A focus on transformative placemaking
A healthy community requires healthy connections, and healthy connections require quality places in which meaningful social ties can develop and thrive. Accordingly,
Troy Glover, professor in the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies, director of the Healthy Communities Research Network, and member of the Placemaking Leadership Council of the
Project for Public Spaces, focuses his attention on what he refers to as transformative placemaking, the creation of positive change for people and communities through the (re)shaping, (re)territorializing, and (re)making of community. In doing so, his research concentrates on (1) place, the socio-cultural meanings and attachments held by an individual or group for a spatial setting; and (2) social capital, the consequence of investment in and cultivation of social relationships allowing individuals access to resources that would otherwise be unavailable to them. These foci have led him to examine a variety of contexts that converge around the broader theme of quality of community life, including community gardening, neighbourhood festivals, local events, community sport, the animation of public space, dog parks, and playgrounds.
Using a critical lens, Professor Glover's research aims to expose social inequities to encourage critical reflection about exclusive practices or policies that privilege certain groups over others. His approach often favours a social ethic whereby community members are knowers of their own lived experiences with capabilities and entitlements to forward their own visions of a healthy community. Thus, Professor Glover's research often endeavours to engage community members directly in dialogue to envision their aspirations for the future of their communities.
