The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) has announced that a project led by Prof. Roger Keil, Director of CCGES and the CITY Institute at York University, will receive $2.5 million in funding through its Major Collaborative Research Initiatives (MCRI) program, the largest award competition which SSHRC currently runs.

Together with 44 researchers at 29 universities, and 16 partners in 12 countries, Prof. Keil will work to better understand the challenges suburbanization poses in a globalizing world. Based on the experience of Canadian suburbanization, but ranging from North America’s wealthy gated communities to Europe’s high-rise-dominated suburbs, the exploding outskirts of Indian and Chinese cities to the slums and squatter settlements of Africa and Latin America, this project is the first to systematically take stock of worldwide suburban developments while analyzing their governance models, land use, infrastructure and suburban everyday life. The project also includes collaboration with the National Film Board of Canada on documentaries about life in suburban high rises.