Stefan Kipfer

Biography

My empirical research focuses on urban politics and planning in transnational and comparative context. In Euro-American global cities (Zurich, Toronto and Paris), I have researched the role of social movements and state intervention in transnational urban restructuring since the late 1960s. My research on Toronto has focused on the impasse of regional planning, the rise of conservative populism and the formation of a 'competitive city' planning regime characterized by neoliberalism, revanchism and cultural-differential aspects of 'diversity management' (including multiculturalism). In the last few years, I have been working on racialized policies of social mixity and public housing redevelopment in Toronto and Paris. I have been working on public transit, researching the ‘Grand Paris’ regional transit project in Paris and investigating transit as a linchpin in green, socialist, feminist, and internationalist approaches to planning. Most recently, I have started (with Parastou Saberi) to research the urban dimensions of right-wing populism and neo-fascism in France/Paris and Canada/Toronto.

Research Interest

"Theories of society, politics and urbanization: Marxism and countercolonialism Comparative urban politics and planning Urban social movements and restructuring 'Colonization', racialization and urbanization Sub/ex/urbanization, territorial relations and regional planning Public housing: gentrification, privatization and redevelopment Transportation and public transit Ecological socialism and red-green urban strategies Populism and fascism"