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Leading Social Justice Collective
Applications are open until December 12 for the Leading Social Justice Collective, a professional development program co-hosted by United Way Greater Toronto that equips individuals in the GTA who are tackling a social impact, ESG, or CSR challenge within their organization or community with problem solving, networking, and leadership skills
Knowledge Café: Black joy and mental health research
Mercedes Sobers shares how the Black Joy Art Initiative emerged alongside her dissertation on racial disparities in mental health as a way to center community wisdom, joy, and resilience.
Scaling Up Canada’s Community Housing Sector: Bundling assets and building capacity to create the future of housing
The ‘Bundling Assets’ Lab, led by the School of Cities with SHS Inc. and funded by CMHC’s Solutions Labs, explores how combining the assets of multiple community housing providers can improve financing access and boost development and management capacity.
Visiting Experts
Visiting experts are influential practitioners in civil society, the arts, business, media and government; members of the global urban academic community; and emerging leaders in their urban-related sectors. While at School of Cities, they engage in intellectual, cultural and artistic exchange; nurture new ideas; and support research, collaboration and knowledge creation across geographies, disciplines and communities.
Multidisciplinary Urban Graduate Seminar (MUGS)
The School of Cities works in partnership with other faculties, schools and departments at the University of Toronto to offer a series of seminars for graduate students enrolled in Masters… Read more
Urban Data Analysis & Storytelling Professional Advancement Certificate
The Urban Data Analysis & Storytelling Certificate helps professionals transform complex urban data into insights that shape policy, planning, and community outcomes. Earn stackable microcredentials online and gain hands-on skills to drive evidence-based, impactful decisions in cities today. Register by October 20 for the first course.
highlights
School of Cities in Globe and Mail | Parks should be made for people. Why does such an obvious idea elude us?
Multidisciplinary Approaches to Urban Homelessness: Data & policy
The School of Cities hosted a multidisciplinary seminar on current research in urban homelessness, focusing on data and policy. The discussion considered spatial challenges with bylaws that restrict sleeping in parks and designing human-centred algorithms for homelessness services.
Carolyn Whitzman in Globe and Mail | How presales helped Canada’s condo market boom, then collapse
Karen Chapple & Matti Siemiatycki in CTV News | How housing in Toronto has changed since the last time the Blue Jays were in the World Series
Upcoming Events see all
Infrastructures of platforms
This session of SOCIAL will feature a lightning talk by Ashique Ali Thuppilikkat of U of T, followed by a main talk by Aditi Surie of the Indian Institute for Human Settlements on the subject of ride sharing and delivery platforms in India.
Knowledge Café: Black joy and mental health research
Mercedes Sobers shares how the Black Joy Art Initiative emerged alongside her dissertation on racial disparities in mental health as a way to center community wisdom, joy, and resilience.
State of Canada’s Cities Summit : Better places for a better Canada – Leveraging the local
The third annual State of Canada’s Cities Summit, sponsored by School of Cities, will spotlight what’s working – the local innovations, frameworks, and policies that are already making a difference – and identify opportunities to scale.
Knowledge Café: Assessing the impacts of alternative homeownership models
This talk explores North American homeownership and offers findings on its impacts on household wealth, spatial access, and well-being
Cities of Care: Shaping sustainable and equitable futures through the water-food-waste nexus
Explore how water, food, and waste systems intersect to shape healthier, more equitable cities. Join global experts in Chennai, India, on January 30–31, 2026 to share research, spark dialogue, and inspire action toward sustainable urban futures. Submit your abstract today.
The School of Cities is a unique multidisciplinary hub for urban research, education, and engagement creating new and just ways for cities and their residents to thrive. Based at the University of Toronto and in a fast-growing, culturally diverse, and economically dynamic urban region, the School of Cities supports leading scholars, practitioners, and community members spanning disciplines and lived experiences to co-create new understandings, policies, and practices.
Learn more about us.