WE ARE COMMITTED TO WORKING WITH DIVERSE COMMUNITIES TO ADDRESS SOCIAL AND SPATIAL INEQUITIES AND ADVANCE POSITIVE CHANGE.

Dr. Zhixi C Zhuang

Director and Founder

Dr. Zhixi Zhuang (MCIP, RPP) is a Registered Professional Planner, an Associate Professor at the School of Urban and Regional Planning, Toronto Metropolitan University, and Academic Director of the Toronto Metropolitan Centre for Immigration and Settlement. Her research explores the growing urban diversity in Canadian cities and how city-builders can instil the values of equity and inclusion into planning policies and practices. Specifically, she investigates the intersections of individual characteristics and the impacts on lived experiences in cities, and how diversity and differences shape places and communities. Her work focuses on the long-lasting marks of immigrant and racialized communities on urban and suburban landscapes, inscribing places with important cultural, historical, and political meanings. Her recent and ongoing research involves interdisciplinary projects examining the intersection of immigrant settlement, urban landscapes, and municipal policies, which has generated key peer-reviewed publications on topics such as building welcoming infrastructure to attract and retain migrants in non-traditional gateway cities, the influence of immigrant entrepreneurship on city building, ethnic place-making in ‘third places,’ migration and suburban transformation, and the role of municipal planning in immigrant settlement and integration.

Research Staff

Jack Krywulak

Jack majored in Urban Planning and minored in Philosophy at Toronto Metropolitan University. After graduating, Jack is pursuing his graduate degree at Western University in Theory and Criticism. His research interests include equity planning, critical theory, ethnographic research and political philosophy.

Mo (Mariam) El Toukhy

Mo is an Egyptian-born Photographer and a recent graduate of Toronto Metropolitan University's Masters in Planning and Urban Development program with a key interest in community-centric sustainable planning and the power of urban design. Their interests centre around lessons from global indigenous ways of being and building and bridging the gap between the formal and informal in planning.

Parita Patel

Parita is a Master of Information student at the University of Toronto studying User Experience Design (UXD). She holds a Bachelor of Technology (ICT) from DA-IICT, India. She is passionate about designing digital experiences which are user centered, engaging and accessible.

Arshveer Dorka

Arshveer's primary research interests lie in the field of social planning and include issues like migrant integration and racial inequality in Chicago, as well as dynamics of conflict and state propaganda, including weaponized representations of homeless individuals in mass media.

Emery Firth-Masi

Emery holds a Bachelor of Arts in Politics & Governance from TMU, and is currently pursuing a Master's of Planning at the School of Urban & Regional Planning. Her research explores the lived experiences of newcomers and examines the relationship between transnational feminism, social infrastructure, and community placemaking, with a particular focus on gender and transit equity.

Genevieve Albuerne

Genevieve is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning with a minor in Politics at Toronto Metropolitan University. Genevieve is passionate about fostering inclusive urban communities and aspires to integrate this into her planning practice.

Grace Jones

Grace is currently a Masters of Urban Planning student at Toronto Metropolitan University. She is passionate about fostering spaces that are inclusive and bring people together and seeks to better understand informal food systems and spaces across Scarborough’s immigrant neighbourhoods.

Venus Cheung

Venus is pursuing a Master's in Planning and Urban Development at TMU and has a Bachelor of Architecture from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Venus' research explores the challenges of migration in urban areas, exploring the historical context of displacement, and the critical role that planners play in shaping just and inclusive cities.

Rajdeep Cheema

Rajdeep Cheema is a Master's student in Immigration and Settlement at Toronto Metropolitan University. Her research interests encompass migration policy-making, diaspora identity, and Indigenous relations. She is actively expanding and producing research on both the historical and contemporary examination of the Punjabi-Sikh diaspora and their 'Third Place' in Canada.

Asra Khan

Asra Khan is a first-year master’s student in Urban and Regional Planning at Toronto Metropolitan University and a Research Assistant with the MabelleArts project. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Design from OCAD University, where she developed a passion for design thinking and community-focused planning.

Dorian Davidson

Dorian Davidson is currently a Master in Planning student at Toronto Metropolitan University, with a key interest in the production of space and building the social economy in urban environments. Through his planning practice, he hopes to address the financialization of housing through new project initiatives and funding pathways for the nonprofit housing sector in Canada.

Juliana Moreno Baez

Juliana Moreno Baez is the Project Coordinator at the Toronto Metropolitan Centre for Immigration and Settlement (TMCIS) while pursuing a Master’s in Planning at the School of Urban and Regional Planning. She is excited about the intersection of newcomers, third spaces, and placemaking and how we can create inclusive, dynamic spaces that bring communities together and help people feel at home.

Karian Chen

Karian Chen has a background in Environmental Design and current Post-Baccalaureate studies in Urban and Regional Planning at Toronto Metropolitan University. She's drawn to understanding how spaces become places of belonging. Her journey through diverse cultures has deeply influenced her perspective, fueling her passion for uncovering stories of identity and belonging within diasporic communities.

Dina Dong

Dina is a research assistant on the DemiKnow Project. She completed her B.A. at the University of Toronto and M.Phil at the University of Oxford, working for the Senate of Canada in-between degrees. While her research interests are vast, she currently focuses on the encounters of moving people and cultures, using diasporas as a method of interrogation.

Rushde Akbar

Rushde Akbar earned his Ph.D. in Economics from York University and taught in universities while working in the non-profit sector as an economist and consultant. Rushde is the Quantitative Project Lead on the Housing for International Students project within Bridging Divides as he completes his Post-Doctoral research at Toronto Metropolitan University, focusing on international students' labour market integration.

Ajaj, Layal

Ali, Abdul Sami

Brodeau, Jessica Campbell, Cornel

Careri, Sabrina Casuncad, Niko

Cheng, Nicole (Hei Tung)

Chen, Amanda (Xiaoxuan)

Cheung, Fei Yeung (Ivan)

Choi, Wendy

Davis, Meaghan

Dmuchowska, Natalia

Dyck, Julia

DeBoer, Samantha