Teaching & Supervision

Teaching

ENVS 6132 Urban Environmental Design (taught in 2000 to 2004 and 2014-2015)

Contemporary environments are designed, socially constructed, and culturally valued.  They are just as much the product of politics and ideologies (colonialism, urbanization, modernization, globalization, sustainability, etc.), as they are the result of the professional practices of planners, architects and engineers, politicians, developers, and residents. Environmental design and the (re)production of “natural” and “built” environments have historically encompassed the tensions between nature and culture. From the planning and design guidelines for colonial settlements in the New World, to Olmsted’s green urban reform, to the modernist idea(l)s of the city, to McHarg’s manifesto on ecological processes, and to most recent greening of cities, the course examines various traditions, debates, and challenges to environmental design. It critically engages with ecological, social, political, economic, and cultural interrelationships of environmental design practices, representations and contemporary projects and trends.

ENVS 6133 Social Justice and Planning (under revision)

Formerly Plurality and Planning (taught in 2004 to 2006, 2010 to 2013 and 2004-2015)

ENVS 8102 PhD Research Seminar (taught in 2001 to 2003, and 2007 to 2013)

The PhD Research Seminar is the only mandatory course in out doctoral program. It offers an advanced introduction to select interdisciplinary themes in environmental studies. It is intended to stimulate interaction and discussion of substantive issues, theoretical frameworks, epistemological and methodological approaches related to intellectual praxis in environmental studies. Critical exploration of interdisciplinary research problems assists with the preparation of the students’ program plan and addresses questions emerging from the students’ comprehensive research fields. The course also provides opportunities to explore the various facets of academic life, including engagements in teaching, research and writing.

ENVS 6275 (POLS 6282/GEOG 5395) International Political Economy and Ecology Summer School (co-taught in 2002, 205, 2013 and 2016)

Since 1991, the International Political Economy and Ecology (IPEE) Summer School has been a marquis event in graduate education at York University. The course is sponsored by the Department of Politics, Faculty of Environmental Studies, and the Department of Geography at York University. Every year an internationally renowned scholar in the field is invited as the course instructor to engage in a salient issue within the field of political economy and ecology. The two-week course has brought a remarkable line-up of world renowned scholars to York each year. I directed the following summer schools:

2002 Blue Gold: Unpacking the Political Ecology of the Emerging Global Water Crisis with Tony Clarke (co-directed with Roger Keil)

2005 Ecology, Imperialism and the Contradictions of Capitalism with Alex Demirovic, Joel Kovel, Joan Martinez-Allier and Ariel Salleh (co-directed with Stefan Kipfer)

2013 Radical Food and Hunger Politics in the City with Nik Heynen

2016 Resurgencies: Settler-Colonialism and Radical Indigenous Politcs with Glen Coulthard (co-directed with Stefan Kipfer)

For a complete list of past IPEE Summer School Speakers, see http://political-science.gradstudies.yorku.ca/ipee-summer-school/

ENVS 4750 Political Ecology of Landscapes (taught in 2014-2015)

This course provides an introduction to political ecology and landscapes from an interdisciplinary perspective. Political ecology provides a double political and ecological lens to understand the interconnections between society and the environment embodied in particular landscapes. The course focuses on both the theoretical and practical aspects of political ecology to understand how landscapes are produced and evolved through power relations. The course examines the material and discursive constitution of human-environment relations in various types of landscapes, perspectives and disciplines. Through concepts and issues such as nature, environmental change, landscape urbanism, landscape exploitation, landscape preservation, landscape resistance and landscape justice, the course explains how landscape, nature and ecology are always political.

    Graduate Students Supervision

Doctoral dissertations

Dr. Catherine Phillips (2008) Saving More than Seeds: Natures, Technology and Politics with/in Seed Saving (https://www.routledge.com/Saving-More-Than-Seeds-Practices-and-Politics-of-Seed-Saving/Phillips/p/book/9781409446514)

Dr. Richard Oddie (2008) Alternate Routes, New Pathways: Development, Democracy and the Political Ecology of Transportation in Hamilton, ON

Dr. Teresa Abbruzzese  (2012) The Contested Production of Amusement in Southern Italy: Transgression through Rituals

Punam Khosla (in progress) Rethinking Marx’s ‘Primitive’ Accumulation as a Corporeal Logic of Everyday Gendered, Racialized and Sexualized Violence

Liza Kim Jackson (in progress) Margins as Centre: Crip Social Praxis Arts in the Capitalist Settler City

Julia Fursova (in progress) Common Health: The Role of Community-Based Non-Profit Organisations in Advancing Community Action for Health Justice 

Sheila Htoo  (in progress) The Salween Peace Park: Indigenous Karen’s Aspirations for Peace through the Protection of Land and Cultural Identity as Critical Resolution for Longstanding Conflicts in Burma

PhD Comprehensive Supervision

Aedan Alderson (in progress) Dreaming the Post-Colonial: Mi’kmaq and Irish Experiences of Contemporary British Imperialism    

Maria Juncos (in progress) Agroecological Principles for Urban Agriculture in North America

Melanie Walther (in progress) Redefining Public Participation in Planning: Hamilton’s Neighbourhood Development Strategy as a New Co-Production Approach

Faculty of Environmental Studies (MES Major Papers and Theses)

In progress
Michael Romero
Transnational Urban Planning in the Multicultural City: An Analysis of Diversity Beyond Ethnoculturalism

Atieh Aghaei        
Politics of Public Space: A Study of Valiasr-Enghelab Underpass in Tehran, Iran

Zoi de la Peña
Planning the Public Out of Public Parks

John Nairne
The Global Refugee Crisis in the 21st Century: Civil Society and Canada’s Response to Syrian Refugees. 

2017
Tristan Costa        
Places that Glow: Evaluating the Legacy of the 2015 Toronto Pan/Parapan American G

Alexander Martino
Social and Environmental Sustainability in Waterfront Redevelopment: A Case Study of Inspiration Lakeview

2016
Guillermo Martínez de Velasco    
A Materialist Acoustemology of urban Atmospheres in Mexico City’s Centro Histórico
(nomination FES Outstanding Paper Series)

Patrick Amaral
The 2015 Pan Am Games Legacy Project: The West Don Lands Athletes Village and Affordable Housing

Alice Dixon
Housing that sustains: A case study of Bain Co-op and its historic buildings

Matthew McCallum
Redevelopment of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health: Do Images Speak Louder Than Words?

Andrea Fresolone
Losing the Right to Mimico through Urban Development, Planning and other Injustices

Micheal Di Febo        
Impacts of Transportation Planning on Economic Development: The relationship between economic, social, and environmental variables and transit hubs measured through spatial statistics 

2015
Joshua Switzman        
Transportation-led Redevelopment and Affordability along the Eglinton Avenue LRT Line, Toronto

Monica Silberberg
Short-term Gain and Long-Term Pain: A Case-Study of the 2015 Toronto Pan American Games and the Union-Pearson Express

2013
Charleen Kong
Urban Climatic Planning Policy in Hong Kong: Its Origins and Limitations

Claire Harvey        
Radical Planning in Gentrifying Williamsburg, Brooklyn
(nomination FES Outstanding Paper Series)

Gwendolyn Potter     
Public Participation in Planning as Urban Citizenship: Contrasting Two Conceptualizations of Citizenship in Toronto's Ward 20
(nomination FES Outstanding Paper Series)

2012
Nishanthan Balasubramaniam     
The Making of a Multi-Ethnic Ethnoburb: Case Study of Markham

Daniel Godin             
Cycling Advocacy, DIY Urbanism and the Transformation of Automobility
(nomination FES Outstanding Paper Series)

Pascal Jean
Urban Revitalization and its Impacts on Low-Income Households in the Maisonneuve Neighbourhood of Montreal

Kareem Webster
Deconstructing Lawrence Heights Through Planning, Race, and Space
(nomination FES Outstanding Paper Series)

2011
Joanna Duarte Laudon
Participatory to the End: Planning and Implementation of a Participatory Evaluation Strategy

Andrea Friedman
Revealing Revitalization Mask: Place-Based Policy and Urban Redevelopment in Toronto's Suburban Neighbourhoods

Amaraine Laven
The Market as the New Foreign Concession

Timothy Ross
Planning Language and Discourses of Accessibility

Christine Witte
A Guide to Creating a More Self-Reliant Existence

Sagal Jibril
"Cashberta:" Migration Experiences of Somali-Canadian Second Generation Youth in Canada
(nomination FES Outstanding Paper Series)

Sean Stewart
Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Engagements in Local Planning and Governance: The Case of the City of Powell River and the Sliammon First Nation

2010
Loloa Alkasawat
Placemaking as a Tool in Inclusive Planning: A Case Study of Ein el Tal Refugee Camp Relocation Project in Syria

Connie Chan
Accessible Transit for Seniors: Gaps Between Policy and Realities in Toronto

Travis Macbeth
Planning Social and Environmental Sustainability: The Interface Between Accessibility and Green Building

Daniel Simard
Media Representations, Anti-Discriminatory Law and Freedom of Expression: Analyzing Section 13(1) of Canada's Human Rights Act

2009
Candice Jobe
Aboriginal Educational Planning: Ways of Knowing

Alissa Park
Politics of Waterfront Redevelopment: Building and Demolition of the Gardiner Expressway

2008
Ei Phyu Han
Support and Settlement: Karen Refugees and Community Building in Ottawa

Stephanie Hobbs
Access Without Fear: The Construction of "Illegal Immigration" and the Promise of Borderwork

2006
Tracy Locke
The Experiences of Filipino Domestic Workers in Canada

Rebekah McGurran
Planning for Environmental and Social Sustainability: Opportunities on the Toronto's Waterfront

Jay Worthing
Membranes in Contemporary Architecture: Rendering the Inter-Active Space of Mediation, Tension and Wovenness

2005
Hena Kabir
Sustainable Historical Revitalization Planning in Toronto

Lisa Neidrauer
The Don Valley: The Integration of Nature into the Urban Narrative

Sonia Sanita
Smart Growth Strategies and Discourses in Ontario

Lyndsey Leigh Corrigan
The Production of Space: Mobility as a Step Towards Sustainability in the Region of Stuttgart

Catherine Habel
Toronto's Urban Littoral Frontier: Land Creation on the Central Waterfront

2004
Stavroula Andis
Urban Neighbourhood Revitalization: Philadelphia's Past and its Future

Francis (Kodjo) Kwashie
Pluralistic Planning Approaches: The Crucible for Multicultural Planning in the Jane-Finch Community?

Ge Zhang
Restoring Our Places

Adella Allen
The Implications of Urban Development Projects for Multicultural Planning: A Case Study of the City of Vaughan

Frederick Tay
Planning Affordable Housing: The Case of Sub-Saharan Africans in Toronto

Matthew Cowley
Critically Assessing the Nature of Public Spaces in Toronto and Their Significance in the Contemporary Urban Environment

Donna Doyle
Planning for Greener Development: Conservation Development and London Bay East
(nomination FES Outstanding Paper Series)

2003
Ireen Stender
Why Spend Public Money on Green Roof Infrastructure? A Look at Government Policy and Incentives in Germany and the Public/Private Benefit of Green Roofs

Chengzhang Yu
Planning for Urban Pressures: Sustainable Urban Environment and Planning in Nanjing and Toronto

Cristina Bastone
Project Revival: Rethinking Outdoor School Design

Michaelann George
Children Left Behind

Sheila Rao
South Asian Diasporic Identity: Local and Comparative Perspectives

Carol Altilia
Planning for Diversity in the Global City: The Toronto Case
(nomination FES Outstanding Paper Series)

Lisa Roberti
Integrating People and Nature in Urban Wilderness: Bringing together
Concepts from Ecological Planning Design and Restoration to Address the Opportunities and Challenges of an Urban Ecological Regeneration

Marc-Antoine Fleury
Unearthing Montreal's Municipal Water System: Amalgamating and Harmonizing Urban Water Services
(nomination FES Outstanding Paper Series)

Bruno Scopacasa
Good Neighbourhood Design: Strengths and Limits of New Urbanism in Cornell

Robert Jefferson
Woodbine Development: Neighbourhood Liveability Evaluation

Carlos Velez Guerra
The Aquablanca District: The Urban Poor's Access to Land in Cali

Lara Newman
Urban Environmental Planning and Design

Sheila Waite-Chuah
Sustainable Design: A course Outline for the Ontario College of Art and Design

Ruth Rendon
Urban Planning: Evolution of Urban Spaces

2002
Sabrina Coletti
Brownfields: Developing Planning Programs to Overcome the Barriers to Redevelopment

Christina Gallimore
Acknowledging Urban Diversity in Planning Theory and Practice: A Comparative Analysis of Social Policy and Planning in the City of Toronto and The Regional Municipality of York

Shari Goodland
Wetland Restoration and Creation: Implementation at the Toronto Zoo

Jacinta Goveas
Displacement and Diasporic Identity: The Mangalorean Community Experience

Sau Tai
Building an On-Campus Eco-Feminist Community Through Place-Based Art

Clement Chong
Creating Space and Experiencing Place: The Study on the Sense of Place of Three Shopping Malls in Toronto

Adrienne Blattel
The Meanings of Heritage: Constructing Newfoundland's French History

Undergraduate Supervision 

2016
Cheryl Tansony
Social Justice in the Greening of Brownfields for Sustainable Development: Environmental Gentrification in the West Don Lands and Mount Dennis, Toronto

2006
Joseph Carnevale
On Track with Transportation: A Look at Public Transit and Toronto’s Official Plan

2003
Julia Calcerano
Porous Answers to Concrete Problems: A Look at Alternatives to Concrete in paving

2002
Christine Witte
A Socio-Environmental Analysis if the Hundertwasser House in Vienna