Exurbia, sprawl and the ideology of nature.
I’m an associate professor in the Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University, Toronto, Canada. Welcome to my site where I share my teaching and research on the politics of nature and the negotiation of landscape values in planning.
I am keenly interested in exurbia (that most extreme form of sprawl in the countryside) and this is the main focus of my research. I am also interested in the urban-rural fringe, where the city meets the countryside, and so planning for urban expansion, the politics of growth management, and greenbelts (Toronto has the newest greenbelt among all global city-regions) occupy a lot of my attention.
Through teaching, both graduate classes in environmental and regional planning, and undergraduate classes in political ecology, I learn so much from students about the challenges they face in shaping our world and I use this blog as the opportunity to showcase the great moments and ideas that come out of coursework.
Banner picture: Bothell, WA cluster homes