Jessica Parish

Assistant Professor — urban and local governance; gentrification; urban sustainability; environmental justice; housing; social reproduction; financialization; settler colonialism
- Email Jessica Parish
- 613-520-2600 ext 8936
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- BSc Hons in Political Science (Carleton University)
- MA in Political Science (York University)
- PhD in Political Science (York University)
Jessica Parish is Assistant Professor in the School of Public Policy and Administration, where she teaches courses on local and urban governance and sustainability. Prior to this she was a Marie Curie International Fellow at the Center for Urban Research on Austerity (CURA) at De Montfort University, Leicester, England.
Jessica’s research and teaching interests include environmental gentrification, housing financialization, social and environmental justice, and feminist theories of social reproduction.
Jessica has also held research and policy positions at the Ontario Chiropractic Association and Lancaster House Publishing, and is past Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors at Toronto-based Federation of Metro Tenants’ Associations.
Honours
- Honours
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- Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), Knowledge Synthesis Grant (PI) (2025)
- European Commission, Horizon 2020, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (PI) (2022)
- German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Visiting Studentship at Goethe-Universität in Frankfurt am Main (2011)
- SSHRC Doctoral Award (2009)
- SSHRC Masters Award (2006)
Publications
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- Parish, J. (2023) Fiduciary Activism From Below: Green Gentrification, Pension Finance and the Possibility of Just Urban Futures. Urban Planning.
- Kimari, W. & Parish, J. (2020) What is a river? A transnational meditation on the colonial city, abolition ecologies and the future of geography. Urban Geography, 40th Anniversary Issue.
- Parish, J. (2020) Re-wilding Parkdale? Environmental gentrification, settler colonialism, and the reconfiguration of nature in 21st century Toronto Environment and Planning E: Nature and space, 3 (1), 263-286.
- Parish, J. (2019) Escaping the Global City? Gentrification, urban wellness industries, and the exotic-mundane. In Tourism and Everyday Life in the Contemporary City. T. Frisch, C. Sommer, L. Stolenberg & N. Stors, eds. London: Routledge, pp 88-111
SPPA News

SPPA welcomes Jessica Parish!
Jessica Parish, SPPA Assistant Professor We are delighted to announce Dr. Jessica Parish has joined the School’s faculty as of…