School of Cities, University of Toronto

We’re delighted to welcome Dana Prieto as our Early Career Canadian Urban Leader Artist-in-Residence. Dana is a visual artist, researcher, and educator who explores the intersections of human, material, and environmental histories in T.O. and grapples with how resource extraction and the possibility of non-extractive relations shape our lives.   During her artist residency at the School of Cities, University of Toronto, Dana will develop research, programming, and a body of work that explores Toronto’s “extractive spill zones,” examining how these sites of rupture challenge the city’s structures and inspire new ways of thinking about urban resilience and transformation. This work will culminate in an interactive exhibition showcasing sculptures, photos, maps, and community narratives –  inviting audiences to engage with Toronto’s urban spills as sites of reflection, resistance, and possibility. Learn more about Dana and the program: https://lnkd.in/g7ebcPDQ 

The job of culture is to make life livable, meaningful, and coherent—not only through consuming art, but through making it, participating in it, and sharing in the commons it nurtures. Art is one of our most powerful processes for supporting meaningful human connection. Where rational discourse collapses into ideological binaries, art holds space for metaphor, complexity, empathy, and moral imagination. It helps us see each other and ourselves more clearly—and more compassionately. As we accelerate into a technological age, we need artists more than ever to engage the public imagination—not only through their work, but through creative processes that AI and algorithms simply cannot replicate. This work is intimate and collective. It helps individuals see themselves in the whole—and that’s the foundation of any truly sovereign society. What would it take for Canadians to move beyond the old narrative of the mosaic and embrace a more complex, inclusive view of who we are and who we are becoming? In this latest piece, I offer some thoughts in this moment of collective reflection on Canadian identity and what it means to cultivate a creative commons. https://lnkd.in/gDCuXMq8 School of Cities, University of Toronto Business / Arts Ben Liu Claude Schryer Zahra Ebrahim Mary Elizabeth Luka Kelly Langgard Kelly Wilhelm SGS/Sarah G. Stanley Devyani Saltzman Evalyn Parry Greg Frankson Kevin Loring Kevin A. Ormsby Owais Lightwala Chris Creighton-Kelly Ana Serrano Jesse Hirsh Robin Sokoloski Metcalf Foundation Simon Mallett Michelle Chawla Carolyn Warren Gideon Arthurs Mark Hopkins Terry Rock Patti Pon Michael Murray Liz Forsberg, MES Canada Council for the Arts | Conseil des arts du Canada Ontario Arts Council | Conseil des arts de l'Ontario Toronto Arts Council Max Wyman Paul Schafer Simon Brault, O.C.,O.Q., FCPA Simon Foster Zainub Verjee, C.M. Upkar Arora, FCPA, FCA, ICD.D Public Policy Forum Banff Forum

TOMORROW: We look forward to welcoming you to the next talk in our SofC India Academic Lecture series (SOCIAL), featuring York University’s Shubhra Gururani talking about her research into how, when India’s urban boundaries stretch out into nearby hinterlands, agro-pastoralists navigate the massive overhauling of their lives and livelihoods and slowly, albeit unevenly, enter the business of land and property – illustrating how new capitalist relations are produced. Online at 9 AM ET – register now: https://lnkd.in/eaKMe-6D

We’re pleased to announce that Lisa Helps is joining us as our 2025-26 Canadian Urban Leader. Lisa is Executive Lead for BC Builds (BC Housing) and the former mayor of Victoria and Housing Solutions Advisor to the Premier of BC. As Canadian Urban Leader, Lisa will continue to co-develop and facilitate the SofC Leading Urban Change professional development program, drawing on her experience and relationships with partners across the country to co-create Canada’s premier program for leaders working in and on cities from the public, private and non-profit sectors. Learn more about Lisa and the program: https://lnkd.in/gkTjKtKZ  

Congratulations to Dr. Nidhi Subramanyam! 🎉 We’re thrilled to celebrate Dr. Subramanyam’s recent achievement and recognize the impact of her work within our academic community and beyond. 

May 9, 6-8- PM ET: Join us for the opening of the H.E.R.E. Together Project – an exhibition by Early Career Canadian Urban Leader Sam Carter-Shamai that explores family archives, soundscapes, photography, and creative maps that document histories of movement and land-based storytelling.   The evening will include a multimedia presentation that weaves together photos, music, and oral histories and a lively conversation with Prentiss A. Dantzler, Ph.D., Keisha St. Louis-McBurnie, Reza Nik, and Theresa Wang on memory, migration, and the power of placemaking.    Come for the stories, stay for the tunes, and leave with new ways of seeing your own history. Register now: https://lnkd.in/eb7YYNFE 

May 9 & 10: if you’re in T.O., drop by Top Top Projects at 165 Geary Avenue to experience the Homecoming, Exchange + Regenerative Encounters (H.E.R.E.) Project. H.E.R.E is a story about land and the people connected to it—those who stayed, those who left, and the social technologies/cultural infrastructures that keep us together. This exhibition, the work of the SofC’s outgoing Early Career Canadian Urban Leader Sam Carter-Shamai, invites you to engage with personal histories that reflect larger movements of migration, belonging, and home. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/g5QH22qu

Register now for this month’s Knowledge Café, which will explore Germany’s housing crisis - a hot-button issue in German politics and society that has led to significant policy responses and public protests. https://lnkd.in/gAUyANHP

Weds., April 16, 9 AM ET / 6.30 PM IT: Join York University’s Shubhra Gururani to learn about her research into how the ecologies of land and water around India’s Millennial City are being profoundly altered in diverse and inequitable ways as a result of the creep of urban boundaries into agro-pastoral hinterlands https://lnkd.in/eaKMe-6D

May 5, Toronto City Hall, 8.30 a.m.-4.30 p.m.: Join School of Cities’ Urbanist-in-Residence, Lanrick Jr Bennett, alongside academics, professionals, and advocates for a conference exploring the role of cycling and e-bikes in #Toronto’s transition towards sustainability and achieving its Net Zero Goals. Learn more and register now: https://lnkd.in/gyfzczTZ