Jennifer Foster
Assistant Professor
Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Urban Ecologies Certificate Program
BA Hons (Cultural Studies) Trent, MES, PhD (Environmental Studies) York
Email: jfoster@yorku.ca
Areas of Academic Interest
- Urban planning and design
- Ecological restoration and habitat creation
- Environmental aesthetics
- Deindustrialized space
- Landscape ecology
- Political ecology
Brief history and reason for joining FES
I came to FES because of the Faculty's commitment to interdisciplinarity. It is a great place to combine theoretical analysis of environmental issues with applied considerations, and the planning program offers opportunities to continually reassess the meanings of ecology in social contexts.
Personal interests/pursuits
I am interested in urban habitat creation and ecological restoration, particularly in terms of the interplay between social and biophysical dynamics in deindustrialized spaces. I am fascinated with the socioecological production of sites and landscapes, and how these spaces function as cultural expressions. My current research focuses on urban landscape form and processes across cities such as Toronto, Paris and Milwaukee. I investigate how industrial legacies are interpreted and expressed ecologically, particularly in terms of how these spaces are imagined, constructed, inhabited and distributed.
Major research projects
From Rubble to Refuge: Ecological restoration and the aggregate product cycle in Toronto, Canada - SSHRC Standard Research Grant (2008-2011)