Matt Patterson
Positions
Associate Professor
Contact information
Background
Educational Background
Doctorate Sociology, University of Toronto, 2015
M.A. Sociology, University of Toronto, 2007
B.A. Sociology, University of Waterloo, 2006
Biography
I am an urban sociologist whose research examines the relationship between cities and culture. In particular, I am interested in uncovering the ways that place characteristics such as density, demographics, and urban design influence the emergence of distinct cultural practices, products, and institutions. I have pursued this research through studies of museum development, the emergence of arts districts, and the economic and social impacts of iconic architectural projects or "starchitecture". Currently my main focus is on the role of cultural planning and placemaking projects within North American Chinatowns.
Research
Participation in university strategic initiatives
Courses
| Course number | Course title | Semester |
|---|---|---|
| SOCI453 | Cities and Culture: Chinatowns | Winter 2023, Winter 2019 |
| SOCI631/731 | Graduate Seminar in Sociological Theory | Winter, 2024, Winter 2023, Winter 2022, Winter 2020, Fall 2017 |
| SOCI353 | Urban Sociology | Taught annually |
| SOCI331 | Classical Sociological Theory | Fall 2022, Fall 2018 |
| SOCI401.56 | Sociology of Culture | Winter 2021, Winter 2019 |
| SOCI333 | Contemporary Sociological Theory | Winter 2021 |
| SOCI653 | Graduate Seminar in Urban Sociology | Fall 2020 |
| SOCI680 | Major Research Paper Seminar | Spring/Summer 2023 |
Projects
The COVID19 pandemic has hit North American Chinatowns particularly hard, disproportionately affecting local businesses and sparking sometimes violent anti-Asian racism. These acute threats add to several longer term challenges facing Chinatowns including gentrification and demographic shifts among Chinese people in North America. In response to these challenges, "Save Chinatown" movements have emerged across the continent, often turning to cultural planning and placemaking strategies aimed at protecting the unique social and cultural characteristics of Chinatowns.
This project investigates both how Chinatowns have been changing physically and demographically, as well as how Chinatown communities are developing plans and policies aimed at guiding the trajectories of their neighbourhoods. To do so, the project combines semi-structured interviews with community activists, local artists, members of business improvement associations, city planners, and real estate developers (N ≈ 60), an analysis of Chinatown planning documents, and a survey of real estate development projects built within Chinatowns in the last two decades.
Through this research, we aim to support the work of Chinatown communities, identify successful cultural and preservation policies, and advance sociological understandings of the co-construction of race and place.
Awards
- The Politics of Placemaking in Chinatown., Transdisciplinary Scholarship Connector Grant, University of Calgary; $17,000.00, 2023-24 (Principal Investigator). 2023
- Quality in Canada’s Built Environment: Roadmaps to Equity, Social Value and Sustainability., SSHRC Partnership Grant $2,496,780.00, 2022-27 (Co-Investigator). 2022
- The Politics of Placemaking in Chinatown., SSHRC Insight Development Grant $71,438.00, 2021-23 (Principal Investigator). 2021
- Culture and Identity in Chinatown, Calgary, City of Calgary $26,461.50, 2019-20 (Principal Investigator). 2019
- The Social and Environmental Implications of Smart Cities: A Global Comparative Research Agenda., University of Calgary Human Dynamics Research Strategy Fund $150,000.00, 2016-18 (Co-Investigator). 2016
Publications
- Cultural Entrepreneurship and Societalization in the Founding of the Royal Ontario Museum: How Collecting Fossils and Antiquities Went from Private Hobby to Civic Responsibility. In Jeffrey C. Alexander and Mervyn Horgan (eds.) The Civil Sphere in Canada. Vancouver: UBC Press.. (2024)
- Scoreboard Urbanism: Theorizing Mental Life in the Digitally Mediated Metropolis. City & Community 23(1). 26-46. (2024)
- Revitalization, Transformation, and the ‘Bilbao Effect’: Testing the Local Area Impact of Iconic Architectural Developments in North America, 2000 to 2009. European Planning Studies 30(1). 32-49. (2022)
- Being Homeless at the ‘End’ of Homelessness: Navigating the Symbolic and Social Boundaries of Housing First. (co-authored with Chris Kohut). Canadian Review of Sociology 59(1). 59-75. (2022)
- Starchitects in Bohemia: An Exploration of Cultural Cities from the ‘Top-Down’ and ‘Bottom-Up’. (co-authored with Hyesun Jeong). Urban Affairs Review 57(6). 1656-1696. (2021)
- Architecture as Performance Art: Evaluating ‘Iconic Power’ in the Development of Two Museums. American Journal of Cultural Sociology 8(2). 158-190. (2020)
- Building Citizens by Building Museums: Royal Ontario Museum & Art Gallery of Ontario. In Georgia Lindsay (ed.) Contemporary Museum Architecture and Design: Theory and Practice of Place. New York: Routledge. 155-177. (2020)
- Identity and Culture in Calgary Chinatown. (first authorship with Lindsey Kokaritis, Jacey Magnussen, and Jason Yip). Calgary Urban Alliance. (2020)
- The Global City versus the City of Neighbourhoods: Spatial Practice, Cognitive Maps, and the Aesthetics of Urban Conflict. City & Community 15(2). 163-183. (2016)
- The Place of Art: Local Area Characteristics and Arts Growth in Canada. (first authorship with Daniel Silver). Poetics 51(1). 69-87. (2015)
- Turning the Post-Industrial City into the Cultural City: The Case of Toronto’s Waterfront. (first authorship with Daniel Silver). In Kate Oakley and Justin O’Connor (eds.) Routledge Companion to the Cultural Industries. New York: Routledge.. 268-280. (2015)
- The Role of the Public Institution in Iconic Architectural Development. Urban Studies 49(15). 69-87. (2012)
- Theorizing the Obesity Epidemic: Health Crisis, Moral Panic, and Emerging Hybrids. (co-authored with Josée Johnston). Social Theory & Health 10(3). 265-291. (2012)
- The Impact of Hepatitis B Knowledge and Stigma on Screening in Canadian Chinese Persons. (third authorship with Dorothy Li, Taryn Tang, Michael Ho, E. Jenny Heathcote, and Hemant Shah). Canadian Journal of Gastroenterology 26(9). 597-602. (2012)
- Autonomy and Compliance: How Qualitative Sociologists Respond to Institutional Ethical Oversight. (co-authored with Judith Taylor). Qualitative Sociology 33(2). 161-183. (2010)
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