Research Themes
Our faculty members conduct applied, theoretical and empirical research that often integrate multiple subdisciplines and approaches in geography and environment, but areas of research and complementary clusters of expertise in the Department are generally represented by the following core themes:
Our faculty members examine how economic processes, spatial dynamics, and market forces shape urban and regional landscapes over time. Faculty investigate topics ranging from retail geography and commercial spatial organization to local economic development, urban growth, and corporate location modeling. For instance, research focuses on urban and economic geography, examining land-use change, exurban spatial dynamics, and recreational economies, and applies GIS and spatial location models to retail geography and commercial site evaluation. We analyze how municipalities utilize place branding and geodemographic analysis to foster investment, and evaluate how commercial developments alter regional spatial configurations and business performance. Together, this research provides critical insights into how capital investments, municipal governance, and location decisions intersect to reshape urban environments, guiding economic policy, commercial real estate strategy, and regional planning.
Faculty members working in this research area:
This research theme addresses the complex interactions between human activity and physical ecosystems, focusing on urban sustainability, climate resilience, and environmental governance. Scholars in this cluster develop evidence-based solutions to pressing challenges like watershed management, climate impacts, and ecosystem health. Areas of research include Arctic climate change, extreme weather events, and coastal environmental hazards. Faculty specialize in hydrology and nutrient modeling, analyzing how agricultural and urban runoff impact water quality across regional watersheds. We also conduct leading research on urban hydrology and road salt contamination, and examine urban forest canopy ecology and green infrastructure, flood risk management and community climate vulnerability. Collectively, this work advances ecosystem restoration, sustainable water management, and climate resilience policies for rapidly changing landscapes.
Faculty members working in this research area:
We leverage advanced spatial tools—such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS), remote sensing, spatial statistics, and geovisualization—to analyze complex urban and environmental phenomena. Our faculty members pioneer innovative methods in spatial decision support, geocomputation, and environmental monitoring across diverse spatial scales. For example, we utilize remote sensing techniques and spatial modeling to assess vegetation dynamics, invasive species distribution, and ecosystem changes, and apply remote sensing techniques and GIS modeling to track land-cover change and evaluate Great Lakes sediment contamination over extended timeframes. Faculty have unique expertise in participatory GIS, cartographic visualization, and multi-criteria spatial decision support systems to facilitate transparent, evidence-based urban and environmental planning, and utilize spatial analysis and complex systems science to examine regional growth patterns, urban sprawl, and heritage landscapes. Together, these technologies empower decision-makers across planning and environmental sectors and integrate research across multiple themes in the Department.
Faculty members working in this research area:
Faculty working in Health and Wellbeing analyze the spatial determinants of physical and mental health, healthcare accessibility, and environmental hazard exposures across diverse urban communities. This theme highlights how built environments, socio-spatial inequalities, and municipal policy influence community wellness and health equity. We investigate environmental health risks, assessing how population exposures to air pollution and noise impact human health across diverse urban spaces. We employ spatial epidemiology and accessibility modeling to examine disparities in healthcare access, particularly among aging populations and racialized immigrant communities in metropolitan regions. The social determinants of health and socio-spatial integration outcomes among newly arrived immigrants links research across multiple themes. By bridging advanced spatial analysis with public health inquiry, this research informs equitable health policies, healthy urban design standards, and targeted community health interventions aimed at reducing wellness disparities across vulnerable populations.
Faculty members working in this research area:
Immigration & Cities explores the dynamic relationships between global mobility, urban settlement patterns, and socio-spatial inclusion in contemporary urban settings. Our faculty examine how international migrants shape—and are transformed by—the social, economic, and political fabric of metropolitan areas like the Greater Toronto Area. This includes critical research on border policies, international migration, and sanctuary city initiatives, analyzing how urban spaces foster immigrant inclusion, labor rights, and urban citizenship practices. We investigate the settlement experiences, housing geographies, and transnational identity networks of international students and new immigrants across urban neighborhoods, and the intersection of gender, citizenship policies, and migration pathways in transnational contexts. This research cluster highlights the lived realities of newcomer populations, offering vital empirical and theoretical perspectives to guide inclusive municipal planning, settlement service delivery, and progressive immigration policy formulation.
Faculty members working in this research area:
Indigenous geographies at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) is a vital research theme centering Indigenous knowledge systems as they intersect with geographical concepts of space and place. Research focuses on sovereignty, justice, resource management and historical and ongoing colonialism, as well as Indigenous resurgence and responses to colonial contexts. Indigenous geographies research takes a collaborative approach and is guided by community preferences for leading research into their own lives and territories. Faculty members contribute to this field through their respective work in Indigenous food sovereignty Indigenous-led conservation, and community-engaged methodologies. Other research efforts within the theme include queer Indigenous geographies, gender politics, theories of settler colonialism, Indigenous literature and creative arts, and Indigenous data justice.
Faculty members working in this research area: