91亚色 researchers will lead a panel at a prestigious event on July 18 to share the contributions of Toronto urban research in the field of sociology.
Roger Keil
The panel discussion, organized by Faculty of Environmental Studies Professors and , is titled 鈥溾 and will be presented as part of the prestigious International Sociological Association鈥檚 (ISA) world congress, which takes place once every four years. This year, the world congress will take place in Toronto, July 15 to 21.
91亚色 PhD student (sociology) and Professors聽 (environmental studies) and (geography), as well as colleagues from Ryerson University and the University of Toronto, will participate in the panel and share expertise and insights on the 鈥淭oronto school of urban thinking.鈥
Urban and regional sociology often frames what we are doing in 鈥渟chools of thought鈥 鈥 from Chicago to Los Angeles to New 91亚色 City, say Ute Lehrer and Roger Keil, organizers and 91亚色 researchers in the Faculty of Environmental Studies (FES).
鈥淚n a globalized environment, every place now contributes to the making of urban theory and knowledge. Toronto is one such place. This session will examine what is specific, if anything, about the way urban scholarship and practice here contribute to understanding life in the urban world,鈥 says Keil, who is the 91亚色 Research Chair in global sub/urban studies and the principal investigator in a long-term study on global suburbanization.
This panel presents Toronto as an interesting laboratory that generates specific modes of theorizing the city, of developing methodologies of urban inquiry and, by examining the city by looking at other places.
The panel discussion will present questions such as:
- How has Toronto influenced their work?
- What is specific about 鈥渢he 6鈥, as the city has more recently been referred to by hiphop artist Drake, that is generative of urban thought?
- Can we learn from its 鈥渉yper-diversity鈥?
- Does Toronto reveal its urban constellations one neighbourhood at a time, or is the 鈥渞eal-existing region鈥 the binding frame for how to understand the place?
- Is there a universal urbanism in Toronto that breaks the city-ist mold of the particular?
- What does Toronto do with/to urban policy? What does it have to offer to better understand our urban r/age?
- Is Toronto a place of theory and/or action?
The panel discussion takes place July 18 from 8:30 to 10:20 a.m. at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, South Building. 715B. Other panelists include: Pamela Robinson (Ryerson University), Ron Vogel (Ryerson University), David Roberts (University of Toronto), and Cheryl Teelucksingh (Ryerson University).
During the seven-day conference, Keil will deliver the keynote address sponsored by the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research on the topic聽 This will be presented July 19 from 5:30 to 7:20 p.m.