About
Welcome to the University of Toronto's newest initiative in urban research.Mandate
- Bring together faculty, professionals, and graduate students interested in urban development, policy issues and the quality of life in cities;
- Encourage interdisciplinary scholarly research on urban issues;
- Support research by providing academic staff and students with space, access to services and information, opportunities for collaboration, seminars and conferences, and graduate research internships;
- Disseminate ideas related to urban and community studies to other researchers and to agencies and organizations interested in urban matters by publishing books, reports, bibliographies, and research bulletins;
- Improve communications among researchers and between researchers and the broader urban community. The Centre's activities are intended to contribute to scholarship on questions relating to the social and economic well-being of people who live and work in urban areas large and small, in Canada and around the world.
Cities Centre is a multi-disciplinary research institute established February 2007 in response to one of the five major research priorities defined in the University's "Stepping Up" plan. The mandate of the Centre is broad: to encourage and facilitate research, both scholarly and applied, on cities and on a wide range of urban policy issues, both in Canada and abroad, and to provide a gateway for communication between the University and the broader urban community.
The Centre exists to:
- Encourage interdisciplinary scholarly research on urban issues;
- Support research by providing academic staff and students with space, access to services and information, opportunities for collaboration, seminars and conferences, and graduate research internships;
- Disseminate ideas related to urban and community studies to other researchers and to agencies and organizations interested in urban matters by publishing books, reports, bibliographies, and research bulletins;
- Improve communications among researchers and between researchers and the broader urban community. The Centre's activities are intended to contribute to scholarship on questions relating to the social and economic well-being of people who live and work in urban areas large and small, in Canada and around the world.
Administration
The new Centre became official on November 15, 2007 with approvals from the Council of the Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design (FALD), as well as from Arts and Science, Applied Science and Engineering, and SGS. The Centre will report through FALD to a committee of deans from the participating faculties. As of November 20, 2007, administration of the existing Centre for Urban and Community Studies (CUCS) was also transferred from SGS to Cities Centre. The Centre is housed at 455 Spadina Ave.
The Centre for Urban and Community Studies was established in 1964 as a research unit of the School of Graduate Studies. Its research associates include professors and graduate students from a dozen different disciplines and professionals from a variety of organizations.
Although Cities Centre does not offer courses or grant degrees, it administers a Collaborative Program in Community Development. This program allows master's and doctoral students to take courses offered through various departments, including geography, political science, public health, social work, sociology, and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, in order to deepen their understanding of the many facets of community development. Students interested in this program apply through one of the participating departments or faculties and must meet the degree requirements of that department.
Cities Centre welcomes visiting researchers, including professors and professionals on research leave, as well as students with postdoctoral fellowships. The Centre is unable to offer funding to visitors, but can provide work space, internet connection, and access to the University of Toronto's library system. More information on visiting scholar application is available here.