Catherine Bonier
Associate Professor
Catherine Bonier teaches courses in architectural and urban design, research, history, and theory. The foundation of her teaching is the analysis of historical systems and patterns as the basis for creative visualizations to imagine equitable and remediative future cities.
Professor Bonier’s research spans from historical analysis to futuristic visions, and centers on the shaping of the built environment around water, technology, infrastructural systems, and competing ideas of health and balance. Her prior positions in construction management, mental health counseling, and video game design contribute to her focus on the nexus of evolving technologies, shifting environments, social equity, and urban health. She is co-director and co-founder of the Carleton Urban Research Lab (c-url) with Professor Ozayr Saloojee.
Education
PhD Architecture – University of Pennsylvania
MArch – University of Pennsylvania
BA , European and African History – Harvard University
Courses
ARCU 4103 – Cities
ARCU 4108 – Selected Topics in Urbanism
ARCU 3304 – Urbanism Undergraduate 3rd Year Studio
ARCU 4304 – Urbanism Undergraduate 4th Year Studio
ARCU 5100 F – Architecture Graduate Thesis-Writing Workshop
ARCS 5102 – Architecture Graduate Studio 1
ARCH 5200 – Architecture Graduate Seminar 1-Introduction to Critical Thought in Architecture
Research
2020 July “Canaries in the Coal Mine: Water, Climate Change, Urban Futures” – talk and workshop Carleton Immersive Media Studio Urban Futures Workshop – MRCF Urban Futures: intra/inter, Carleton University
2020 May “Grounding: Approaches to Site and Landscape in a Time of Online Learning” – panelist, Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, Online Pivot Session
2019 Jan “Methods of Engagement: imagining equitable urban sustainability” National Association of Students of Architecture, India / 61st Annual Convention
SJB School of Architecture and Planning, Bangalore, India
2019 Jan “Women’s Work” – lecture and panel discussion on women in architecture National Association of Students of Architecture, India / 61st Annual Convention SJB School of Architecture and Planning, Bangalore, India
2018 Nov “Design After Rivers” at Book Launch for The Invention of Rivers: Alexander’s Eye and Ganga’s Descent, by Dilip da Cunha, Columbia University; Kislak Center, Philadelphia, PA
2018 July Summer Cities Symposium 2018: Working Waterfronts // Freshwater Fiction
Symposium Organizer and director, Carleton University
2017 Oct “Fever and Form: Medical Theory and the Shape of the Nineteenth-Century City”
SACRPH: Society for American City and Regional Planning History, Annual Conference, Cleveland
2017 Oct “Dirty Games and Digital Skins” Invited lecture at Kent State College of Architecture and Environmental Design
2017 July Keynote Speech, “Water + Community: Creative Collaborations in Service of Sustainability”
International Conference on Water, Informatics, Sustainability, and Environment, iWISE Conference Secretariat at Science Target of Ottawa, ON
2017 June “Visionary Digitalia: Filthy Games and Pernicious Beauty,” Fantasy in Reality: Architecture, Representation, Reproduction at The Courtauld Institute of Art, London, UK
2017 Mar Fluid Infrastructures: Exploring Ottawa’s Liquid Histories and Futures Symposium Co-Organizer
2017 Feb Shifting Frames: Urbanization, Slums, and Cities of the Future
Symposium Co-Organizer
2016 Mar “Transitional States: Hydraulic history and architectural activism,” Shaping New Knowledges, Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, Seattle, WA
2016 Feb “Future Theories, Graphic Arguments: Activating history and theory,”
National Conference on the Beginning Design Student, San Luis Obispo, CA
2016 “Morgan City, 2050/50/50,” Research Publication funded by The LSU Coastal Sustainability Studio (CSS), Louisiana State University