Areas of Academic Interest

• Cities and Globalization
• Economic Restructuring and Urban Form
• Political Economy of the Built Environment
• Theory and History of Planning, Urban Design and Architecture
• Built Environment, Ethnicity and Immigration to Urban Area
• Global Suburbanisms

Major research projects

Global suburbanisms: Governance, land, and infrastructure in the 21st century
(Co-Applicant for SSHRC Major Collaborative Research Initiative 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).

“Urban Images, public space and the growth of private interests in Toronto”, Principal Investigator, SSHRC funded research project (2005-2008).

Other positions/affiliations

• Adjunct Professor, SUNY Buffalo, Department of Geography
• Vice-President for North America (2010-2014), International Sociological Association, Research Committee 21
• Founding Member, International Network for Urban Research and Action
• Elected board member International Journal for Urban and Regional Research (IJURR), Wiley-Blackwell Publisher

Select prizes and awards

• American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP), "Towards a Smart Growth Master Plan: Assessment and Recommendations for the Town of Porter", 2004
• Western New York Section American Planning Association "Towards a Smart Growth Master Plan: Assessment and Recommendations for the Town of Porter", 2003
• New York Upstate Chapter American Planning Association, “Towards a Smart Growth Master Plan: Assessment and Recommendations for the Town of Porter”, 2003
• UCLA, Latin American Center and the Center for International Business Education and Research Mobility Fellowship, 1998-9
• UCLA, Graduate Division Dissertation Year Fellowship, 1997-8
• UCLA, Department of Urban Planning Departmental Fellowship, 1996-7
• UCLA, Chancellor Fellowship, 1993-6
• First prize for poster design, national arts competition; Helvetas, 1977

Select publications

Chapters in books

2011 “Urban Development and the Creative Class in a Neoliberal Age: Two Case Studies in Toronto” In: J. Künkel and M. Mayer, (eds), Neoliberal Urbanism and its Contestations: Crossing Theoretical Boundaries, Palgrave, 99-118.

2011 “Urban Design Competitions”, In: T. Banerjee and A. Loukaitou-Sideris (eds) Companion to Urban Design. Routledge, 304-316.

2010 "Staatsbesuch - State Visit", In: J. Esefeld (ed) Moskau Moscow Mockba 1987-1988, Stuttgart: edition esefeld & traub.

2008 "Urban Renaissance and Resistance in Toronto", In: L. Porter and K. Shaw. Whose Urban Renaissance?
An international comparison of policy drivers and responses to urban regeneration strategies. London: Routledge, 147-156.

2006 “Re-placing Canadian Cities: The Challenge of Landscapes of ‘Desire’ and ‘Despair’”, In: T. Bunting and
P. Filion (eds.) The Canadian City in Transition, 3rd edition, Oxford Press, 438-449.

2006 “From Possible Urban Worlds to the Contested Metropolis: Urban Research and Activism in the Age of Neoliberalism", In: H. Leitner, J. Peck and E. Sheppard (eds.) Contested Urban Futures, Guilford Press, 291-310, (with R. Keil).

2006 “Willing the Global City: Berlin’s Cultural Strategies of Interurban Competition After 1989”, In: N. Brenner and
R. Keil (eds.), The Global City Reader, Routledge, 332-338.

2005 “The Secret Lives of Toilets: A public discourse on 'private' space in the city”, In: A. Wilcox (ed.) uTOpia Toronto: Coach House Books, 194-203. (with D. Cowen and A. Winkler).

2004 “Wo ist die Stadt in der Planungstheorie? Ein Plädoyer für die Stadt in der Stadtplanung”, In: U. Altrock,
S. Güntner, S. Huning and D. Peters (eds.). Perspektiven der Planungstheorie. Berlin: Leue Verlag, 113-121. (“Where is the city in planning theory? Arguing for the city in urban planning).

2000 "Reality or Image? Place Selling at Potsdamer Platz", In: International Network for Urban Research and Action (ed.), The Contested Metropolis: Six Cities at the Beginning of the 21st Century. Basel, Berlin Boston: Birkhäuser,
44-52.

2003 "Architekturkritik als öffentlicher Diskurs", In: Conrads, Führ and Gänshirt (eds.), Zur Sprache bringen: Kritik der Architekturkritik, Münster: Wachsmann, 213-219. (“Architecture as public discourse”).

2000 “Zitadelle Innenstadt: Bilderproduktion und Potsdamer Platz”, In: A. Scharenberg (ed.) Berlin: Global City oder Konkursmasse? Berlin: Karl Dietz Verlag, 95-110. (Citadel Inner City: Image Production and Potsdamer Platz).

1998 "Is There Still Room for Public Space? Global Cities and the Privatization of the Public Realm", In: International Network for Urban Research and Action (ed.), Possible Urban Worlds, Basel, Boston: Birkhaeuser, 200-207.

1998 "Urban Policy Responses to Foreign In-Migration: The Case of Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany", In: J. Friedmann and M.Douglass (eds.), Cities for Citizens: Planning and the Rise of Civil Society, London: John Wiley and Sons, 67-90. (with J. Friedman).

Articles in refereed journals

2010 “Reurbanization in Toronto: Condominium boom and social housing revitalization,” DISP: The Planning Review, 180: 81-90 (with S. Kipfer and R. Keil).

2009 "Condominium development and gentrification," Canadian Planning and Policy, 18(1)82-103 (with T. Wieditz).

2009 "Gentrification and the Loss of Employment Lands: Toronto’s Studio District" Critical Planning, 138-160(with T. Wieditz).

2008 “Old Mega-projects Newly Packaged? Waterfront Redevelopment in Toronto”, Special issue on Megaprojects, edited by S. Fainstein and F. Orueta, International Journal for Urban and Regional Research, 32(4) 786-803. (with J. Laidley).

2006 “Public or private? The Pope Squat and Housing Struggles in Toronto”, A. Aguirre, E. Reese, and V. Eick(guest editors) “Privatization and Resistance - Contesting Neoliberal Globalization” Social Justice: A Journal of Crime, Conflict, and World Order. Vol. 33, issue 3 (with A. Winkler).

2005 "The Spectacularization of the Building Process: Berlin, Potsdamer Platz,” Genre: Forms of Discourse and Culture, Fall/Winter, 26 (3/4) 383-404.

2003 “Architecture Critique as Public Discourse,” Wolkenkuckucksheim: International Journal of Architectural Theory, 8 (2).

1999 “Mike Davis’ L.A. Story: Visions of Los Angeles’ Other Futures,” Capitalism, Nature, Socialism, 39, 45-51.(with R. Keil).

1999 "Case + Study = Case Study? Case Study Approach Used at Potsdamer Platz, Berlin," Critical Planning, Spring, 36-50.

1997 "Migration, Lokalität und Zivilgesellschaft: Immigrationspolitik in Los Angeles,” Leviathan, special topic issue, "Immigration and Urban Development," H. Häussermann and I. Oswald (eds.), 427-445. (Migration, Locality andCivil Society: Immigration Politics in Los Angeles) (with J. Friedmann).

1997 "Urban Policy Responses to Foreign In-Migration: The Case of Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany," Journal of the American Planning Association (JAPA), Winter, 61-78. (with J. Friedmann).

1996 "New (Sub)Urbanism: Countersprawl or Repackaging the Product," Capitalism, Nature, Socialism, 7 (26) 49-64. (with R. Milgrom).

1994 "The Image of the Periphery: The Architecture of FlexSpace," Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 12 (2), 187-205.

1991 "Westway - No Way! Das Scheitern von Stadtentwicklung wegen Autobahnbau in New York City," DISP (Dokumente und Informationen zur Schweizerischen Planung), 106, 37-42. ("Westway - No Way! The Failure of Urban Development through Highway Construction in New York City").

1988 "Ein Dreieck - fünf Lösungen: Wettbewerbsdiskussion anhand der Wohnüberbauung Selnau, Zürich," archithese, February, 56-63. (A triangle - five solutions: urban design competition for community housing in Selnau, Zurich).

Books

1995 Capitales Fatales: Urbanisierung und Politik in den Finanzmetropolen Zürich und Frankfurt, Zürich: Rotpunkt-Verlag; 1995 (Capitales Fatales: Urbanization and Politics in the Financial Metropoles Zurich and Frankfurt),400 pages (with H. Hitz, R. Keil, U. Lehrer, C. Schmid, K. Ronneberger, R. Wolff).

1988 Wandel und Handel der Kaserne: Die städtebaulichen Vorstellungen dargestellt an den Projekten für das Kasernenareal Zürich 1873 - 1988, Zürich: vdf, 1988 (Land use planning, urban design and urban history in an inner city zone of Zurich), 89 pages.

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