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Over the past three decades, Ghana's economy has been subjected to tremendous macroeconomic reform programmes. The reforms in the national economic system were reflected almost immediately on the urban landscape. One such change is widespread land-use conversion, mainly from residential to commercial spaces. This study examines the major forces driving conversion, processes involved in conversion, conflicts with existing land uses, and their impact on the urban-built environment and the livelihood of actors involved. The study involves 39 indepth interviews with key informants, with strategic reports and documents used to contextualize interview results. The findings indicate that the conversion of residential to commercial units is widespread, and that it is the result of several factors, including the desire to improve economic opportunities in light of growing uncertainty, the mismatch between demand and supply for retail spaces, infrastructural development and redevelopment, and interest in expanding population and entrepreneurial activities. The conversion process is occurring informally, and many businesses that operate in the converted properties are small scale. Findings indicate planning implications associated with the conversion process and offer suggestions to address them.

Regional collaboration has been suggested as a more effective way to promote economic development than competitive approaches. In Ontario, despite attempts by the provincial government to encourage regional collaboration, research finds that municipalities are still engaging in inter-territorial competition. In this article, we conducted interviews with thirty-seven practitioners to determine if economic development practices in Ontario have shifted towards more collaborative approaches during the COVID-19 pandemic.The article finds that regional collaboration, as an economic development practice, has intensified in the province during the recent pandemic. Practitioners noted three reasons for engaging in regional collaboration: pool resources, reduce duplication, and complete regionally task-oriented goals. SommaireOn a laissé entendre que la collaboration régionale est un moyen plus efficace de promouvoir le développement économique que les approches concurrentielles. En Ontario, malgré les tentatives du gouvernement provincial

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