On May 14, we’re thrilled to welcome Matt Thompson (@mattthompson.bsky.social) to the IIESL and to Toronto for a discussion of his research on conjunctural municipalism. He’ll be joined by Kanishka Goonewardena, Stefan Kipfer (@skipfer.bsky.social), and Rachel Bok as discussants.

“Stories about urban change are often simplified, giving credit to a single mayor or policy, which is not usually the full story,” says Sergio Montero, Change Stories collaborator and Associate Professor at the University of Toronto. @sergemont.bsky.social

CAUT, a voice for academic professionals 125 Canadian universities and colleges advises academics against non-essential travel to the U.S.

JOIN US! March 31, 12 PM -1:30 PM "Seeing Democracy Like a City" with CITY's 2025 Senior Visiting Scholar Ross Beveridge @uofglasgow.bsky.social With @sergemont.bsky.social and Peggie Kohn @utsc.bsky.social To register: www.yorku.ca/cityinstitut...

Last year, the City of Toronto adopted some guiding principles for building an inclusive economic development framework. Join us to explore this framework, understand the grassroots efforts that shaped it & discuss broader questions of Canadian economic sovereignty. Registration: shorturl.at/Vx4cQ

If you are in Toronto, join us on March 18 for a talk by Manuel Pastor (@profmpastor.bsky.social) on the rise of lithium extraction in California's Imperial Valley and the implications of electric vehicles on economic and environmental justice. 📍 Registration: shorturl.at/TEoB1

Last year, the City of Toronto adopted some guiding principles for building an inclusive economic development framework. Join us to explore this framework, understand the grassroots efforts that shaped it & discuss broader questions of Canadian economic sovereignty. Registration: shorturl.at/Vx4cQ

Toronto will ban U.S. companies bidding on city contracts in response to Trump’s tariffs, Olivia Chow says www.thestar.com/news/gta/tor...

This is the first of a series of events that the IIESL is organizing this semester. Join us! Today, at #UofT #Geography & #Planning 4.30 pm

Excited to welcome Kendra Strauss to UofT on Feb 12 for a talk, “Understanding Precarity in British Columbia: Labour Regimes, Migration and Adverse Inclusion”. This research is part of her SSHRC Partnership grant with @policyalternatives.bsky.social Register here (in-person only): shorturl.at/TzFUT

Are you thinking & writing about how geographers know and study the economy? The Economic Geography Research Group invites 'lightening talks' that think critically and creatively about the future of our subdiscipline. See our CFP for the 2025 RGS-IBG Conference below👇 egrg.org/2025/01/21/c...

New paper on conjunctural analysis and radical municipalism and their affinities as two political methods for intervening in the conjuncture Written w/ @paul-stubbs.bsky.social, @colinlorne.bsky.social and co. Just published open access in Environment & Planning F: doi.org/10.1177/2634... 🧵

En el episodio inaugural de la 6ª temporada, hablamos con @pcastaneda_ sobre activismo ciclista, derecho a la ciudad móvil y el cruce del género en la movilidad. Exploramos su trabajo y la historia de la #ciclovía. 🚴‍♀️ buff.ly/4gSQMkq

First DigiLabour event of the year - and online! Book Talk with @tanner-mirrlees.bsky.social on Work in the Digital Media and Entertainment Industries. Jan 14, 4PM ET. Join us! www.youtube.com/live/1XVLFCN...

US tax credit for a new Cybertruck: $7,500 US tax credit for a new e-bike: $0

Last week, Bogotá celebrated its weekly tradition of opening 75 miles of streets to 1.5 million bikers, walkers, roller skaters, and more. Its lessons have made their way around the world.

Earlier this month, Bogotá's Ciclovía marked it's 50th anniversary. In this @urbancyclinginstitute.org blog, @henk-jandekker.bsky.social and I reflect on what Bogotá tells us about cycling histories and futures: urbancyclinginstitute.org/ciclovia-at-...

In Toronto, public transit projects take forever to build and are perpetually delayed. The Eglinton LRT was supposed to open 2020 and has been under construction for 13 years. Crucial transit projects in Scarborough even lack basic budget commitments. But the Gardiner Expressway? Ahead of schedule!

Last week, I went to Bogotá to celebrate Ciclovía's 50th anniversary. Ciclovía is an amazing urban experiment that has helped redefine public space and bike use in Bogotá and inspired more than 400 cities worldwide. @henrygrabar.bsky.social was with us and captured many of the conversations we had

Big RSA welcome to Carlos Cadena-Gaitan, Associate Professor of Policy and Development at EAFIT University, as the @regstud.bsky.social ambassador to Colombia. www.regionalstudies.org/news/welcome...

A few days to go for PhD students and postdocs interested in the geography of economic ideas to apply for workshop travel stipends. This invitational workshop will be hosted at UBC, June 2025. Funded by EPA: Economy & Space blogs.ubc.ca/peck/researc...

🚨Trump now plans to "redirect money" away from EV rebates + charging stations" and into "national-defense priorities, including securing China-free supplies of batteries and the critical minerals to build them." In other words, more lithium mining but less electric mobility🧵

In #Toronto, a top-down anti-bike lane agenda is unfolding via a Provincial bill that undermines municipal planning and endangers lives—but @cycletoronto.bsky.social is fighting back. Please support!

This is only the beginning. Hundreds of people on bikes shut down Bloor x Royal York to condemn Ford, Sarkaria & Hogarth's attack on vulnerable road users. On a cold Nov Friday eve no less. You people are marvelous. They should tremble when our rubber hits the road. #BikeTO

📣📣📣Talk Alert: Dec 4 12ET, I'll be speaking (online) about why we should care about place-based economic inequality, what it looks like today, and what we can do about it. If you're interested, sign up at the School of Cities' Knowledge Cafe - t.co/5n1fA3jPMK

👋 Hey Regional Studies folks (editors, authors, reviewers readers 😀)! We're here 🦋[email protected]! RSA is putting together a Regional Studies Association Starter Pack ⬇️ Reply to @regstud.bsky.social to get added to the pack! Let's get organized!

Why are we talking about self-driving cars again — or robotaxis, as we now call them? Not because they’re about to solve all our transport problems, or even significantly replace existing road trips. It’s simply because AI hype is back — and AV makers are taking advantage.

Cycling is 10 times more important than electric cars for reaching net-zero cities and 100 times more fun.

Devika Dutt and I are teaching our Decolonising Economics module for the first time this term (inspired by our book with @surbhikesar.bsky.social and @cacrisalves.bsky.social). In case anyone's interested, we've made the syllabus publicly available :) ingridhk.files.wordpress.com/2023/10/6yyd...

Obama and Biden had way more success stimulating fossil fuel production than entrenching green energy. They both gambled that supporting fossil fuels was politically necessary to sustain the green transition. And they both handed power to Trump. We have to learn from these failures.

The reviews are in. The professional associations representing Ontario’s engineers tinyurl.com/5n6tuxv5 urban planners tinyurl.com/ytj3xuc2 and traffic engineers tinyurl.com/276hzzxd have all come out opposed to Ontario’s proposed law to override local governments and rip out local bike lanes.

Toronto’s Reference Library is my favorite library in this city. It’s a beautiful space and also a great reminder of how public services and infrastructure can be functional, inspiring and last for decades.

We have extended our starter pack on global urban researchers and institutions... go.bsky.app/TU4z6Q4

Sur-Urbano hasn’t made its way to BSKY yet, but here’s the latest episode of this fantastic podcast hosted by Isabel Peñaranda. In this episode, she and Pranav Kuttaiah engage in a thought-provoking conversation with Gautam Bhan on operationalizing social protection. open.spotify.com/episode/0rkN...

These days Toronto feels like the anti-model of contemporary urban planning: removing bike lanes, spending billions to rehabilitate a downtown highway, decommissioning an entire subway line, no opening date for a light rail project 13 years in the making. www.theguardian.com/world/2024/n...

pls share: funded by EPA: Economy & Space, up to 8 travel + accommodation stipends available to enable doctoral & postdoctoral researchers to participate in the "ideational geographies" workshop at UBC, June 11-13, 2025. Application details: blogs.ubc.ca/peck/researc...

Yet another starter pack... For all those interested in critical urban geography, broadly defined! go.bsky.app/RgsNWsi

Bogotá’s Ciclovía has also been a source of inspiration for bicycle activists, citizen groups, planners and mayors in more than 400 cities worldwide. Its global spread is a fascinating story of local and global actors, networks, and agendas 🚴‍♂️ 🌍 #Ciclovia50 tinyurl.com/mrpv3wej

Great piece on Rachel Bok's interurban research: The Problem with Mass-Produced 'Urban Solutions' via @thetyee.ca thetyee.ca/News/2024/11...

This December we will be celebrating Ciclovía's 50th anniversary in Bogotá. It will be a tribute to the citizen-driven and experimental roots of Ciclovía, which started on Dec 15, 1974 as a visionary response to the increasing dominance of car-centric urbanism 🚴‍♂️ 🌍 #Ciclovía50 tinyurl.com/4n38t96m

Ok, I will admit I’m a bit skeptical after the Mastodon exodus didn’t quite work out. And I’m definitely feeling the fatigue of yet another social media platform. But given the circumstances, let’s give BlueSky a shot. Curious to see who's here 👋