Professor
Credentials
PhD Urban Planning, University of California, Los Angeles
Lic.phil.; History of Arts & Architecture; Sociology; Economic & Social History, University of Zurich
Research Keywords
Global Suburbanism; Cities & Globalization; Image Production in Cities; Economic Restructuring & Urban Form; Political Economy of the Built Environment; Theory & History of Planning, Urban Design & Architecture; Built Environment, Ethnicity & Immigration to Urban Areas.
Contact Information
4700 Keele Street
Toronto, ON M3J 1P3
416 736 2100
Research Projects
High-rise living, public space and COVID-19 in the Greater Toronto Area, Principal Investigator, SSHRC-funded research project (2022-2025).
Global suburbanisms: Governance, land, and infrastructure in the 21st century
(Co-Applicant for SSHRC-funded Major Collaborative Research Initiative (MCRI) 2010-17; 46 researchers; 17 partners).
“Suburban identities in the global city between competition and cooperation: Toronto and Frankfurt”, Principal Investigator, SSHRC-funded research project (2011-2014).
Research Output
Lehrer, U. (book proposal, in preparation) Condominium Boom in Toronto: Between Private and Public Interests.
Harris R. and Lehrer, U. (2018) (eds.) The Suburban Land Question: A Global Survey. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 368 pages.
Articles
Tchoukaleyska, R, Enright, T., and Lehrer, U. (2018) “Public Space Beyond The City Centre: Suburban and Periurban Dynamics”, Canadian Journal of Urban Research, Summer, 28(1) i-iv https://cjur.uwinnipeg.ca/index.php/cjur/article/view/180
Tchoukaleyska, R, Enright, T., and Lehrer, U. (2019) “Public Space Beyond The City Centre: Suburban and Periurban Dynamics”, Canadian Journal of Urban Research, Summer, 28(1) i-iv https://cjur.uwinnipeg.ca/index.php/cjur/article/view/180
March, L and Lehrer, U. (2019) “Verticality, Public Space and the Role of Resident Participation in Revitalizing Suburban High-rise Buildings” Canadian Journal of Urban Research, Summer, 28(1) 65-85. https://cjur.uwinnipeg.ca/index.php/cjur/article/view/201/107
Lehrer, U. & March, L. (2019) “Vertical urbanism: high-rise buildings and public space” Finnish Journal of Urban Studies; Kaupunkikysymys – The Urban Question, 57(4) 37-42 https://journal.fi/yhdyskuntasuunnittelu/issue/view/609
Lehrer, U., Harris, R. & Bloch, R. (2015) The Suburban Land Question. Urban Planning International. 30 (6): 18-26.
Lehrer, U., Harris, R., & Bloch, R. (2015a). “La Question du Territoire Suburbain” Pole Sud: Revue de science de l’Europe méridionale (special issue Sous le foncier, la politique) 42(1) 63-85.
Roza, T., Enright, T. & Lehrer, U. (2019) “Editor's Introduction: Public Space Beyond The City Centre: Suburban and Periurban Dynamics” (with), Canadian Journal for Urban Research, summer 28(1) i-iv https://cjur.uwinnipeg.ca/index.php/cjur/article/view/180/91
Book Chapters
Lehrer, U. (2022- in print) “The Power of the Image: Integrating research and teaching via experiential education” In: R. Keil and Fulong Wu. After Suburbia: Urbanization in the 21st Century. Toronto: University of Toronto Press
Lehrer, U. (2022) John Friedmann: The Good Society (1979), In: Camilla Perone, Critical Urban Planning and Design. Springer.
March, L. & Lehrer, U. (2021) “Public Space and COVID-19: new social practices, intensified inequalities” In: Brian Doucet, Rianne van Melik, and Pierre Filion; Global Reflections on COVID-19 and Cities: Urban inequalities in the age of pandemic,Polity Press.
Lehrer, U. & Pantalone, P. (2018) “The sky is not the limit: Negotiating height and density in Toronto’s condominium boom” In: Andrew E G Jonas, Byron Miller, Kevin Ward and David Wilson (eds), Spaces of Urban Politics, New York: Routledge, p. 85-95.
Harris R. and Lehrer, U. (2018) The suburban land question: introduction” In: Harris R. and Lehrer, U. (2018) (eds.) The Suburban Land Question: A Global Survey. Toronto: University of Toronto Press
Harris R. and Lehrer, U. (2018) Conclusion: what are the suburban land questions?” In: Harris R. and Lehrer, U. (2018) (eds.) The Suburban Land Question: A Global Survey. Toronto: University of Toronto Press
Lehrer, U. & Tchoukaleyska, R. (2017) “Old Wine in New Bottles: Land, Population Growth and Montpellier’s Suburban Face-Off” In: Nicholas Phelps (ed.) Old Europe, New Suburbanization? Governance, Land and Infrastructure in European Suburbanization. Toronto: Toronto University Press, p. 133-157.
Lehrer, U. (2016) “Room for the Good Society? Public space, amenities and the condominium” In: Haripriya Rangan, Mee Kam NG, Libby Porter and Jacquelyn Chase (eds), Insurgencies and Revolutions: Reflections on John Friedmann’s contributions to planning theory and practice. Boston: Routledge RTPI Library Series, pp. 141-150.
Belina, B. & Lehrer, U. (2016) “The global city region: constantly emerging scalar fix, terrain of inter-municipal competition and corporate profit strategy” In: J.A. Boudreau, R. Keil, S. Kipfer, and P. Hamel. Waterloo: Wilfried Laurier Press.
Conference Presentation
2020 Expert contribution, “20 years of research on condominium development”, Tall Buildings Reconsidered: The Growing Evidence of a Looming Urban Crisis, Ax:son Johnson Foundation, Centre for the Future of Places, Stockholm, Sweden, and Neaman Institute for National Policy Research at Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa. Feb 2-4.
2019 Keynote address, Opening Plenary, State of Australian Cities Conference, “Global Suburbanisms and the Land Question”, Perth, Australia, Dec 3.
2019 “The role of resident participation in redefining and redesigning public space in suburban high-rise buildings: two case studies in the Toronto Region” ReVision: Strategies for Renewing Apartment Buildings & Neighbourhoods, Faculty of Design, Kyushu University, Ohashi Campus, November 26-29.
2019 “’Own the sky’: Highrise living in the 21st century” ISA Research Committee 21: Urban and Regional Development, New Delhi, India, Sept 18 to 21.
2019 “Amenities and the Public in Condo Buildings” International Network for Urban Research and Action, Zagreb, Croatia, June 30 to July 7.
2019 “Growth Policies and Amenities in Sprawling Regions,” Annual Meeting of the Urban Affairs Association, Los Angeles, April (with Katherine Perrott).
2019 “The role of public space and amenities in sprawling regions,” Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers, Washington, April 3-7 (with Katherine Perrott).
Invited Speaker
2020 Keynote speaker, Helsinki, Finland, August 27 to 28.
2020 Keynote speaker, Sao Paolo, Brazil, April 26 (postponed)
2019 “Ways of Seeing” PhD Symposium Program, SOAC 2019, Perth, Australia, Dec 2.
2019 Keynote speaker, “Global Suburbanisms and the Land Question” Geography and Planning Seminar Series, University of Western Australia, School of Agriculture and Environment. Perth, Australia, November 22.
2019 Participants of York delegation, meeting with Dr. Daniela Ridder (DAAD) and Dr. Nicola Vöhringer (member of parliament)
2019 “Highlights of Germany and York University Engagement with Germany”, Delegation from Hesse, Germany to York: University Presidents and Officials, July 10, 2019, Schulich Private Dining Room
2019 “Global Suburbanisms and the Land Question”, Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space (IRS), Erkner, Germany, April 8. https://leibniz-irs.de/aktuelles/veranstaltungen/2019/04/global-land-suburban-form/
Media Appearance
2020 Interview with Mike Stafford, "Gentrification can't be in our interest: How development is breaking up Toronto's communities", am640 radio, March 2
2020 Interviewed by Jenna Moon, “‘We are fighting a big machine.’ Gentrification is pulling apart Toronto’s communities. How do we prevent it?” Toronto Star, February 29, https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/02/29/we-are-fighting-a-big-machine-gentrification-is-pulling-apart-torontos-communities-how-do-we-prevent-it.html
2019 “Taking a bite out of the Big Apple: Critical Urban Planning Workshop heads to NYC”
2019 “Experiential education takes planning students abroad and it’s a boot camp for the brain”, http://yfile.news.yorku.ca/2019/09/19/experiential-education-takes-planning-students-abroad-and-its-a-boot-camp-for-the-brain/
2019 “MES students travel through Germany to study housing practices” https://yfile.news.yorku.ca/2019/06/11/mes-students-travel-through-germany-to-study-housing-practices/
2019 Hasham, Alyshah “Toronto police secretly filmed condo hallways - was that legal?: Case reveals 'grey zone' in law over warrantless surveillance in buildings' common areas” Toronto Star, 23 Mar 2019: A.1. A.22 https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.library.yorku.ca/docview/2195859731?accountid=15182
Recognition & Awards
- Faculty of Environmental Studies, Dean's Teaching Award
- German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Field Study Grant
- Leibniz Institute for Research on Society (IRS), Erkner, Germany, IRS Fellowship
- School of Environment, Education and Development, Faculty of Humanities, University of Manchester, UK, Hallsworth Visiting Professorship
- City Institute, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, Honorary Research Fellowship