Rahder, Barbara L.
Professor and Dean of Environmental Studies
BSc (Psychology) Portland State, MSc, PhD (Urban and Regional Planning) Toronto, FCIP
Email: rahder@yorku.ca
Website: http://www.plannersnetwork.org
Areas of Academic Interest
- Urban and community planning history, theory, and practice;
- Community development and access to public space;
- Social equity, diversity, and change;
- Women and environments;
- Participatory planning and research.
My research focuses on issues of equity and access within urban communities. My early research examined class-based segregation, exploring the dynamics that reproduce class differences within neighbourhoods, and analyzing the origins of this segregation in nineteenth century Toronto. This understanding of social reproduction led me to work with varied communities and organizations to address issues of inequity in housing and social services. I've worked with women's groups, immigrant groups, Aboriginal groups, public housing tenants, and a host of governmental and non-governmental organizations, among others. My current research extends into the realm of urban public space more broadly to explore issues of social sustainability and diversity in three Canadian cities: Montreal, Toronto, and Calgary. My research methods attempt to be feminist and participatory in order to allow research participants to explore and express their own diverse and nuanced experiences in their own words.
My teaching concentrates in two areas: planning theory and bioregional planning. For planning theory, I emphasize understanding ideas and concepts within a social historical framework, taking note of the specific time and place in which these theories emerged, and then assessing the implications of their concepts and underlying values for planning practice. When teaching the bioregional planning workshop, I begin with a critical exploration of bioregional theory, examining in depth what this theory implies for planning practice. Students then create bioregional plans for a specific site, exploring the site's social, cultural and natural history in an effort to re-connect the process of planning to that specific life place.
Major research projects
- Social Sustainability, Diversity and Public Space in Three Canadian Cities
(SSHRC Standard Research Grant with Co-Investigators: Ranu Basu, Liette Gilbert, Susan L. McGrath and Patricia K. Wood, 2006-2009)
Select prizes and awards
- 2004 Fellow, Canadian Institute of Planners
- 1999 Nominated, Chester Rapkin Award for the best paper in the Journal of Planning Education & Research Vol. 18.
Select publications
2009 “Invisible Sisters: Women and Environmental Justice in Canada.” In J. Agyeman, P. Cole, R. Haluza-DeLay, and P. O’Riley (eds.) Speaking for Ourselves: Environmental Justice in Canada. Vancouver: UBC Press. pp. 81-96.
2004 "The uncertain city: Making space(s) for difference." with Richard Milgrom in Canadian Planning and Policy—Amenagement et politique le Canada. Vol. 13 No. 1, pp. 27-45.
2004 "Where is feminism in planning going: Appropriation or transformation?" with Carol Altilia in Planning Theory. Vol. 3 No. 2, pp. 107-116.
2003 "An Environmental Framework for Women’s Health," with Rebecca Peterson in Head, Heart and Hand: Partnerships for Women's Health in Canadian Environments. Toronto: National Network on Environments and Women's Health. pp.7-48.
2002 Just Doing It: Popular Collective Action in the Americas. (ed. with Gene Desfor and Deborah Barndt). Montreal: Black Rose Books. 193 pp.
2000 "Pedagogy under duress: Teaching planning theory as history," Journal of the International Planning History Society, Vol. 22 No. 1, pp. 27-32.
1999 "Victims no longer: Participatory planning with a diversity of women at risk of abuse," Journal of Planning Education and Research, Vol. 18, No. 3, pp. 221-232, Spring.
Current courses
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