Our Team

Karen Chapple

Director, School of Cities, University of Toronto

" Karen Chapple, Ph.D., is the Director of the School of Cities at the University of Toronto, where she also serves as Professor in the Department of Geography and Planning. She is Professor Emerita of City & Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley, where she served as department chair and held the Carmel P. Friesen Chair in Urban Studies. Chapple studies inequalities in the planning, development, and governance of regions in the U.S. and Latin America, with a focus on economic development and housing. Her research on accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in California (see aducalifornia.org) helped spur state and local zoning reforms, with the result that ADUs now comprise 10% of new housing units in California. In 2015, she launched the Urban Displacement Project, a research portal examining patterns of residential, commercial, and industrial displacement, as well as policy and planning solutions.  Her most recent book is Transit-Oriented Displacement or Community Dividends? Understanding the Effects of Smarter Growth on Communities(with Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, MIT Press, 2019)." 

Cherise Burda

Executive Director, City Building TMU

Specializing in relevant and creative policy research, engagement and strategic communications to drive impact, Cherise’s work has influenced legislative and policy change in Ontario and B.C. Twenty-five years as a thought leader, Cherise has authored over 40 publications and has spoken at hundreds of events, panels and media platforms on a range of issue areas including transportation, housing, urban and regional planning, climate and energy policy, and forest policy and community forestry. Cherise is an advocate for the environment and sustainable, equitable cities.

Currently as Executive Director of City Building at Toronto Metropolitan University, Cherise advances sustainable urban solutions with research collaborations and knowledge mobilization. Her previous senior roles include Ontario Director for Canada’s leading clean energy think tank, the Pembina Institute, Director of the Forests and Lands program with the David Suzuki Foundation in Vancouver, and senior researcher with University of Victoria’s Eco-Research Chair of Environmental Law and Policy.

Cherise holds a B.Sc. in environmental science from University of Toronto, an MA in environmental policy and a Bachelor of Education. Her many government appointments have included the Ontario Premier’s Transit Investment Strategy Panel and the City of Toronto’s Affordable Housing Advisory Board. She is a part time instructor at TMU’s School of Urban and Regional Planning.

Michael Piper

Director, Master of Urban Design, Assistant Professor

University of Toronto, John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture Landscape and Design

Michael Piper is an Assistant Professor of urban design and architecture and director of the Master of Urban Design program at the University of Toronto. His research and teaching focus on the relationship between design, equity, and political-economic contexts with particular attention on the social and formal transformation of North American suburbs. He is a co-founder and director of tuf lab, a research group that brings together urban design and urban planning faculty at the U of T to explore wicked (tough) problems of contemporary urbanization.

Cheryll Case

Founder and Executive Director, CP Planning

Cheryll Case was a former Early Career Canadian Urban Leader with the University of Toronto School of Cities, is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Waterloo, and a founder, and principal urban planner of CP Planning, a planning non-profit that facilitates partnerships between the government, academic, charity, private, and non-profit sectors to align on a human rights approach to the planning and delivery of housing. This includes designing, implementing, and guiding national, multi-city, city-wide, and neighbourhood specific affordable housing programs to protect and increase affordable housing supply. She is a co-editor and co-author of House Divided: How the Missing Middle Can Solve Toronto's Affordability Crisis.

In addition to her role as Founder and Executive Director of CP Planning, Cheryll is also a co-founder and Planning Director of Partna Housing. An innovative finance model designed to facilitate the development of affordable housing in traditionally single family house dominant neighbourhoods.

Marcel Greaux

Co-founder of Ownablii

Marcel Greaux is an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and co-founder of Ownablii. Ownablii is a fintech-enabled transaction platform that expands access to homeownership through an innovative co-ownership-as-a-service model. His passion for real estate was initially sparked over 20 years ago, when he purchased his first investment property, and now Marcel is a domain expert, with experience in development, investing and financing residential real estate. This combination of experience and an obsession with innovation and community are what drive him to solve big industry challenges. Marcel is an active member of the Urban Land Institute, Proptech Collective and the Canadian Mortgage Brokers Association. Marcel is dedicated to youth education, and through his work with the Greaux Family Foundation, in partnership with Imageine1day.org he has helped to fund the building of early childhood educational schools in Rural Ethiopian.

Marcel holds a Bachelor of Technology from Toronto Metropolitan University (Formerly Ryerson University), a Mini MBA Certificate from Schulich School of Business, and is a licenced mortgage broker.

Ahmad Al-Musa

Projects Coordinator, School of Cities, University of Toronto

Ahmad is a projects coordinator and researcher at the University of Toronto’s School of Cities. He is working on research and projects addressing housing with focus on Missing Middle Housing. Ahmad holds a Master of Engineering degree in Cities Engineering and Management from the University of Toronto with emphasis on sustainable buildings and resilience, and has a Civil Engineering background. Before grappling with housing challenges, he worked in the green buildings sector, assisting the transformation into Net Zero globally through the World Green Building Council’s Advancing Net Zero project, and by managing different green policy and renovation projects.

Jeff Allen

Urban Data Scientist

Jeff Allen is a cartographer and urban data scientist. He has an MA and PhD in Geography from the University of Toronto focusing on neighbourhood change, suburbanization of poverty, and transit accessibility in Canadian cities. He additionally holds a BASc in civil engineering, has worked as a data science and visualization consultant for public and non-profit organizations, and has published several academic journal articles and public reports. He has also taught courses and workshops in GIS, spatial analysis, urban geography, and transportation planning. Links to some of his creative projects can be found here (http://jamaps.github.io/)

Contributors:

Emma Ezvan

Sami Ferwati

Nima Ashtari

Faizaan Khan

Asma Khan

Ricardo Lopez