giants.

Differences between Rural and Urban communities

In some rural and remote areas of Canada, an independent grocery store may be the only local option. Canadians who live in urban areas typically have access to a larger number of grocery stores. But generally the further away from a city, the less choice Canadians have. This aligns with what we heard from Canadians through the PCO’s survey.

Barriers faced by independent grocers

We spoke to several independent grocers across the country. Most of them told us the same thing: it is difficult being an independent in Canada today. Here are just some of their concerns:

• Consolidation makes it tougher for independents and new stores to stay in business. Many independents are worried that large grocers keep buying up smaller chains like theirs, and that there won’t be a future for small stores.
• Many independents have to buy groceries from their competitors. Unlike the grocery giants, most independents are not big enough to have their own warehouses or to buy directly from suppliers. Instead, many of them buy the grocery products they sell from the likes of Loblaws and Sobeys, which in addition to their retail stores, also have large wholesale businesses. According to independents, this dependency makes it more difficult for them to compete on price.
• Large grocers are paid by suppliers to put their products on shelves. Independent stores generally aren’t, and that can put them at a disadvantage.
• Finding access to real estate is challenging. Grocery stores generally require a large, accessible space with lots of parking. Many of the locations that could support a new grocery store are already controlled by the grocery giants.

For many Canadians, their main grocery options are supermarkets operated by Canada’s grocery giants: Loblaws, Sobeys, Metro, Costco, and Walmart. Some Canadians may have independent options, depending on where they live, but many of these options are limited in their product selection, store locations, and other important competitive aspects. Independents play an important role in communities across Canada, but without government support, we should not expect them to significantly expand in the near future.

Canadians are concerned that grocers keep getting bought out by their competitors, leading to fewer choices in their communities. We heard from some Canadians that Canada’s laws do not do enough to stop deals that are bad for competition. Others feel the Bureau has just not done a good enough job enforcing those laws.

Over the past few decades, the Bureau has reviewed dozens of grocery mergers. We look at merger review as the first line of defence in the effort to protect competition. These reviews often involve a detailed analysis of how a merger may affect competition in local communities across Canada where stores are being acquired. This can involve reviewing hundreds of local areas to identify potential competition issues, and the analysis of data (e.g. postal code information) to determine where grocery stores’ customers are coming from and the extent to which two or more stores compete against one another for the same customers. The Bureau typically seeks to identify whether there are other businesses that will continue to compete for grocery sales after a merger. The Bureau also tries to determine whether it is likely that new grocery stores will open in a community, and what challenges a competitor may face in doing so.

In addition to analyzing the effects of grocery mergers on local retail areas across Canada, the Bureau is also increasingly mindful of the growing bargaining power of retailers with their suppliers, and of the role of some retailers as suppliers to their competitors. This has been a focus in previous reviews and will continue to be.

It is our job to take action where we have solid evidence that a merger will significantly harm competition. For example, if we think a merger could make it easier for a grocery chain to charge significantly higher prices in certain areas, we would typically look to preserve competition by ensuring the sale of certain stores to other competitors.

A history of grocery mergers in Canada

When the Competition Act was introduced in 1986, there were at least eight large grocery chains across Canada. Each was owned by a different company.

Figure 2: Comparison of Canada’s retail grocery landscape in 1986 and 2023

Eight of the largest grocery chains in 1986:

• Sobeys (Empire)

The five large grocery chains in 2023:

Today, we are down to five large chains that operate in Canada:

• Costco; and

Five of the large chains that were around in 1986 were bought by their competitors (see Figure 3 ):

• Steinberg’s stores were sold to A&P, Metro, Provigo, and IGA;
• Provigo’s stores were sold to Loblaws;
• IGA’s stores were sold to Sobeys and Loblaws;
• A&P’s stores were sold to Metro; and
• Safeway’s stores were sold to Sobeys.

Two new large chains, Costco and Walmart, have entered or expanded during that time. But generally, there are fewer grocers today than there used to be.

So, how did we get here?

Figure 3 shows some of the more notable grocery mergers that the Bureau has reviewed since 1986.

Figure 3: Timeline of notable grocery mergers reviewed by the Competition Bureau, 1986-present

Notable grocery mergers reviewed by the Competition Bureau from 1986 to 2023:

• Safeway / Woodward (1986)
• A&P / Steinberg (1990)
• Metro & Provigo & IGA / Steinberg (1992)
• Sobeys / IGA (1998)
• Loblaws / IGA (1998)
• Loblaws / Provigo (1998)
• Sobeys / Commisso's Food Markets (2003)
• Metro / A&P (2005)
• Loblaws / T&T (2009)
• Sobeys / Safeway (2013)
• Loblaws / Shoppers Drug Mart (2013)
• Amazon / Whole Foods Markets (2017)
• Metro / Jean Coutu (2017)
• Sobeys / Farm Boy (2018)
• Sobeys / Longo's (2021)

Steps taken by the Bureau to protect grocery competition during merger reviews

When the Bureau finds that a grocery merger is likely to harm competition in certain local areas, it will generally require the buyer to sell stores in those areas to ensure harm does not occur:

• For example, when Sobeys purchased Safeway in 2013, it agreed to sell 23 stores in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, pursuant to a legally binding consent agreement . All of the stores were sold to independents, including Federated Co-operatives Limited, and Save-On-Foods.
• Similarly, when Loblaws purchased Provigo in 1998, it was required to sell stores in 32 local areas in Ontario and Quebec, as well as two warehouses and Provigo’s Loeb brand.

In some cases, the Bureau has also required grocers to agree to other remedies to protect competition. For example, when Loblaws purchased Shoppers Drug Mart in 2013, it agreed to not enter into certain types of agreements with suppliers for up to five years after the transaction. This was in addition to the required sale of 18 stores and nine pharmacies.

Do Canada’s merger laws do enough to protect competition?

Critics would note that the Bureau’s focus on local grocery competition has allowed for a slow reduction in the number of grocers across Canada as the industry has consolidated. There is some truth to that.

As an example, when a big grocer buys up a small number of stores in urban areas, it is often difficult for the Bureau to stop them. Despite concerns often being raised when a big company buys a smaller competitor, the reality is that consumers typically only lose one of many alternative stores. The law in Canada typically will not allow the Bureau to intervene in these deals, as they are generally seen as unlikely to have a significant impact on prices and other dimensions of competition.

The Bureau can only stop a deal when it has solid evidence that it will significantly hurt competition. In the case of a major city or suburb, with five or six different grocery stores nearby, it can be hard to prove that removing one option will cause prices to go up significantly.

The Bureau has recently made recommendations to the government to modernize and improve Canada’s competition laws. Our laws need to address harm to consumers from increasing concentration. The Bureau needs to have the tools required to safeguard competition in the industry to protect consumers and allow both new and existing businesses to grow and compete.

Our recommendations would make significant improvements to the state of competition in Canada. However, until the law is modernized, and recognizing that there are relatively few independent grocers in Canada, the Bureau will apply extra vigilance moving forward whenever actions are taken that could hurt competition in the grocery industry. Footnote 12 Canada needs more, not less grocery competition.

• The Canadian grocery industry is concentrated. Many wonder whether a lack of competition is the reason why grocery prices are increasing at the fastest rate in more than 40 years.
• Recently, food prices have increased rapidly. However, increasing prices are not always indicative of a competition problem. Prices might go up, for example, when it costs grocers more to buy the food that they sell. And we heard that grocers’ costs have gone up.

Instead of looking at prices, gross profit margins can provide a clearer signal. These margins subtract the costs that grocers incur to buy products, and show how much a grocer makes on each dollar of sales.

• We saw Canada's largest grocers’ food gross margins generally increase by a modest yet meaningful amount over the last five years. This longer-term trend pre-dates the supply chain disruptions faced during the pandemic and the current inflationary period.
• The fact that Canada's largest grocers have generally been able to increase these margins—however modestly—is a sign that there is room for more competition in Canada’s grocery industry.

The Canadian grocery industry is concentrated, with most sales happening in stores owned by the five grocery giants. The Bureau launched this study to determine whether high grocery prices are the result of changing competitive dynamics in the industry.

Canadians are seeing grocery prices increase at the fastest rate in more than 40 years . Many wonder whether a lack of competition is the reason why.

Figure 4 shows that food prices in Canada have increased faster than general inflation between December 2021 and March 2023.

Figure 4: Change in Food Prices vs. Consumer Price Index, monthly from September 2021 to March 2023

Source: Statistics Canada. Table 18-10-0004-01 Consumer Price Index, monthly, not seasonally adjusted .

Are increasing prices an indicator of competition problems?

Prices going up is not always indicative of a competition problem. Food prices will generally be higher when there is less competition, but they can also go up when it costs grocers more to buy the food that they sell. Some experts cite increasing costs brought about by pandemic-related supply chain problems, as well as the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as significant drivers of rising food prices around the world .

Margins are an important indicator of industry competitiveness. Footnote 13 Some companies can earn high gross margins for other reasons—such as needing to contribute to large fixed costs—so there is often a contextual element to interpreting margins. But generally, gross margins can play an important part in understanding competition.

Accordingly, when prices rise, it is often illustrative to see whether margins have grown as well. If margins stay the same, then higher prices may simply reflect increased input costs. If margins increase, then they can indicate that a business is successfully raising its prices over and above any increase in costs.

Why doesn’t the Bureau stop companies from charging high prices?

Well functioning markets are generally the best way to determine the price and variety of products for sale. Hundreds of years of economic growth and prosperity have shown that competitive markets are the best drivers of efficiency and innovation.

It is not illegal in Canada for a business to have a monopoly or charge high prices. Only when they engage in specific anti-competitive behaviours do those outcomes potentially raise concern under the Competition Act .

The Bureau’s role is to act when a business does something that reduces competition in a way that breaks the law.

Canadian grocers sell more than just groceries

Before looking at margins, it is important to recognize that Canadian grocers sell more than just food. For example, Loblaws owns Shoppers Drug Mart, and Metro owns Jean Coutu—both of which operate hundreds of pharmacies across Canada (see Figure 1 ).

This means that the margin and profit data publicly reported by Canada’s big grocers include the sales of other products, such as pharmaceutical and beauty products . In many cases , grocers have pointed to increased sales of these non-food products as the reason for their higher profits. Accordingly, if we are focused on understanding the possible links between grocery competition and food inflation, then sales of non-food products should be removed before evaluating financial data from the big grocers’ public reports.

However, grocers do not publish food-only financial results. That’s why, in this study, the Bureau sent information requests to each of Canada’s five major grocers asking them to provide their food gross margins and other relevant information.

Did Canada’s grocery giants cooperate with the Bureau’s study?

There have been questions concerning the amount of cooperation and financial information shared with the Bureau by Canada’s grocery giants during this study. This topic was frequently raised during the parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food’s meetings in respect of their study on Food Price Inflation , where executives of all five of Canada’s major grocery chains appeared.

The Bureau is not able to disclose the specific information it was provided, owing to the confidentiality requirements of the Competition Act . However, in general, the Bureau can say that the level of cooperation varied significantly, and was not fulsome. In many instances, the Bureau was not able to obtain complete and precise financial data, despite its repeated requests.

The Bureau’s inability to compel information as part of this study has further highlighted the need for formal information-gathering powers. That is why the Bureau continues to advocate for legislative changes to improve the Competition Act in this area. Such changes would improve our ability to conduct market studies, and to protect and promote competition for Canadians in all sectors of the economy, including the agri-food sector.

Canadian grocers’ food gross margins increased by a modest yet meaningful amount

Based on the information that we were provided by Canada’s grocery giants, we found that Canadian grocers’ food gross margins have generally increased over the last five years by a modest yet meaningful amount. This longer-term trend pre-dates the supply chain disruptions faced during the pandemic and the current inflationary period.

Breaking that down, we have found that grocers have increased the percentage of profit they earned on food products in a way that is:

• Margins generally increased by one or two percentage points since 2017.
• This is roughly equivalent to $1-2 on each $100 that Canadians spend on groceries.
• The Canadian grocery industry is a low-margin business. Grocers make relatively little on each item, but make their profits in volume.
• That means that even small changes in margins can be meaningful. Footnote 14

What does modest but meaningful mean for Canadians?

According to the most recent Statistics Canada data , Canadian households, on average, spent $7,536 on food in 2019. This data pre-dates the latest period of food inflation in Canada, so it almost certainly understates current spending. But with just under 15 million Canadian households as of 2021, this means that Canadians likely spend over $110 billion on groceries per year, so even modest increases can add up fast. A one percentage point increase in gross margins at grocery stores could add over $1 billion to Canadians’ food bills each year.

Modest but meaningful margin changes can cause big changes in profits when food inflation is high

As grocery prices have increased, so have grocers’ profits. The profits of Canada’s three largest grocers have risen appreciably over the past four years. Figure 5 shows that these profits have collectively grown from $2.4 billion in 2019 to $3.6 billion in 2022.

Figure 5: Profits of Canada’s three largest grocers, annually from 2019-2022

Source: Annual Reports of Loblaw Companies Limited , Empire Company Limited , and METRO INC. for 2019-2022.

Note: Annual profits are based on the companies’ fiscal years, which differ from company to company, and do not necessarily align with the calendar year (January–December).

Higher profits result from higher revenues relative to costs. Revenues can increase because of higher prices, higher volumes, or both. Margins help show whether changes in the difference between prices and costs are contributing to higher profits.

Grocers are earning only modestly more in food gross margin, but even small increases can matter for Canadians. Usually, when we talk about margins, we express them as the percent of each dollar spent that ends up available for the grocers to keep. But thinking of margins this way can create a bit of an illusion. Table 1 shows how, even when a grocer’s margin stays the same, an increase in the cost they incur to buy food products can increase profits.

Consider a grocer selling a can of soup. If a grocer is paying $1 for that can, and selling it to you for $1.20, they are making a 20% margin. They earn $0.20 per can of soup sold.

Now, what happens if the grocer’s cost for that can of soup goes up to $1.10, and they apply that same 20% margin? The price of that can of soup now goes up to $1.32. The grocer still makes a 20% margin, but now they get $0.22 cents to put toward their profit.

When its costs rise, a business does not need to increase its margin in order to increase its profit. High rates of food inflation can significantly increase grocers’ profits even if their gross margins remain constant or increase only modestly.

Additional analysis would help us better understand grocer profitability

This analysis focuses only on food gross margins. These margins are an important indicator of grocer profitability in Canada. But they are blunt, as they boil down the operations of very large businesses to a single number. Based on the data and information provided to the Bureau by the grocery giants, we are limited in the inferences that we can draw from these findings.

More granular analysis would have been preferable and could have helped us better understand how grocers have priced specific products. It could also have allowed us to paint a more comprehensive picture of how Canadians’ consumption patterns have changed in response to food price inflation. As an example, increasing food gross margins could be explained, in part, by consumers switching some of their purchases to higher margin private-label products. However, we did not receive the data necessary to make such an assessment.

Those type of analyses could have provided us with a richer understanding of grocery competition in Canada.

What do modestly increasing margins tell us about competitive dynamics?

When an industry is very competitive, businesses will not usually be able to increase their margins. The fact that Canada's largest grocers have generally been able to do so over the last five years—however modestly—is a sign that there is room for more competition in Canada’s grocery industry. Additional grocery competition would help cap grocery price inflation.

• Property controls limit how real estate can be used by competing grocers.
• Such controls can harm competition by making it difficult—or even impossible—for businesses to open up new grocery stores.

A property control limits how a person can use a property. They are clauses typically found in a legal agreement like a lease or a deed that transfers title. For example, in the case of a shopping centre, property controls often limit the kind of store that can open there. These controls are also sometimes called restrictive covenants.

How do property controls affect grocery competition?

Property controls reduce competition from other food retailers and make it harder for new grocery stores to open. They do this in two ways:

When a store is sold:

• When a grocery store is being sold, the seller of that store may want to stop a new owner from using that location to operate a competing grocery store.
• The grocer may want to do this if they are relocating to another location nearby, as doing so would limit the number of other grocers they have to compete against.
• Property controls typically apply not just to new owners of a property, but to future owners as well. They can stay in place for a very long time, stopping new grocery stores from opening in communities.

When a grocer signs a lease:

• When a grocery store is opening in a location with other tenants, like a mall, it may ask the landlord to limit other stores from selling similar products.
• This ensures that the grocer will not face competition from other tenants and may provide it with the certainty it is looking for prior to making an investment in a new store.
• A landlord may agree to this kind of property control because grocery stores attract significant numbers of customers, and because they may be unsure whether the grocer will agree to sign a lease otherwise.

What effect do property controls have on grocery competition?

• Property controls reduce consumer choice. Some Canadian businesses told the Bureau that they have been unable to open stores because of property controls.
• Property controls can be very broad . The Bureau heard that they can exclude businesses even if they don’t compete directly with a grocery store, like bakeries and other specialty food stores.
• Property controls have the biggest effect on Canadians who have the fewest options. 24% of Canadians said that there are only one or two grocery stores within 15 minutes of their home. For those who walk, the proportion is 39%. We also heard that lower-income Canadians (earning less than $40,000 a year) are more likely than others to have fewer stores in proximity to their home. For these Canadians, if a local grocery store is closed and property controls prevent new ones from opening in their community, it may leave them without easy access to a supermarket. This is not a theoretical problem— examples of “food deserts” have been documented across Canada .
• Other countries have recognized the harmful effects of property controls. Australia , New Zealand , and the United Kingdom are just three examples of countries that have taken action against property controls due to their limitations on competition in the grocery industry.

Conclusion on property controls

Location, location, location. It’s the golden rule of real estate. While it may seem simple enough to suggest that a retailer look for other locations, there is often only a certain amount of prime real estate in a given area. When that prime real estate is restricted through a property control, new grocers may not be able to open. This limits competition from new grocers, and can deny consumers the benefits that competition brings about: lower prices, greater choice, and increased levels of innovation.

• A growing number of Canadians are turning to online sources to buy food.
• Sometimes, these online services are operated or controlled by Canada’s grocery giants. When that is true, these services may increase convenience, but do not necessarily increase competition.
• The online grocery segment is still developing, and new options are emerging. Truly independent online grocers could positively increase grocery competition in Canada.

The way Canadians buy their groceries is changing. Shopping at a local supermarket used to be the only way to get groceries, but this is no longer the case.

More and more Canadians now purchase their groceries online. Though online grocery options are still relatively new, they are gaining traction. The COVID-19 pandemic saw the rise of alternatives to in-store shopping.

Online shopping is still only a relatively small portion of Canada’s total grocery sales. But this is likely to change. The nation’s grocery giants, as well as other companies, are investing significant amounts of money into their online business models. And Canadians seem to enjoy the online shopping experience: based on results from the PCO’s survey, nearly 30% of Canadians have recently bought groceries online. Stakeholders interviewed by the Bureau also said that they expect online sales to continue to grow in the future.

Online options may not entirely replace in-store shopping anytime soon. But if Canadians are looking for more choice, they may find it online.

Canada’s online grocery options

Ordering groceries online can replace the need to shop in-store. When an order is placed, the items are either made available at a retail location for pick-up (otherwise known as “click-and-collect”) or delivered to a customer’s home. As delivery and pick-up charges may apply, the overall cost of an online order can be greater than what would be charged in-store.

Online grocery is dynamic and includes companies both big and small. To date, there are three broad categories of businesses that operate in Canada’s online grocery segment:

Grocery Stores: From large chains to small independents, many are now also selling groceries online:

• Online shopping, including delivery and click-and-collect, is not yet available at every grocery store or in every community. For example, the discount banners owned by Loblaws (such as No Frills), Sobeys (such as FreshCo), and Metro (such as Food Basics) do not currently offer delivery.
• Delivery from traditional grocers is usually only available near an existing store’s physical location. And orders may not be delivered on the same day.

Delivery Services: Some new businesses offer to purchase customers’ groceries at a grocery store and deliver them to their home:

• Many delivery services have partnered with grocers to fulfill their online orders.
• Importantly, these companies—although they operate at arm’s length to grocers—do not control the prices that consumers pay. Instead, they just buy products from grocers on a consumer’s behalf.
• Delivery is usually only available to homes that are close to an existing grocery store.

Online Stores: These are businesses that sell groceries only through an app or website:

• This includes meal kit providers, dark stores, mass merchandisers that sell groceries, and online-only grocers.
• These businesses generally buy groceries on a wholesale basis, and control the ultimate price that consumers pay.
• Deliveries from these stores may be restricted to urban areas only, and the delivery speed can range from an hour to a day or more.

What are meal kit services, dark stores, and fulfillment centres?

• Meal Kit Services: A meal kit provider sells pre-portioned ingredients for meals that are prepared at a customer’s home. Some may offer a selection of grocery items as well.
• Dark Stores: A dark store is a small store used solely to fulfill online grocery orders. Products offered are often limited and more convenience focused.
• Fulfillment Centres: A fulfillment centre is a warehouse used to fulfill customers’ online orders.

The online grocery segment is still developing, and new options are emerging. Table 2 provides a broad overview of existing business models. However, as companies adapt their businesses, the lines that separate the three online models can become blurred. For example:

• Grocery stores may look more like online stores. Many grocery stores fulfill online orders from their retail locations, but some of the larger chains are building or have built separate warehouses for online orders.
• Delivery services may look more like online stores. Most delivery services do not sell their own groceries, but some are building or have built warehouses and have started selling groceries directly to customers.

Competition in online grocery

Online grocery shopping has brought more choice and innovation to the grocery industry for consumers. But some online services—like those operated by existing grocers or delivery services—may simply create a new way to access existing options. Here’s why:

• Grocery stores with online shopping options do not necessarily increase competition. An online platform can sometimes just be a new way to source products from a pre-existing retailer.
• Delivery services are more like grocery store partners than independent competitors. Unless they’ve developed their own fulfillment centres, delivery services simply purchase products off the shelves of existing grocers. They can’t charge lower prices than the store they buy from without taking a loss.

On the other hand, online stores are like new grocers, except that they only sell their products online. If they don’t rely on existing grocery stores for product supply, they are better positioned to compete with them.

The introduction of new online options from existing grocers, including those offered through delivery services, has increased competition between them. All of Canada’s large grocers are investing millions of dollars into their online platforms to ensure they remain competitive. Some have even partnered with online grocery technology companies to try to get ahead of their competitors.

These changes have benefited Canadians, including by expanding available grocery options for some consumers, and generally making groceries more accessible through delivery and pick-up. They answer the demand for convenience and alternatives to in-store shopping.

What about Amazon?

Amazon is one of the world’s largest online retailers. Some businesses consider it to be a significant potential competitive threat in Canada’s grocery industry. But, right now, its grocery selection in Canada is limited.

In some countries, like the United States, Amazon offers a wider assortment of groceries online through its website and retail stores (such as Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods).

But, in Canada, Amazon only sells non-perishable food items through its website and Whole Foods does not operate online.

Amazon has not announced whether it plans to introduce additional online grocery offerings in Canada.

Challenges for new, online grocery businesses

The reality, as of today, is that independent online options remain pretty limited. Though there are companies that only sell groceries online (see Table 2 ), we heard that they face challenges growing into the kind of big competitive threat that could take on Canada’s large grocers:

• Capital requirements. The costs to build warehouses and distribution centres are high. And finding investors who are willing to support entry and expansion can be difficult.
• Product supply. New businesses typically do not have the scale or relationships required to deal directly with manufacturers. Instead, they often have to rely upon the grocery giants—who are their competitors—for product supply. According to online grocers, this dependency makes it more difficult for them to compete on price.
• Regulatory requirements. Online grocers can face challenges that a traditional grocery retailer may not. For instance, some municipalities are uncertain as to whether dark stores should be licensed as retail or wholesale companies. In addition, regulations for certain products vary greatly by province, making it difficult for a business to operate nationally.
• Consumer hesitancy. A lot of Canadians are used to shopping for groceries in-person. Many like to see and touch their groceries before buying them. That isn’t possible online, so perceptions about freshness and quality may be a concern. Some may also worry about receiving the right items and cost. There are others who just like going to the grocery store or who find online shopping overwhelming.
• Geography. Canada is a large country with few densely populated city centres. For online grocers, serving customers who don’t live in urban areas is very costly. As such, they may be less likely to operate in rural communities.

Conclusion on online grocery competition

Currently, grocery competition is mostly centred on grocery stores being the main place for Canadians to do their grocery shopping. However, grocery business models are adapting to the online world and, with that, comes the opportunity for new competitive alternatives to emerge. Truly independent online grocers could meaningfully increase grocery competition in Canada.

• Two of the most significant entrants into Canada’s grocery industry have come from abroad: Costco and Walmart.
• We reached out to a number of international grocers to better understand what is preventing them from coming to Canada.
• Some international grocers are studying, or have studied entering Canada, but none have publicly announced plans to do so soon.

Two of Canada’s grocery giants— Costco and Walmart —are international businesses that have come from outside of the country and currently sell groceries in Canada.

The Bureau reached out to a number of international grocers, who are not currently operating in Canada, to hear from them about their impressions of the Canadian grocery industry. What would make Canada a place they might want to bring their business? Alternatively, what sorts of things might keep them away?

Not all of their answers focused on elements that can be changed or influenced. As an example, Canada’s physical geography and low population density make it hard for new grocers to set up operations in Canada. However, there may be other factors that can be changed to make Canada a more attractive destination for expansion. Knowing how these companies see Canada’s grocery industry can help us better understand the competitive landscape within it.

These are the highlights of what we heard:

• Canada’s grocery giants are daunting competitors.  All of the international grocers we spoke to said that they would face tough competition from Canadian grocers if they entered Canada. Although one international grocer said they believed they would be able to price competitively despite tough competition from Canadian grocers, another told us that it could be difficult to compete on price if they entered Canada.
• Private label groceries are popular in Canada.  The international grocers we spoke to all commented on the strength of private label grocery products in Canada. They believe these are high-quality products at good prices. We heard that Canadians’ willingness to purchase private label products can make Canada an attractive country, particularly for grocers that sell a high proportion of these products.
• Canada’s unique multicultural grocery experience.  We heard that the retail grocery segment in Canada is quite unique in how it serves its multicultural population. A number of Canadian grocers have a vast selection of ethnic products, and in order to compete effectively, any grocer trying to enter the industry will need to establish a similar product selection. As a result, entry into Canada’s grocery industry could be challenging and costly.
• The Target experience.  The international grocers we spoke to acknowledged that while some companies, such as Costco and Walmart, had been successful in entering Canada, others like Target, had not. These grocers explained that there are different ways to enter a new country, and that those possibilities are expanding because of consumers’ increasing interest in shopping in ways other than in person at a traditional grocery store.
• Entering a new country takes a concerted effort.  International grocers noted that, for a number of reasons, it is easier for them to continue to expand in their current regions than to come to Canada. They also told us that establishing distribution networks, relationships with Canadian suppliers, and brand recognition would be important steps they would have to take to successfully enter Canada.
• Canada’s labelling laws.  We heard that laws requiring bilingual labels on packaged foods can be a difficult additional cost for international grocers to take on. However, we also heard that some international grocers are already used to doing this in other countries and do not see it as a problem.

Conclusion on competition from international grocers

The international grocers we spoke with said Canada’s grocery giants would be tough competition. However, if any were to enter Canada, their presence would likely increase competition, lower prices, increase choice, and bring about higher levels of innovation. Through discussions with international grocers, the Bureau heard that some of these businesses are studying, or have studied, entering Canada but none have publicly announced plans to do so soon.

• Canada is not alone. Many other countries are also struggling with concentration and high prices in their grocery industries.
• We spoke with a number of international competition agencies to better understand what they have tried to increase competition in their countries.
• These conversations generated a number of interesting ideas for Canada, and touched on key topics, including grocery codes of conduct, property controls, buying groups, unit pricing rules, and the competitive role of discount grocers.

High grocery prices aren’t just a Canadian issue. A number of countries around the world are grappling with increasing grocery prices.

Many of the Bureau’s international counterparts have done studies of the state of competition in their domestic grocery industries in recent years. We have looked to their work to see what lessons might apply to the Canadian context.

As part of this study, the Bureau spoke with competition authorities in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Germany, Norway, Austria, and the European Union.

There were a number of reoccurring themes that came up in these conversations. Here are the highlights of what we heard:

1. Grocery Codes of Conduct

The grocery industry is concentrated in a lot of countries, and when an industry is concentrated, suppliers can be put in a tough position. Just like consumers, grocery suppliers have limited options other than to deal with the largest grocery retailers to sell their products.

This imbalance has been noted in many countries. Each of New Zealand , the United Kingdom , Australia and Mexico has taken steps to balance out the relative power of suppliers and grocers through grocery codes of conduct. These codes have set out the ways in which grocers and suppliers must behave when buying and selling.

For example, in New Zealand, one of the recommendations of the New Zealand Commerce Commission’s (NZCC) market study was to introduce a mandatory grocery code of conduct to govern relationships between the major grocery retailers and suppliers. After their report was published, the government began work on creating a grocery code of conduct. That work is ongoing .

In Canada, the idea of a grocery code of conduct pre-dates this study. In July 2021, federal, provincial, and territorial Ministers called for a grocery code of conduct that would develop a fairer relationship between suppliers and retailers. Canadians can expect this code of conduct to be implemented by the end of 2023 .

Competition law in Canada does not regulate imbalances in bargaining power and the Bureau does not have the ability to enforce a code of conduct . However, a code that improves predictability and suppliers’ willingness to invest or innovate within the industry can be a good thing for consumers. The Bureau is committed to working with the relevant parties to support the implementation of the code in the most pro-competitive way possible.

2. Property Controls

A number of our international counterparts identified real estate restrictive covenants as being harmful to competition. These sorts of property controls came up as an issue, for example, in New Zealand , the United Kingdom , and Australia .

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) market study found property controls to be a major issue. They found that the restrictive covenants in real estate leases did not allow new grocery chains to expand their business. As a result, the ACCC reached a court-enforceable agreement with big grocers in Australia. Under this agreement, the big grocers have to phase out all existing property controls, and are forbidden from entering into any new ones.

3. Buying Groups

In some other countries, we heard that independent grocers have worked together, or with a large grocery chain, to form buying groups. They joined together so that they could get access to lower prices from suppliers than they would be able to individually.

These buying groups—particularly those made up of smaller players — can be pro-competitive . And, in fact, the European Union’s competition authority supported the idea that these buying groups can lower prices for the end consumer .

On the other hand, buying groups can also raise competition concerns. In Canada, certain agreements between competitors can violate the law. They can also lead to businesses sharing information when they should not, and working in other ways that can hurt competition. So, while buying groups can facilitate competition in certain situations, they should always be approached with caution. The Bureau’s approach to buying groups is set out in our Competitor Collaboration Guidelines .

4. Unit Pricing

Competition doesn’t work well unless consumers know where to find the best deals. Unit pricing helps consumers compare grocery prices and find the best value by showing the price of a product based on a standard unit, alongside the total price. We talk more about unit pricing later in this report.

New Zealand , Australia and the United Kingdom all found that unit pricing is a helpful tool for consumers. The NZCC recommended mandatory and consistent use of unit pricing across the country, while the ACCC recommended the introduction of a unit pricing code of conduct to allow consumers to make informed choices.

5. The Competitive Importance of Discount Grocers

When a new foreign grocer comes into a country, it puts pressure on existing grocers to reduce their prices. For example, the ACCC studied what happened to grocery prices when a major, international discount grocer came into Australia. That grocer, ALDI, was found to cause a significant reduction in grocery prices when they opened new stores. Similarly, we heard from our European counterparts that the expansion of discount grocers like ALDI and Lidl has created significant benefits for consumers through lower prices and greater choice. This is not just something that could happen, or happens in other countries: a Canadian example of this was Walmart’s expansion into grocery .

The “ALDI effect”

“...ALDI has been a significant influence on Australian grocery retailing. ALDI has forced Coles and Woolworths to react by reducing prices—specifically in states and localities where ALDI is present. Even if a customer does not shop at ALDI, they obtain significant benefits from having an ALDI in their local area or state, as the Coles and Woolworths stores price more keenly.” Report of the ACCC inquiry into the competitiveness of retail prices for standard groceries , July 2008

Conclusion from international attempts to increase grocery competition

Conversations with the Bureau’s international counterparts yielded a number of helpful ideas to improve grocery competition in Canada. Some of these ideas are otherwise covered in our report—e.g. property controls and unit pricing. Work in other areas is ongoing in Canada—e.g. the grocery code of conduct. Perhaps most interesting is the idea of attracting new businesses to come to Canada and compete. The successful entry of international grocers into the Canadian industry may be the best option to bring about lower prices, greater choice, and increased levels of innovation for the benefit of all Canadians.

• Consumers need accurate, timely, and complete information in order to make informed purchasing decisions.
• Accessible and harmonized unit pricing requirements and price comparison tools have the potential to empower consumers and improve grocery competition in Canada.

Information helps consumers make the right choices. Without accurate, timely, and complete information, competition suffers and markets fail. Honest competitors lose sales, and consumers end up with goods and services that are not the best choice for them.

To make good choices, consumers must be informed. It’s hard to take advantage of competition if you don’t know where to get the best deal. Grocers send out flyers to households across Canada to convince shoppers to visit their store. But modern technology allows so much more.

Ensuring that Canadians have access to useful information is an easy way to promote competition. We heard that accessible and harmonized unit pricing requirements and price comparison tools can help to empower consumers. We discuss each below.

Unit pricing

Figure 6: unit pricing for different sized containers of orange juice.

Orange juice 2.63 litres $8.99 - Unit price $0.34 per 100 millilitres Orange juice 1.54 litres $6.49 - Unit price $0.42 per 100 millilitres

Unit pricing helps consumers compare grocery prices and find the best value. It does this by showing the price of a product based on a standard package size, alongside the total price. Figure 6 shows an example of how unit pricing works for two different sized containers of orange juice.

Knowing the unit price helps consumers compare similar products that come in different package sizes. It serves as a quick and easy way to know if a consumer is getting the best deal—without resorting to a calculator or mental math.

Many grocery stores across the country already display unit pricing, including online. But it is currently only required by law in Quebec . That means there are no standards that grocers have to follow in the rest of the country. An additional issue facing consumers looking to compare unit pricing in its current form is that many of the formats used may not be accessible for people with sight loss.

Provincial and territorial governments may wish to consider working together to support the development and implementation of accessible and harmonized unit pricing requirements for grocery retailers in the country. As part of this process, consideration as to whether any such requirements should be imposed on all grocers, or only large chains may be appropriate due to the potential burden on smaller independents. Accessible and harmonized unit pricing requirements could promote competition among grocery retailers and further empower consumers to make informed purchasing decisions.

Price comparison tools

Figure 7: comparison of orange juice prices at select canadian grocers, april 2, 2023.

Source: Save.ca .

A price comparison tool is a service that consumers can use to compare prices between grocery stores. Current examples include Flipp , Save.ca , and reebee , among others.

If you search for ‘orange juice’, most of these services can show you flyer clippings from multiple grocers for that product. They can do that because most flyers are available for anyone to view. However, this only allows you to compare prices if they’re in a flyer, and comparisons may not necessarily be between the same brand or size of product (see Figure 7 ).

Some of these services can also search online listings for grocery items. But this information is only available from retailers that have agreed for their products to be displayed.

If all grocers provided their data to these services, it would allow consumers to more easily search and compare prices between grocery stores. However, further study would be required to determine how government could best support consumers in this regard.

• During this study, we asked Canadians to share their perspectives on grocery competition in Canada.
• This section of the report responds to some of the more prevalent ideas that we heard.

When the Bureau launched this study, it asked Canadians to share what they thought about the current state of grocery competition in Canada. More than 500 Canadians answered the call. This is a summary of what we heard from Canadians:

Idea #1: Canada needs more grocery competition

• The Bureau agrees that Canada needs more grocery competition. The Canadian grocery industry is concentrated. While this is not the sole reason grocery prices are high, more competition in the industry could drive down prices.
• Based on the findings of this study, the Bureau has made a number of recommendations on steps governments can take to increase competition in Canada’s grocery industry.
• This is not a situation unique to the grocery industry. A lot of other Canadian industries are highly concentrated, with a small number of businesses controlling a majority of the sales. Canada needs more competition, both in groceries and across the entire economy.

Canada Needs More Competition

Grocery is not the only Canadian industry that is concentrated.

According to estimates from the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association, in the wireless sector, the top three players account for around 87% of total wireless subscribers nationally.

Figure 8: National share of total wireless subscribers by company, Q3 2022

• Rogers: 30.3%
• Bell: 28.5%
• Telus: 27.8%
• Others: 13.4%

Source: Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association .

Note: Percentages are estimates.

Source: Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association , Company Reports.

Note: Shares are based on total subscribers (as defined by the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association, now the Canadian Telecommunications Association ) at the end of Q3 2022 and only include Canadian wireless providers who publish subscriber data.

Similarly, based on information in a recent report, IBISWorld estimates Air Canada and WestJet’s share of Canada’s scheduled air transportation industry to be 74.1%.

Figure 9: National shares of key players in Canada's scheduled air transportation industry, 2022

• Air Canada: 55.3%
• WestJet: 18.8%
• Others: 25.9%

Source: IBISWorld .

Note: These percentages are estimates

Source: Shawn McGrath, IBISWorld (2022), Industry Report 48111CA: Scheduled Air Transportation in Canada.

Idea #2: Large grocers should be broken up

• A lot of Canadians argued that Canada’s largest grocers are too big. They wanted these grocers split up into smaller companies to improve competition.
• The Bureau’s goal is to encourage competition so that businesses innovate and create better products. Companies can have legitimate reasons for getting big—for example, they can outperform rivals and bring a valuable product to market. The Bureau does not want to eliminate the incentives for companies to do so.
• What the Bureau can do is make sure that Canada’s biggest grocers face more competition. The government is currently considering how our competition laws can be updated to better protect and promote competition. The Bureau has made an in-depth submission with a number of ideas on how to improve Canada’s competition laws.
• Modernizing and strengthening these laws is key to making sure that big companies are forced to compete. This will benefit consumers by driving down prices, increasing choice, and encouraging innovation.

Idea #3: Grocery prices should be regulated

• Grocers are allowed to charge the price the market can bear. There are no laws in Canada that stop grocers from charging the prices of their choosing.
• The Competition Act does not give the Bureau the power to regulate grocery prices.
• Even in a competitive market, prices will often increase when products are in a period of short supply.
• It is important to note that regulations, such as price controls, can often have negative consequences.
• Price controls and regulations are blunt tools. It is hard to determine the “right” price for any product, and it is hard to adjust regulated prices quickly when situations change. A free and competitive market is the best way to determine prices for goods.

Idea #4: Big grocers shouldn’t be allowed to buy smaller competitors

• Canadians are concerned when a grocer buys one of its competitors. Canada needs more grocery competition, not less.
• The Competition Act only allows the Bureau to stop a merger when it can prove, in court, that a deal is likely to significantly harm competition. This can be a hard thing to prove.
• The Bureau has made recommendations to the government to make it easier to stop problematic mergers. Canada’s competition laws must be improved to allow the Bureau to be more effective in protecting competition.

Idea #5: The government should stop big grocers from colluding with one another

• Collusion happens when competitors agree to work together in a way that can harm competition. For example, agreeing with a competitor to raise prices is a criminal offence that can result in large fines and jail time for those involved.
• However, it is not illegal when competitors independently take similar actions, without colluding or communicating with one another.
• This means that, even if two grocers raise the price of a product at the same time, they are not necessarily doing anything illegal. They might be doing it because the cost of buying that product has gone up, or because of another innocuous reason.
• Anyone who has evidence of two or more businesses entering into an agreement to fix prices or to otherwise collude should contact the Bureau immediately .

Idea #6: Supply management raises grocery prices and should be abolished

• Some studies have suggested that supply management—a form of price regulation— results in higher prices .
• Canadian supply management affects a number of grocery staples, like milk, dairy, and some poultry. Although supply management policies were introduced in the 1960s to deal with issues, such as price instability in the agricultural sector, they control the quantity of products available for sale as well as the prices at which they are sold.
• Where such supply limits exist, we can expect that prices for these products will continue to be higher than they would otherwise be in a free market.

Idea #7: Grocer profits are increasing, and the government should impose windfall taxes to recoup some of these profits

• Grocer profits are increasing. The profits of Canada’s three largest grocers increased from $2.4 billion in 2019 to $3.6 billion in 2022. That’s a 50% increase in four years (see Figure 5 ).
• Taxation rules are generally outside of the Bureau’s mandate. They are part of a broader societal and policy discussion.

Idea #8: The government should encourage international grocers to enter Canada

• This study has found that the entry of international and discount grocers could be one way to help lower grocery costs for Canadians.
• In our view, governments should take steps to encourage international grocers to enter the Canadian industry in an effort to help reduce prices and increase competition.

Idea #9: The government needs to take action to stop the big grocers’ business practices that hurt suppliers and result in higher prices for consumers

• Large retailers that are able to obtain more favourable terms from their suppliers are better positioned to compete for customers.
• Where business practices make it more difficult for other retailers to compete (for example, by increasing their costs), they can raise concern.
• As an example, we previously investigated Loblaws’ practices in dealing with its suppliers. During that investigation, Loblaws ended many of the negative business practices that it had historically engaged in. Based on that, and all of the other evidence in front of us, we concluded our investigation.
• As stated earlier in this report as well as in the Bureau’s market study notice , we did not focus on issues relating to the purchase of groceries from suppliers by retailers in this study.

Idea #10: “Shrinkflation” should be banned

• Shrinkflation is a term used to describe when manufacturers reduce the amount of a product in a package, but keep the price basically the same. This means that consumers get less value for their dollar.
• It can be hard for consumers to recognize when this happens. As an example, if a package is reduced from 450 grams to 430 grams it might not get noticed at a glance.
• A lot of Canadians expressed concerns about this practice.
• However, shrinkflation, in and of itself, is not illegal. Manufacturers and retailers are allowed to sell their products in the quantities they want at whatever price they choose as long as they do not use false or misleading advertising to deceive consumers.
• Accessible and harmonized unit pricing requirements may be one way to help combat shrinkflation, and to improve consumer information.

Canada needs more grocery competition. When businesses compete, all Canadians benefit from lower prices, greater choice, and increased levels of innovation. Competition can be a key part of the solution to help keep grocery prices in check.

Over the past eight months, the Bureau has studied Canada’s grocery industry. We have four big ideas, and three commitments of our own, that we believe will make Canada’s grocery industry more competitive.

Ideas for Governments across Canada

Our ideas for governments across Canada are principles-based, and are designed to be flexible and provide decision-makers with guidance on how to encourage more grocery competition in Canada. The Bureau recognizes that governments will need to consider and weigh other factors in deciding whether, and if so, how to implement these recommendations. However, the Bureau is willing to offer its support and work with decision-makers to advance these recommendations in the most pro-competitive way possible.

1. Canada needs a Grocery Innovation Strategy aimed at supporting the emergence of new types of grocery businesses and expanding consumer choice.

• Current grocery competition is focused on grocery stores being the main place for Canadians to buy food.
• But it is difficult for new grocers to emerge and compete with Canada’s grocery giants. We shouldn’t expect market forces alone to solve this any time soon.
• Governments in Canada at the federal, provincial, and territorial levels, should consider working together to develop a Grocery Innovation Strategy aimed at supporting the emergence of new types of grocery businesses—whether online businesses or other industry disruptors.
• This could include financial support to incentivize competition and innovation in the industry, including, for example, support for entrepreneurs that want to launch online grocery businesses, as well as measures to simplify or modernize regulatory requirements that can make it difficult for new types of grocery businesses to operate.

2. Federal, provincial and territorial support for the Canadian grocery industry should encourage the growth of independent grocers and the entry of international grocers.

• Grants and incentive programs should be directed towards independents, not the grocery giants.
• The growth of Canadian independent grocers into stronger regional and potentially national players would meaningfully increase competition in the industry.
• Additionally, governments should do all that they can to attract international grocers to Canada, including the easing of any barriers that make industry entry challenging.
• The experiences of other countries, such as Australia, have shown that the entrance of major international grocers have driven down prices and improved choice for consumers.

3. Provincial and territorial governments should consider introducing accessible and harmonized unit pricing requirements.

• Competition works best when consumers know where to get the best deals.
• Right now, consumers have to compare many different products and package sizes to choose what is best for them.
• This is a daunting challenge to even the most informed consumer, and out of reach for too many.
• The development and implementation of accessible and harmonized unit pricing requirements across Canada would help consumers more easily compare similar products that come in different package sizes.

4. Provincial and territorial governments should take measures to limit property controls in the grocery industry, which could include banning their use.

• These restrictive clauses reduce competition and make it harder for new grocery stores to open.

Commitments from the Bureau

In addition to our recommendations for governments across Canada, the Bureau will take three steps, inside of its own mandate, to better promote competition in the Canadian grocery industry. We will:

1. Approach our work in the Canadian grocery industry with heightened vigilance and scrutiny.

• We need to be increasingly vigilant in investigating and enforcing allegations of wrongdoing.
• The Bureau has recently committed to “operate with heightened vigilance in areas that will have the greatest impact on the affordability of daily life for Canadians”.
• This means that investigations in the grocery industry will be at the front and centre of the Bureau’s work.

2. Provide a pro-competitive perspective to support the implementation of Canada’s grocery code of conduct.

• The Bureau does not have the ability to enforce a code of conduct.
• However, we will work with any resulting governing bodies to effectively promote competition in its decision-making.
• A code that improves predictability and suppliers’ willingness to invest or innovate within the grocery industry can be a good thing for consumers.

3. Revisit the findings of our study in three years to assess progress on these recommendations.

• The Bureau stands ready to take further action if competition in the grocery industry hasn’t improved.

Anyone wishing to obtain additional information about the Competition Act , the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act (except as it relates to food), the Textile Labelling Act , the Precious Metals Marking Act or the program of written opinions, or to file a complaint under any of these acts should contact the Competition Bureau’s Information Centre:

www.competitionbureau.gc.ca

Information Centre Competition Bureau 50 Victoria Street Gatineau, Quebec K1A 0C9

Toll free: 1-800-348-5358 National Capital Region: 819-997-4282 TTY (for hearing impaired) 1-866-694-8389

819-997-0324