Professor
Credentials
PhD Political Science, York University
MES Urban Political Economy and Ecological Politics, York University
BA Political Science and French, York University
Research Keywords
Urbanization; Urban Politics & Planning; Social & Political Theory; Comparative Urban Politics & Planning; Theories Of Space, Politics & Society; Marxism; Anti-colonialism.
Graduate Supervision
I supervise students in the graduate programs in Environmental Studies (PhD, MES), Geography (PhD, MA) and Political Science (PhD, MA).
Contact Information
4700 Keele Street
Toronto, ON M3J 1P3
416 736 2100
Research Interests
My research is driven by two basic, closely interconnected questions: What is the relationship between spatial organization, the social order and the exercise of political rule? And, in turn, what spatial and urban strategies can help us build the kind of political transformations we need to build a genuinely sustainable, egalitarian and radically democratic future for the planet?
My empirical research has focused on urban politics, urbanization and planning in transnational and comparative context. In various parts of Euro-America, including the global cities Zurich, Toronto and Paris, I have researched a range of urban social movements and their geographical imaginaries. I have investigated various forms of state intervention, from urban-regional planning, public housing and public transit to economic and environmental policy. Most recently, I have moved to research the rise of right-wing populism and neo-fascism as well as emancipatory responses to these far-right tendencies and regimes.
In my research and my teaching, I have foregrounded the capitalist and racialized dimensions of urbanization, planning and politics. I have done so in part by highlighting the imperial and (neo-)colonial relations that connect the global North to the global South. For this purpose, I have sought inspiration from marxian, anti-colonial, feminist, and political-ecological theories of politics, society and space. I have for example worked to connect insights, concept and methods from the works of thinkers like Henri Lefebvre, Frantz Fanon, Antonio Gramsci, and Walter Benjamin.
Research Projects
Research Output
Courses
Course Code | Title |
---|---|
ES 2200 | Foundations of Politics and Planning |
ES 4220 | Urbanization in the Global South |
ES 6124 | Urban-Regional Planning: International and Comparative Perspectives |
ES 6173 | Politics and Planning |
ES 6129 | Social Policy and Planning |
ES 3225 | Regional Governance |