Architecture and urban
scholar, critic, and designer.

Part punk planner, part anarchitect.
My work looks at both how we shape our cities and how our cities shape us.

Academic work

I earned my Ph.D. at McGill University School of Urban Planning (Montreal) and am a graduate of the Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism at Carleton University (Ottawa).

Doctoral dissertation:

  • City for all?
    Contested narratives of participatory reforms, placemaking practices, and ‘good’ city-building in Ottawa

Publication:

Gelbard, S. (2023, ahead of print). Radical Solidarities in Punk and Queer Refusals of Safety and Inclusion Narratives in Planning. Urban Planning, 8(2). https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v8i2.6372

Gelbard, S. (2023, ahead of print). “Did You Hear? Mavericks Is Closing!” Punk Refusal of Gentrified Endings. GeoHumanities, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/2373566X.2023.2180418

Gelbard, S. (2023). Assimilation City: Inclusive Planning and Histories of Exclusion. In D. Maoz & E. Mayer (Eds.), Canadian Readings of Jewish History: From Knowledge to Interpretive Transmission (pp. 213–232). Cambridge Scholars Publishing. https://www.cambridgescholars.com/product/978-1-5275-9003-8

Gauger, B., S. Gelbard, C.M. Kayanan, J. Mah, S. Sherman, R. Vasudevan. (2019, equal authorship). “Spaces of Struggle.” Critical Planning 24. 13-18.

Gelbard, S. (2019). “Messy Methodologies: Proposing Radical Alternatives to the Formal Research Plan.” Critical Planning 24. 45-56.

Gelbard, S. B. (2013). Wandering Dwellings: Diasporic Architectures. In R. Seredynska-Abou Eid (Ed.), Diasporic Choices (pp. 221–230). Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9781848881877_022

Blanchard, A. P., G. S. McDowell, N. Valenzuela, H. Xu, S. Gelbard*, et.al. (2013). “Visualization and Phospholipid Identification (VaLID): online integrated search engine capable of identifying and visualizing glycerophospholipids with given mass.” Bioinformatics 29(2): 284-285. *co-author contribution: data visualization

Forthcoming publications:

Gauger B., S. Gelbard, C.M. Kayanan, J. Mah, A. Reyes, R. Vasudevan, D. Zoll. (in review). “Notes from the trenches: Reflections from recent Ph.D. graduates on navigating the academy.” Journal of Planning Education and Research.

Gelbard, S. (submitted for review). “Piazza Dante. Monument of urban renewal.” In Granite and Bronze: A Critical Guide to the Monuments in Canada’s National Capital. Editors T Davidson & D Dean. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Recent and upcoming conference presentations:

  • Realizing the Right to Housing for Criminalized Women and Gender-Diverse People. CAEH Conference. Toronto ON.
  • Urban Planning for Queer Justice: Queering Place and Time in the Inclusive City. ACSP Annual Meeting. Toronto ON.
  • Forever unsettled: Songwriting as research text. IAG-NZGS Combined Conference. Sydney. Online.
  • Urbanist “Killjoy”: complaints about progressive popular urbanism and planning. Philosophy of the City Now: Around the world in 24h. University of Twente. Online
  • Punking the common urban narratives. ACSP Annual Meeting. Toronto ON (virtual).
  • Future dis-oriented and punk placemaking. ACSP Annual Meeting. Greenville SC.
  • Annihilation/Assimilation: the dark side of inclusive planning. Philosophy of the City. Detroit.
  • No future. Punk planning, agonistics, and anarchism. AAG Annual Meeting. Washington D.C.
  • Urban equity and diversity: Radical theories and deradicalized practices. Philosophy of the City. Bogotá, Colombia.
  • ‘parking lot citys an ugly place’ Punk inverted images of capital city. AAG Annual Meeting. New Orleans LA.
  • Ask a punk: From informality to anti-formality and anti-authority… and when to say fuck. Curating Resistance: Punk as Archival Method, Los Angeles CA
  • ‘Fuck gentrification’ is the new ‘fuck the man’: the desirability of undesirable punk space. 1st International Conference of Anarchist Geographies and Geographers. Reggio Emilia, Italy.
  • Making space for messy urbanisms: In and out of the public eye. European Geographies of Sexualities. Barcelona, Spain.
  • Schlemihls and squatters: Undesirable people and places in the city. Canadian Society of Jewish Studies. Montreal QC.

Connecting theory to practice

I am also engaged in a number of advocacy and activist activities that encourage the reappropriation and appreciation of shared public space through tactical interventions, installations, and writing. Socio-cultural equity, diversity, and justice for minority and alternative groups are key themes in my work.

I am also the vocalist, bass-player, and song writer for Bad Missionary.

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