For over 35 years, the International Public Markets Conference has brought together visionary market managers, community advocates, and civic leaders to explore the changing forces that are shaping public markets today.
The conference has inspired the launch of the Market Cities Program and has become a celebrated forum for strategic partners in the fields of public health, community development, food systems, and social policy. The event will convene over 300 leaders in public markets from across the globe and as our first fully in-person conference since 2019, the International Public Markets Conference is a much awaited opportunity to reconnect in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
For over 35 years, the International Public Markets Conference has brought together visionary market managers, community advocates, and civic leaders to explore the changing forces that are shaping public markets today. The conference has inspired the launch of the Market Cities Program and has become a celebrated forum for strategic partners in the fields of public health, community development, food systems, and social policy.
This three day event will convene the world’s leading public market operators, developers, and thought leaders to help unlock the potential of market systems as equitable sources of well-being and opportunity. As our first fully in-person conference since 2019, the International Public Markets Conference is also a much awaited opportunity to reconnect in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Read More
We respectfully acknowledge that the 11th International Public Market Conference will be hosted in the traditional territory of many Indigenous Nations. Learn more.
Toronto is Canada’s largest city and a multicultural metropolis home to more than 200 food initiatives and public markets as well as a leader in urban livability. Internationally recognized for its leadership in food system work, including the 30-year running Toronto Food Policy Council, Toronto is the perfect place to collectively imagine a citywide Market City strategy and mobilize the partnerships to make it happen.
This is an exciting moment for Toronto as we have been chosen to host the International Public Markets Conference in 2023. This conference will be an opportunity to welcome market leaders from around the world and to showcase Toronto’s thriving public markets and neighbourhoods to a global audience.
—Mayor John Tory, City of Toronto
Learning from challenges brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic including food insecurity as well as existing issues around income inequality, the city is recognizing the full value of its municipal markets and grappling with the need to provide its residents with diverse forms of food accessibility. The City of Toronto, St. Lawrence Market, and the newly formed Market City TO will bring together a variety of stakeholders to build upon existing equity focused work and drive forward plans that recognize the importance of public food infrastructure. Conference attendees will have the opportunity to observe this process in action.