Sean Grisdale

Sean Grisdale

Title/Position
PhD Candidate
Dr. Alan Walks, supervisor

Research and Professional Interests

I am a human geographer trained in critical urban theory and political economy. My interests include: ideologies of the “smart” city; the confluence of platform/digital capitalism and contemporary urban development; gentrification and rent theory; condo-ism and the financialization of housing; the political economy of land and land ownership; neoliberalism and the welfare state; the institutionalization of real estate investing; and urban inequality. I have published research on the impact of short-term rentals on the housing market, and the rise of condominiums as a dominant new form of rental housing in Canada. I am currently conducting dissertation research on the history of urban public land management and housing in Canadian cities.

Why Geography at UTM?

I was drawn to UTM by a supportive supervisor, an inspiring graduate cohort and the department’s generous financial and educational resources.

Honours and Awards

  • 2019-2022 - SSHRC Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship (Doctoral)
  • 2018 - Michael Ralph Walsh Ontario Graduate Scholarship
  • 2016 - SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship (Masters)
  • 2015 - Michael Ralph Walsh Ontario Graduate Scholarship
Education
PhD Candidate - University of Toronto
MA Human Geography – University of Toronto
BA Honours Geography, Minor: Environmental Studies – University of Victoria

Publications

  • Grisdale, S. and Walks, A. (In Press). Rise overrun: Condoization, gentrification and the changing political economy of renting in Toronto. Urban Planning, 7(4). https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v7i4.5742
  • Grisdale, S. (In Press). The role of public land in affordable housing. In Affordable Housing Challenge Project (Ed.). Advancing the right to housing in Toronto: Critical perspectives on the GTA's housing crisis and how to solve it. [Report]. Toronto: University of Toronto. https://affordablehousingchallenge.ca/projects/
  • Grisdale, S. (2021). Mobilizing the platform economy: Regulating short-term rentals in Toronto. In A. Zwick & Z. Spicer (Eds.), The Platform Economy and the Smart City. McGill-Queen's University Press.
  • Grisdale, S. (2021). Displacement by disruption: Short-term rentals and the political economy of “belonging anywhere” in Toronto. Urban Geography, 42(5), 654-680. DOI:
    10.1080/02723638.2019.1642714
  • Hawes, E. and Grisdale, S. (2020). Housing crisis in a Canadian global city: Financialization, buy-to-let investors and short-term rentals in Toronto’s rental market. In S. Bunce, N. Livingstone, L. March, S. Moore, & A. Walks. (Eds.), Critical dialogues of urban governance, development and activism: London & Toronto. UCL Press.
  • Grisdale, S. (2018). What Airbnb is doing to Toronto’s rental apartment market. Spacing Toronto. Available at: http://spacing.ca/toronto/2018/04/25/airbnb-torontos-rental-apartment-market/

Research

Research Supervisor / Mentor
Dr. Alan Walks