The relevance of research
In an article in Saturday’s Globe and Mail, Jeffrey Simpson reports on a study on the factors that influence university attendance. University of Ottawa professor Ross Finnie and his co-author Richard...
View ArticleModern racism in “the most multicultural city in the world”
Most Canadians would deny that theirs is a racist country. Scholars refer to the White Paper (1976) on multiculturalism and the Multiculturalism Act (1988) as proof that Canadians “celebrate...
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Segregated or integrated? American and Canadian ethnic populations
Bill Rankin's map of Chicago A couple of years ago, when I attended the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning annual conference in Chicago, I was stunned to hear that Cleveland and Chicago are...
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SCARP + SALA: the design process
Many of you (hundreds, in fact) have been following my posts about the new SCARP/SALA building. As you know, Shape Architecture/FeildenCleggBradley Studios (architects) and PWL Partnership (landscape...
View ArticleNew insights into immigrant employment trajectories
There have been a few interesting articles lately discussing immigrants’ employment success in Canada. Last week, The Globe and Mail published a story about a new project begun by Maytree, a charitable...
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Generational shift: the impact of women on housing
Ever wondered about women’s role in housing trends in Canadian cities? Check out The rise of women’s role in society: Impacts on housing and communities. In this paper based on Census data, researcher...
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Symbiotic exchange
University of Groningen's Zernike campus Researchers are often accused of working in “ivory towers” separated from the real world. Perhaps planning suffers less from this syndrome since it is firmly...
View ArticleCalling all planners
I’m pleased to announce the call for papers for my upcoming edited book on Canadian planning. It’s been accepted by Oxford University Press with the working title Planning Canada: A Case Study Approach...
View ArticleA crack in the armour? Or a knight in armour?
Many have argued for broader public access to academic research. Few, however, considered it as important as internet activist Aaron Swartz. The 26-year-old programmer pushed to make publications free...
View ArticleCanadian postdocs: highly skilled workers with few benefits
The Canadian Association of Postdoctoral Scholars has recently published a report on the state of the estimated 9,000 postdocs in the country. The report highlights postdocs as yet another...
View ArticleYou can’t go home again…
Despite this warning, I’m throwing all caution to the wind and going home to Toronto. As my contract at the University of Amsterdam comes to an end in a couple of months, I am happy to be returning to...
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Metro Vancouver’s active transportation trends
The results of a two-year partnership, My Health My Community, give us a lot of insight into Metro Vancouver’s active transportation trends: 43% of residents say their primary transportation mode is...
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The transition from PhD to professor has never been more difficult
Last September, I took a position as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Oregon. Even though the position was only for nine months, and required me relocating across the continent to...
View ArticleNews from the Neighbourhood Change Research Partnership: Rooming Houses
Are neighbourhoods, cities, and regions taking a turn for the worse? Or are they relatively stable? I’m a co-investigator on a project called Neighbourhood Change Research Partnership (NCRP), a...
View ArticleU of T provides insights into PhD pathways to employment
Since the trend of short-term contracts began in academia in the 1990s and worsened during the Great Recession, there has been a lot of discussion about the lack of academic positions for people with...
View ArticleHas Alexandra Elbakyan changed the academic publishing world?
Two years ago, writer Simon Oxenham at Big Think broke the story of Alexandra Elbakyan, a researcher from Kazakhstan dubbed the “Robin Hood of Science”. Elbakyan started SciHub, which bypasses journal...
View ArticleCalling all planners
I’m pleased to announce the call for papers for my upcoming edited book on Canadian planning. It’s been accepted by Oxford University Press with the working title Planning Canada: A Case Study Approach...
View ArticleA crack in the armour? Or a knight in armour?
Many have argued for broader public access to academic research. Few, however, considered it as important as internet activist Aaron Swartz. The 26-year-old programmer pushed to make publications free...
View ArticleCanadian postdocs: highly skilled workers with few benefits
The Canadian Association of Postdoctoral Scholars has recently published a report on the state of the estimated 9,000 postdocs in the country. The report highlights postdocs as yet another...
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