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My research centres on investigating the role of sustainability in the context of planning, development, and redevelopment practices at the scale of the urban community and neighbourhood. My research examines the structural interests and motives for the adoption of sustainability principles in urban community and neighbourhood-based practices and explores the everyday practices of discursive construction, planning implementation at the neighbourhood and community scale, and strategies for socio-environmental justice and change.

I am currently completing a three-year research project, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, that is a comparative study of urban community land trusts in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. The research contributes to an understanding of sustainability through the exploration of a community-based land use and development model, social justice through affordable housing provision and equitable public governance of land, and environmental and public land preservation through community-based land management. My other areas of research interest are: the governance of urban planning, development and re-development initiatives, such as urban waterfront areas, and the establishment of community-university partnerships, based upon my involvement developing a community-campus partnership between UTSC and the Kingston-Galloway/Orton Park neighbourhood in eastern Scarborough.


Research Interests & Work in Progress

  • Urban Planning
  • Urban Waterfront redevelopment
  • Community-based Participatory Planning and Development
  • Urban Sustainability and Urban Political Ecology

Teaching Interests & Responsibilities

I emphasize class participation and discussion as a teaching approach and specialize in experiential learning and service learning. I teach a C level course in service learning (CITC02) where students learn about community-based planning and development in a local Scarborough neighbourhood through service placements with non-profit organizations and service agencies.

Current Courses:
CITC02: Learning in Community Service (Winter term)
GGRC22: Political Ecology: Theory and Applications (Winter term)

Affiliations

  • Research Associate - Cities Centre, University of Toronto
  • Research Associate - CERIS: The Metropolis Centre
  • Association of American Geographers
  • Canadian Association of Geographers
  • PANDO: Sustainable Communities Network

Awards & Grants

  • 2010-2011 Centre for Teaching and Learning Teaching Enhancement Grant $4067
  • 2009-2012 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada SRG: “Planning for Urban Community Land Trusts". Principal Investigator. $49,717.
  • 2009-2010 CERIS: Ontario Metropolis Centre - "Citizenship and Urban Space: Intersections of Housing, Services, Identity, and Belonging in Kingston-Galloway/Orton Park, Scarborough" Research Collaborator. $12,500.

Publications

  • Bunce. S. and Sungu, Y. (In progress) Planning for Urban Community Land Trusts: A comparative study of community land trusts in North America
  • Bunce, S. and Aslam, F.C. (In progress) Land Trusts and the Protection and Conservation of Land in Canada: Towards an inclusion of urban land in land trust formation
  • Bunce, S. and Allahwala, A. (2013) Community-University Partnerships: Building Collaboration and Reciprocity Between Campus and Community Journal of Geography 112(2),
  • Allahwala, A. and Bunce, S. (2013) Introduction to Symposium Issue: Building and Sustaining Reciprocal Community-University Partnerships in Marginalized Urban Areas: Challenges and Opportunities for Higher Education in Geography Journal of Geography
  • Bunce, S. (2011). Public-Private Sector Alliances in Sustainable Waterfront Revitalization: Policy, planning, and design in the West Don Lands in: Desfor, G. and Laidley, J. (eds.) Re-shaping Toronto’s Waterfront University of Toronto Press, Toronto. pp. 287-304.
  • Daswani, G., Bunce, S., and Cummings, M, (2011). Citizenship and Urban Space: Intersections of Housing, Services, Identity and Belonging for Newcomers in Kingston-Galloway/Orton Park CERIS: The Metropolis Centre - Working Paper No. 86
  • Bunce, S. (2009). Developing Sustainability: Sustainability policy and gentrification on Toronto’s waterfront Local Environment: International Journal of Justice and Sustainability 14 (7), 651-667
  • Moore, S. and Bunce, S. (2009). Delivering Sustainable Buildings and Communities: Eclipsing social concerns through private sector-led urban regeneration and development
  • Local Environment: International Journal of Justice and Sustainability 14(7), 601-606
  • Bunce, S. and Desfor, G. (2007). Guest Editorial: Introduction to Political Ecologies of Urban Waterfront Transformations Cities: The International Journal of Urban Policy and Planning 24(4), 251-258
  • Cowen, D. and Bunce, S. (2006). Competitive Cities and Secure Nations: Conflict and convergence in urban waterfront agendas after 9/11 International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 30(2), 427-439
  • Bunce, S. (2004). The Emergence of ‘Smart Growth’ Intensification in Toronto: Environment and economy in the new Official Plan Local Environment: An International Journal of Justice and Sustainability 9(2), 177-191