Freeman, Lisa - PhD Geography

Program	PhD
Main Research Cluster	Political Spaces
Sub-Research Cluster	Cities and Everyday Life
Research Topic	housing security, regulating identities, private/public space, subjectivity and citizenship, legal geography
Supervisor	Prof. Sue Ruddick
Email	freemanl@geog.utoronto.ca
Office	SS620A
Phone	416 978 7124 ext. 234

Research Description

My research investigates how the procedural administration of rooming house licensing has produced an uneven geography of rooming house regulation in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). More specifically, I ask if and how regulation: directly affects the viability of rooming houses in Toronto; impacts marginalized groups in an asymmetrical pattern; and (indirectly) sanctions the prohibition of rooming houses in other parts of the GTA. My research examines how both the lack of regulation and the presence of over-regulation of a historically insecure and unsafe housing option potentially leads to further insecurities for populations dependent on rooming houses. This research projects enables me to further explore the interconnections between law, space, identity/subjectivity and political activism in the city.