Barbara Rahder | Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change

Professor Emerita

Former Dean

Senior Scholar

Credentials

BSc (1974), Portland State University (Psychology)
MSc (1977), University of Toronto
PhD (1985), University of Toronto

Research Keywords

Feminist community planning, urban and environmental justice, equitable access to urban space & services, planning theory, history and pedagogy.

Contact Information

rahder@yorku.ca

https://barbararahder.wordpress.com/

Research Interests

Since I retired in 2016, I’ve begun writing creative non-fiction. The social justice themes that ran through much of my academic research – inequity and violence related to gender, race, and class – reemerge in my creative writing. Adventures, both before and during my academic career, are the material for my stories, while critical reflections on events and relationships are woven in to provide broader context and meaning.

My creative writing is accessible and of interest to a wider audience than my academic work, but both aim to expose hidden or forgotten forms of violence and oppression that continue to plague cities and communities in North American and around the world.

Research Projects

Beyond My Imagination. My current creative non-fiction book project is based on my serendipitous experiences in Asia on sabbatical in 2007 and two subsequent trips I made to Sri Lanka to teach planning theory in 2009 and 2012. Sri Lanka was in the midst of a civil war during my first trip; the war was ending during my second trip, and over when I was there last. I’m supplementing my observations, personal journals and photographs with books on the history, geography, and politics of the island nation.

Out of Sight! Memoir of a San Francisco Hippie. My first book of creative non-fiction from Friesen Press came out in August 2024. Based on personal journals, newspapers articles, historical films, and a cinematic (if faulty) memory, the memoir focuses on the years between 1966 and 1974. A white girl’s critical eye is used to examine the hippie experience and the sometimes hidden gender, race, and class violence that continues to underpin American society. http://barbararahder.wordpress.com

Research Output

2024 Out of Sight! Memoir of a San Francisco Hippie. Friesen Press.

2002 Desfor, G., D. Barndt, and B. Rahder (eds.) Just Doing It: Popular Collective Action in the Americas. Montreal: Black Rose Books, 193 pp.

2022 "Though Everyone is a Planner Some are More Planners than Others: Hans Blumenfeld (October 1892-January 1988).” Progressive City. https://www.progressivecity.net/single-post/though-everyone-is-a-planner-some-are-more-planners-than-others. (reprinted in Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change Research Spotlight, York University.)

Recognition and Awards

2004 Fellow, Canadian Institute of Planners
2000-2005 YUFA Merit Awards (one award each year for six years, including three top awards in 2001, 2003 & 2004)
1999 Nominated, Chester Rapkin Award for the best paper in the Journal of Planning Education & Research Vol. 18.