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 am currently enrolled in the Ph.D. program at McGill University School of Urban Planning (Montreal) and a graduate of the Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism at Carleton University (Ottawa).

Read more about my current research:

  • City for all?
    Contested narratives of participatory reforms, placemaking practices, and ‘good’ city-building in Ottawa
    (submitted for review fall 2022, awaiting defense)

Recent publication:

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. (2013). Wandering Dwellings: Diasporic Architectures. In Diasporic Choices. Editor R. Seredynska-Abou Eid. Oxford, Inter-Disciplinary Press: 221-230.

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:

Gelbard, S. (in-press). “Assimilation City: Inclusive Planning and Histories of Exclusion.” In Contemporary Canadian Jewish Studies, Eds D Moaz & E Mayer. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Gelbard, S. (accepted). “’Did you hear? Mavericks is closing!’: punk refusal of gentrified endings.” In Special Issue on “Creative” Endings. GeoHumanities.

Gelbard, S. (accepted). “Radical solidarities in punk and queer refusals of safety and inclusion narratives in planning.” In Special Issue on Queering Planning. Urban Planning.

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.

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

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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