Pierre Filion

Professor Emeritus

Pierre Filion.
Degrees

Ph.D. Urban Studies, University of Kent, Canterbury, 1983

M.A. Political Science, Université Laval, 1979

Bac Journalism/Political Science, Université Laval, 1977

Contact information

519-888-4567 ext. 43963
Location:  EV3 3243
Pierre Filion is emeritus professor from December 31st 2020. He does not supervise new students. 

Research interests

  • Downtown and inner city planning
  • Metropolitan region planning
  • Land use transportation interaction

Research grants/projects

  • How to Achieve Walkability and Multifunctional Integration in Urban Growth Centres 
    • Funded by the Government of Ontario Growth Secretariat Implementation Fund 
    • Grant period 2017-2018 
  • From Urban Dispersion to Recentralization: Lessons from Canadian Planning Initiatives (Principal Investigator with Jill Grant, Paul Hess, Markus Moos, and Ray Tomalty)
    • Funded by: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)
    • Grant Period: 2014-2018
  • Coordinating Land Use Planning in the Context of Multiple Plans (Co-applicant with principal investigator Jill Grant)
    • Funded by: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)
    • Grant Period: 2013-2016
  • Global suburbanism: Governance, land and infrastructure in the 21st century (responsible for the section on infrastructures)
    • Funded by: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), Major collaborative research initiative
    • Grant Period: 2009-2016
  • Connection Grants - Organization of the Global Infrastructure Workshop
    • Funded by: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)
    • Grant Period: 2015
  • Planning for adaptation and resiliency: Canadian local government and needs (Co-applicant, with Kevin Hanna)
    • Funded by: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)
    • Grant Period: 2009-2013
  • Smart growth principles and metropolitan development: Bridging the gap between discourse and reality (Principal, with J. Grant and L. Bourne)
    • Funded by: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)
    • Grant Period: 2007-2010
  • Investigation of downtowns, nodes and corridors in the Greater Golden Horseshoe
    • Funded by: Neptis Foundation
    • Grant Period: 2005-2007
  • An investigation of spatial dispersion in Canadian metropolitan areas 1971- 1996 (with T. E. Bunting)
    • Funded by: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)
    • Grant Period: 2003-2006
  • The core area of mid-size cities (part of the research team)
    • Funded by: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)-CURA
    • Grant period: 2001-2003
    • Specific responsibilities: principal researcher for a survey of North American planners and municipal officials identifying the successful core areas of medium-size metropolitan regions and the reasons for their success; researcher for a land-use/transportation study of Waterloo Region.
  • Understanding and addressing urban dispersion: A study of post-1950 suburban land use and transportation in Canada (Principal, with T.E. Bunting)
    • Funded by: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)
    • Grant period: 2001-2003
  • Preparation of a report on the location of households at risk of homelessness in eleven Canadian metropolitan regions (with T. Bunting and A. Walks)
    • Funded by: National Secretariat on Homelessness
    • Grant period: 2001-2002

Graduate student supervision

  Number of students currently supervising/co-supervising Total number of student supervisions/co-supervisions
Masters 4 46
PhD 4 19

Recent/key publications

  • 2020. P. Filion. “Creative or Instrumental Planners: Agency and Structure in an Institutional and Political Economy Context”, Planning Theory (in press). 

  • 2020. P. Filion, L. Reese and G. Sands. “Progressive Economic Development Policies: A Square PED in a Round Hole”, Urban Affairs Review (in press). 

  • 2020. M. Moos, M. Quick and P. Filion. “Generationed Cities: Residential Geographies of Young Adults in North American Metropolitan Regions”, Cities (in press). 

  • 2020. J.L Grant, P. Filion and S. Low. “Path Dependencies Affecting Suburban Density, Mix and Diversity in Halifax”, The Canadian Geographer (in press). 

  • 2020. P. Filion, M. Moos and J. Andrey. “COVID-19 and Uncertainty: Insights from a Regional Government-University Collaboration”, Plan Canada (in press). 

  • 2020. N. Gallent, J. Morphet, R.L.H. Chiu, P. Filion, K Friedhelm Fisher, N. Gurran, P. Li, A. Schwartz and D. Stead. “International Experience of Public Infrastructure Delivery in Support of Housing Growth”, Cities 107 (in press) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2020,102920 

  • 2020. P. Filion, N. Leanage and R. Harun. “Residential Intensification at the Interface of Market-driven Development and Planning: Uneven Residential Intensification Outcomes in Toronto”, Urban Policy and Research (in press) https://doi10.1080/08111146.2020.1824906 

  • 2020. G. Sands, P. Filion and L. Reese. “Techs and Cities: A New Economic Development Paradigm”, Urban Planning Journal 5(3). 

  • 2020. P. Filion. “Fundamentals of Cities”, in M. Moos, T. Vinodrai and R. Walker (eds) Canadian Cities in Transition (6th edition). Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2-14. 

  • 2020. P. Filion. “Urban Transitions: Historical, Present and Future Perspectives on Canadian Urban Development” in M. Moos, T. Vinodrai and R. Walker (eds) Canadian Cities in Transition (6th edition). Toronto: Oxford Univrsity Press, 15-32. 

  • 2020. J.L. Grant and P. Filion. “The Market, Planning and Emerging Urban Forms”, in M. Moos, T. Vinodrai and R. Walker (eds) Canadian Cities in Transition (6th edition). Toronto: Oxford University Press, 215-231. 

  • 2020. P. Filion. “Lefebvre and Contemporary Urbanism: The Enduring Influence and Critical Power of his Writing on Cities”, in M. Leary-Owhin and J. McCarthy (eds) The Routledge Handbook of Henri Lefebvre: The City and Urban Society. London: Routledge. 

  • 2020. P Filion. “Time Scales and Planning History: Medium- and Long-term Interpretations of Downtown Toronto Planning and Development”, Planning Perspectives 35: 345-369 https://doi.org/10.1080/02665433.2018.1554451 

  • 2019. P. Filion and N. Pulver (eds) Critical Perspectives on Suburban Infrastructures: Contemporary International Cases. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 

  • 2019. P. Filion, R. Keil and N. Pulver. “Introduction: The Scope and Scales of Suburban Infrastructure”, P. Filion and N. Pulver (eds) Critical Perspectives on Suburban Infrastructures: Contemporary International Cases. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 3-41. 

  • 2019. P. Filion and N. Pulver. “Conclusion: Unified and Diverse Perspectives on Suburban Infrastructures”, in P. Filion and N. Pulver (eds) Critical Perspectives on Suburban Infrastructures: Contemporary International Cases. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 365-381. 

  • 2019. P. Filion. “Master Planned Communities in Canada/communautés planifiées”, Plan Canada (special issue for the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Institute of Planners), 108-113. 

  • 2019. P. Filion and S. Saboonian. “Large Multifunctional Suburban Centres and the Transformation of the Suburban Realm”, Journal of Urbanism 12: 296-319 https://doi.org/10.1080/17549175.2019.1576759 

  • 2018. P. Filion. “The Morphology of Dispersed Suburbanism: The Land Use Patterns of the Dominant North American Urban Form”, in U. Lehrer, R. Harris and R. Tchoukaleyska (eds) Suburban Land. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 122-144. 

  • 2018. P. Filion, N. Leanage, M. Oviedo and S. Leger. Achieving Walkability in Urban Growth Centres. Toronto: Government of Ontario, Growth Secretariat. 

  • 2018. M. Dresher, Z. Milligan, R.C. Edwards and P. Filion. Identifying Barriers and Opportunities within Professional Planning Practice in Ontario. Ottawa: Smart Prosperity Institute. 

  • 2018. P. Filion. “Enduring Features of the North American Suburb: Built Form, Automobile Orientation. Suburban Culture and Political Mobilization”, Urban Planning 3(4). http://DOI:10.17645/up.v2i41275 

  • 2017. P. Filion. “Commentary: Suburban Innovations”, Urban Planning 2(4): 1-4. 

  • 2017. P. Filion and J.L. Grant. “Generationed City: Generation as a Factor of Urban Change”, in M. Moos, T. Vinodrai and D. Pheiffer (eds) Millennial City: Trends, Implications and Prospects for Urban Planning and Policy. London: Routledge, 13-26. 

  • 2017. P. Filion. “A longue durée Perspective on North American Planning: 1945-2015”, in M. Moos and R. Walter-Joseph (eds) Still Detached and Subdivided? Suburban Ways of Living in 21st Century North America. Berlin: Jovis 44-53. 

  • 2017. P. Filion. “Sustainable Cities” entry for D. Richardson, N. Castree, M.F. Goodchild, A. Kobayashi, W. Liu and R.A. Marston (eds) The International Encyclopedia of Geography: People, the Earth, Environment, and Technology New York: Wiley. 

  • P. Filion, N. Leanage, M. Lee and K. Hakull. “Planners’ Perceptions of Obstacles to Sustainable Urban Development: Reactions to the Ontario Growth Plan”, Plan Canada 57(1): 37-43. 

  • 2016. P. Filion, A. Kramer and G. Sands. “Recentralization as an Alternative to Urban Dispersion: Transformative Planning in a Neoliberal Context” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research (accepted).
  • 2016. P. Filion and R. Keil. “Contested Infrastructures: Tension, Inequity and Innovation in the Global Suburb”, Urban Policy and Research http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/jak7yhdMrr2FfKaNHIJs/full DOI: 10.1080/08111146.2016.1187122.
  • 2016. P. Filion. “A longue durée Perspective on North American Planning: 1945-2015”, in M. Moos (ed.) The Suburban Atlas. Berlin: Jovis (forthcoming).
  • 2016. P. Filion. “The Morphology of Dispersed Suburbanism: The Land Use Patterns of the Dominant North American Urban Form”, in U. Lehrer, R. Harris and R. Tchoukaleyska (eds) Suburban Land. Toronto: University of Toronto Press (in press).
  • 2016. P. Filion. “The Scaling of Planning: Administrative levels and neighbourhood mobilization as obstacles to planning consensus”, in N. Gallent and D. Ciaffi (eds) Community Action and Planning: Contexts, Drivers and Outcomes. Bristol: Polity Press, 261-279.
  • 2016. P. Filion. “Aménagement métropolitain à Toronto: Réalisations partielles et participation chancelante”, in M. Gariépy and O. Roy-Baillargeon (eds) Gouvernance et planification collaborative : cinq métropoles canadiennes. Montréal: Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 185-210.
  • 2016. P. Filion and N. Pulver (eds) Global Suburban Infrastructure. Toronto: University of Toronto Press (in preparation).
  • 2016. P. Filion. “Sustainable Cities” entry for The International Encyclopedia of Geography: People, the Earth, Environment, and Technology New York: Wiley (3,000 words, in press).
  • 2015. P. Filion, I. Charney and R. Weber. “Downtowns that Work: Lessons from Toronto and Chicago” Canadian Journal of Urban Research 24 (2): 20-42.
  • 2015. P. Filion. “Suburban Inertia: The Entrenchment of Dispersed Suburbanism”, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 39: 633-640.
  • 2015. P. Filion, M. Lee, N. Leanage and K. Hakull. “Planners’ Perspective on Obstacles to Sustainable Urban Development: Implications for Transformative Strategies”, Planning Practice and Research 30: 202-221 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02697459.2015.1023079.
  • 2015. Y. Kumagai, R.B. Gibson and P. Filion. “Evaluating Long-term Urban Resilience through an Examination of the History of Green Spaces in Tokyo” Local Environment 20: 1018-1039 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2014.887060
  • 2015. P. Filion and A. Kramer. “Transforming Toronto: Implementation and Impacts of Metropolitan-scale Plans”, in A. Smit and M. Valiante (eds) Public Interests, Private Rights: Law and Planning Policy in Canada. Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia Press, 137-165.
  • 2015. P. Filion and T. Bunting. “Urban Transitions in Canada: The History and Future of Canadian Urban Development” (new chapter) in P. Filion, M. Moos, T. Vinodrai and R. Walker (eds) Canadian Cities in Transition (5 th edition). Toronto: Oxford University Press (half revised edition of the fourth edition of Canadian Cities in Transition), 17-37.
  • 2015. P. Filion, M. Skidmore and G. Sands. “Introduction: Urban Resilience Efforts in the Face of Natural Disasters”, in P. Filion, M. Skidmore and G. Sands (eds) Cities at Risk: Planning for and Recovering from Natural Disasters. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate, 1-14.
  • 2015. G. Sands, P. Filion and M. Skidmore. “Conclusion: Stages and Scales of Urban Resilience Strategies”, in P. Filion, M. Skidmore and G. Sands (eds) Cities at Risk: Planning for and Recovering from Natural Disasters. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate, 205-214.
  • 2015. P. Filion. “The Creation and Perpetuation of an Automobile-Oriented Urban Form: Dispersed Suburbanism in North America” in M. Moraglio and C. Kopper (eds) The Organization of Transport: A History of Users, Industry and Public Policy. New York: Routledge, 173-194.
  • 2015. P. Filion, G. Sands. M. Skidmore (eds) Cities at Risk: Planning for and Recovering from Natural Disasters. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate (216 pages).
  • 2015. P. Filion, M. Moos, T. Vinodrai and R. Walker (eds) Canadian Cities in Transition: Perspectives for an urban Age (5 th edition). Toronto: Oxford University Press (half revised edition of the fourth edition of Canadian Cities in Transition) (457 pages).
  • 2014. K. Hanna, M. Seasons, A. Dale, P. Filion and C. Ling. “Long-term Climatic Planning No Longer Works”, Plan Canada 54 (2): 26-35.
  • 2014. G. Sands, L.A. Reese and P. Filion. “Keeping the Doors Open: Commercial District Management Organizations”, International Business Research 7 (6): 18-29.
  • 2014. P. Filion. “Fading Resilience? Creative Destruction, Neoliberalism and Mounting Risks”, Sapiens 6 (1) http://sapiens.revues.org/1523 (10pp).
  • 2014. P. Filion and C. Sanderson. “Institutional Arrangements and Planning Outcomes: Inter-agency Competition on the Toronto Waterfront”, in C. Andrew and K, Graham (eds) Canada in Cities: The Politics and Policy of Federal-Local Governance. Montréal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 131-163.

Courses taught

  • PLAN 100: The Evolution of Planning
  • PLAN 621: Changing Urban Form and Structure of Metropolitan Canada 
  • PLAN 700: Planning Paradigms and Theory
  • PLAN 801: Foundations of Planning Scholarship