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The City Institute at York University Will Focus on Solutions
TORONTO, May 31, 2006 -- − A new centre for urban research at York University is bringing together more than 40 faculty members who research city-related topics ranging from housing to immigration.
The City Institute at York University will focus on everything urban − whether it is the areas “in-between†city cores and suburbs, or the social forces at work in cities around the globe.
Researchers from eight faculties at York are already doing this type of collaborative, interdisciplinary research, says Roger Keil, an environmental studies professor who has been appointed as director of the institute. The growing interest in urban issues, both in the university and the community, convinced York to pull all of that expertise into an organized research unit that will act as a catalyst for future projects.
“Almost half of the world’s population lives in cities, and much of the rest of the world is influenced by urban life, whether through cell phone technology or issues of sustainability,†says Keil. “To understand cities as agents of change, we have to understand the intersections between people, politics, art, culture, the economy and social practices.â€
Centred at the Keele campus, The City Institute at York University is itself part of the “in-between city,†the fluid periphery where Toronto and other cities around the globe change every day. The institute will build on the collaborative relationship that the university has already established with the Regional Municipality of York and will continue to address issues of urban sprawl and suburban development.
“These challenges − whether traffic gridlock, environmental pollution or social problems − are occurring not only in the Greater Toronto Area but across the globe. York researchers are studying urban affairs on all continents,†says Keil.
The City Institute at York University, which is the 23rd organized research unit to be established at York, was formally launched on Wednesday.
“The City Institute was conceived to support the full spectrum of urban research across the university and to bring academics together to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration," says Stan Shapson, York's vice-president, research and innovation. “I am confident that under the leadership of Professor Roger Keil, and with the critical mass of renowned urban scholars at York, the Institute will move York’s research agenda forward and will quickly grow into Canada’s pre-eminent centre for urban research."
Three of the major projects already underway are:
* Professors Roger Keil, Engin Isin Patricia Wood and post-doctoral scholar Douglas Young are identifying the infrastructure needs of the “in-between†city that straddles Toronto and Vaughan.
* Professors Barbara Rahder, Ranu Basu, Liette Gilbert, Susan McGrath and Patricia Wood are exploring how low-income, marginalized people in Montreal, Toronto and Calgary experience public space, the barriers they face, and opportunities for change.
* Professor Gene Desfor is leading an interdisciplinary team that examines how Toronto’s waterfront has been shaped and reshaped by the interaction of natural and social processes over more than one hundred years, and how this relationship will define the waterfront in the future.
The more than 40 professors who are affiliated with The City Institute at York – and the hundreds of graduate students they supervise – are conducting applied and theoretical research in fields including planning, the urban environment, migration and settlement, globalization and world cities, citizenship and civil society, education, transportation, law, architecture and art history, and the city in literature and film.
York University is the leading interdisciplinary research and teaching university in Canada . York offers a modern, academic experience at the undergraduate and graduate level in Toronto, Canada ’s most international city. The third largest university in the country, York is host to a dynamic academic community of 50,000 students and 7,000 faculty and staff, as well as 190,000 alumni worldwide. York’s 10 faculties and 23 research centres conduct ambitious, groundbreaking research that is interdisciplinary, cutting across traditional academic boundaries. This distinctive and collaborative approach is preparing students for the future and bringing fresh insights and solutions to real-world challenges. York University is an autonomous, not-for-profit corporation.
Please visit our website: www.yorku.ca/city
For more information, contact:
Janice Walls
Media Relations Coordinator
York University
416-736-2100, ext. 22101
wallsj@yorku.ca
TORONTO, May 31, 2006 -- − A new centre for urban research at York University is bringing together more than 40 faculty members who research city-related topics ranging from housing to immigration.
The City Institute at York University will focus on everything urban − whether it is the areas “in-between†city cores and suburbs, or the social forces at work in cities around the globe.
Researchers from eight faculties at York are already doing this type of collaborative, interdisciplinary research, says Roger Keil, an environmental studies professor who has been appointed as director of the institute. The growing interest in urban issues, both in the university and the community, convinced York to pull all of that expertise into an organized research unit that will act as a catalyst for future projects.
“Almost half of the world’s population lives in cities, and much of the rest of the world is influenced by urban life, whether through cell phone technology or issues of sustainability,†says Keil. “To understand cities as agents of change, we have to understand the intersections between people, politics, art, culture, the economy and social practices.â€
Centred at the Keele campus, The City Institute at York University is itself part of the “in-between city,†the fluid periphery where Toronto and other cities around the globe change every day. The institute will build on the collaborative relationship that the university has already established with the Regional Municipality of York and will continue to address issues of urban sprawl and suburban development.
“These challenges − whether traffic gridlock, environmental pollution or social problems − are occurring not only in the Greater Toronto Area but across the globe. York researchers are studying urban affairs on all continents,†says Keil.
The City Institute at York University, which is the 23rd organized research unit to be established at York, was formally launched on Wednesday.
“The City Institute was conceived to support the full spectrum of urban research across the university and to bring academics together to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration," says Stan Shapson, York's vice-president, research and innovation. “I am confident that under the leadership of Professor Roger Keil, and with the critical mass of renowned urban scholars at York, the Institute will move York’s research agenda forward and will quickly grow into Canada’s pre-eminent centre for urban research."
Three of the major projects already underway are:
* Professors Roger Keil, Engin Isin Patricia Wood and post-doctoral scholar Douglas Young are identifying the infrastructure needs of the “in-between†city that straddles Toronto and Vaughan.
* Professors Barbara Rahder, Ranu Basu, Liette Gilbert, Susan McGrath and Patricia Wood are exploring how low-income, marginalized people in Montreal, Toronto and Calgary experience public space, the barriers they face, and opportunities for change.
* Professor Gene Desfor is leading an interdisciplinary team that examines how Toronto’s waterfront has been shaped and reshaped by the interaction of natural and social processes over more than one hundred years, and how this relationship will define the waterfront in the future.
The more than 40 professors who are affiliated with The City Institute at York – and the hundreds of graduate students they supervise – are conducting applied and theoretical research in fields including planning, the urban environment, migration and settlement, globalization and world cities, citizenship and civil society, education, transportation, law, architecture and art history, and the city in literature and film.
York University is the leading interdisciplinary research and teaching university in Canada . York offers a modern, academic experience at the undergraduate and graduate level in Toronto, Canada ’s most international city. The third largest university in the country, York is host to a dynamic academic community of 50,000 students and 7,000 faculty and staff, as well as 190,000 alumni worldwide. York’s 10 faculties and 23 research centres conduct ambitious, groundbreaking research that is interdisciplinary, cutting across traditional academic boundaries. This distinctive and collaborative approach is preparing students for the future and bringing fresh insights and solutions to real-world challenges. York University is an autonomous, not-for-profit corporation.
Please visit our website: www.yorku.ca/city
For more information, contact:
Janice Walls
Media Relations Coordinator
York University
416-736-2100, ext. 22101
wallsj@yorku.ca
