Samantha Biglieri completed a PhD in the School of Planning at the University of Waterloo (UW) under the supervision of Dr. Jennifer Dean. A practising urban planner, Samantha has experience in the private, NGO and research sectors, with a focus on land-use planning, feasibility analysis, policy, and strategic planning. She is a candidate member of the Ontario Professional Planners Institute.
Samantha is a Sessional Lecturer at the School of Urban & Regional Planning at Ryerson University and the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University. In the community, Samantha serves as Second Vice-President of the Toronto Council on Aging – a non-profit charity working to address issues and concerns of older adults with a focus on civic engagement and education.
Samantha’s research is at the intersection of planning and health, examining experiences of marginalized groups, like older adults, in suburban places. With her research, Samantha seeks to understand the influence of the neighbourhood on wellbeing, and then connecting this research to practice recommendations that planners can use to create more inclusive and accessible communities. Samantha’s published and ongoing work on dementia-inclusive urban planning and age-friendly policies has been featured in academic journals, the Canadian Library of Parliament, international conferences, edited books, industry publications, the Upstream Foundation’s podcast, and on CBC Radio.
Recently with colleagues Dr. M. August and N. Revington, she won a UW Network for Aging research catalyst grant to study the impact of financialization on seniors housing across Canada. She also earned a Post-Doctoral Fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to study the experiences of older adult immigrants with dementia in Scarborough, and will be starting that in 2020 with Dr. R. Keil of York University.
Samantha has just defended her doctoral thesis on understanding the impact of the built environment on people living with dementia and is currently co-editing a book with colleagues Dr. M. Hartt (Cardiff University), Dr. M. Rosenberg and Dr. S. Nelson (Queen’s University) called Aging People, Aging Places - Examining the intersections of aging people and places in Canada, a combination of original academic research, practitioner and community member vignettes from urban, suburban, rural, and indigenous perspectives, capturing experiences from across Canada.
Samantha has a Master of Planning in Urban Development from Ryerson University and a B.A.(Hons.) in Global Development Studies and Italian from Queen’s University.