Affiliations

Saskatchewan Professional Planners Institute

Canadian Institute of Planners

Canadian Association of Geographers

Adjunct Professor, School of Urban and Regional Planning, Toronto Metropolitan University

The spatial experience of everyday life, for many, is created in the city, where elements of design, culture, nature, social justice, heritage, land, infrastructure, economy, spirituality, history, politics, and technology are assembled in ways influenced by relationships of power.  My teaching, research, and community engagement focus on the difficult, and never dull, task of understanding the city in as much of its captivating complexity as possible.

I challenge myself periodically with leadership roles. Past roles include Associate Dean, College of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies; Chair, Meewasin Valley Authority board of directors; Vice-Chair, Saskatchewan Higher Education Quality Assurance Board; Director, Urban Aboriginal Knowledge Network's Prairie Research Centre; and, Chair, Regional and Urban Planning Program. Learning about leadership is something I enjoy and integrate into some of my teaching so students can begin to understand themselves in this context.

Committee Memberships

National Urban Park Advisory Committee (University of Saskatchewan)

Wascana Centre Master Plan Public Advisory Committee (Provincial Capital Commission)

Nutana Bus Rapid Transit Stakeholder Committee (City of Saskatoon)

Biography

Born in Winnipeg, I grew up there, and in St. Albert and Edmonton. I began doing paid work at age 10, delivering flyers and then newspapers. At 14 I left newspapers for fast food, working at Taco Time and becoming a staff supervisor there. At 17 I joined the Canadian Armed Forces as a reservist, and moved to Lethbridge to attend university. While at university I co-coordinated the university's Peer Support Program, was elected a director of the Students' Union, and was awarded the Charles S. Noble Award for Student Leadership by the Government of Alberta.

Some formative experiences that helped me find my professional path into planning and geography included working as a tree planter, a cartographer for the Quebec Ministry of Environment and Wildlife, and as a coordinator for the Jane Goodall Institute's Roots and Shoots youth conservation leadership program in Tanzania. Working at BC's Barkerville Historic Town, and as a program evaluator in Eswatini with the World University Service of Canada, also impacted my eventual career direction.

After working as a faculty member at Massey University in New Zealand my appointment at the University of Saskatchewan brought me back to the region where my mother’s side of the family was born and my great-grandparents settled and farmed in the R.M. of Perdue (Scharf/Lind) and near Bounty (Johnston/Moody).

My Scharf heritage goes back centuries in the Carlow and Kilkenny counties of Ireland. In the early 1800s some immigrated to Upper Canada and settled in the area around what would become Ottawa. My great-grandfather moved from Ontario to Saskatchewan in the early 1900s and met my great-grandmother (Lind). The Lind family, German Russians persecuted by the Bolsheviks, came to Saskatchewan leaving their home, farmland and possessions in Priwalnoje, Russia, refugees of the Russian Civil War.

The Johnston and Moody families moved to Saskatchewan from Grey County, Ontario in the early 1900s. In the 1830s and '40s they immigrated to Upper Canada from Northern Ireland (Fermanagh) and England (Yorkshire).

On my father’s side, great-grandparents Michaud and Lévesque were from Acadia and New France, families having settled there in the 1600s, emigrating from Pays de la Loire and Normandy, France. They lived mostly around the Kamouraska (QC) and Madawaska (NB) regions. After living several years in and around Quebec City, Jeanne Chevalier, a Fille du Roi, with her husband Robert began the family’s (New France) Lévesque line at Rivière-Ouelle, Kamouraska.

Great-grandparents Palk and Wainwright were British from Devon, England, going back centuries. They immigrated to Canada, settled and farmed at Pennfield Ridge, New Brunswick in the early 1900s. Born Palk, I adopted the Walker name at age 15 when my mother remarried.

My settler biography has taken place on the land of sovereign Indigenous nations.

(italics indicates a current or former graduate student)

Walker, R (2025) Book review: Housing, Homelessness, and Social Policy in the Urban North, Canadian Planning and Policy 2025(1) https://doi.org/10.24908/cpp-apc.v2025i1.19256

Walker, R (2024) Drawing on the power of worldview and place to gain ground for reconciliation, Dialogues in Urban Research 2(3) 379-383

Hagen, Z, Walker, R (2024) Generating demand for a downtown lifestyle in Saskatoon, a mid-size city, Canadian Geographies 68(4) 589-602

Walker, R (2024) Reflections from a visiting professor of planning in Plymouth, Branchout News, Royal Town Planning Institute (South West), Summer ed. 192 3-4

Fawcett, R B, Walker, R, Belanger, Y (2024) Liminal spaces and structural limitations of First Nation urban reserves, International Indigenous Policy Journal 15(1) https://doi.org/10.18584/iipj.2024.15.1.16311

Walker, R, Nejad, S (2022, 2017) Urban planning, Indigenous peoples, and settler states, in A Bain, L Peake (eds), Urbanization in a Global Context, 2nd edition (Toronto, Oxford University Press)

Herman, L, Walker, R, Rosenberg, M (2021) Age-friendly communities and cultural pluralism: Examining Saskatoon's Chinese-Canadian social enclave, Canadian Journal on Aging 40(3) 463-474

Walker, R (2021) The rich and textured landscape of Peggy McKercher Conservation Area, Saskatoon History Review 31 8-16

Herman, L, Walker, R, Rosenberg, M (2021) An age-friendly city? LGBTQ and frail older adults, in M Hartt, S Biglieri, M Rosenberg, S Nelson (eds), Aging People, Aging Places: Experiences, Opportunities and Challenges of Growing Older in Canada (Bristol, Policy Press)

Nejad, S, Viswanathan, L, Walker, R (2021) Ethnocultural diversity, Indigeneity, and intercultural understanding in the context of planning for reconciliation: Perspectives from the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canadian Planning and Policy 91-108

Nejad, S, Walker, R, Newhouse, D (2020) Indigenous placemaking and the built environment: Toward transformative urban design, Journal of Urban Design 25(4) 433-442

Moos, M, Vinodrai, T, Walker, R (eds)(2020) Canadian Cities in Transition: Understanding Contemporary Urbanism, 6th edition (Toronto, Oxford University Press), winner of 2021 Award of Merit from Canadian Institute of Planners

Walker, R, Blakley, J (2020, 2015) Public space in the city centre: Design, activity, and measurement, in M Moos, T Vinodrai, R Walker (eds), Canadian Cities in Transition: Understanding Contemporary Urbanism, 6th edition (Toronto, Oxford University Press)

Townshend, I, Walker, R (2020, 2015, 2010) Urban change through the lens of demography, life course, and lifestyles, in M Moos, T Vinodrai, R Walker (eds), Canadian Cities in Transition: Understanding Contemporary Urbanism, 6th edition (Toronto, Oxford University Press)

Fawcett, R B, Walker R (2020) Indigenous peoples, Indigenous cities, in M Moos, T Vinodrai, R Walker (eds), Canadian Cities in Transition: Understanding Contemporary Urbanism, 6th edition (Toronto, Oxford University Press)

Miller, G, Walker, R (2019) Editors' Note: Housing, Plan Canada 59(3) 6

Walker, R (2019) Reconstructing public history through European settler and Indigenous heritage and landscape, Association of European Schools of Planning Annual Congress Book of Papers, 272-289

Nejad, S, Walker, R, Macdougall, B, Belanger, Y, Newhouse, D (2019) "This is an Indigenous city; why don't we see it?" Indigenous urbanism and spatial production in Winnipeg, Canadian Geographies 63(3) 413-424

Belanger, Y, Dekruyf, K, Walker, R (2019) Calgary, Canada: Policy co-production and Indigenous development in urban settings, in S Darchen, G Searle (eds), Global Planning Innovations for Urban Sustainability (New York, Routledge)

Walker, R, Fawcett, R B (2018) Public space design and Indigenous urbanism, Landscapes: Landscape Architecture in Canada 20(3) 32-34

Nejad, S, Walker, R (2018) Contemporary urban Indigenous placemaking in Canada, in E Grant, K Greenop, A Refiti, D Glenn (eds), The Handbook of Contemporary Indigenous Architecture (Singapore, Springer)

Bouvier, N, Walker, R (2018) Indigenous planning and municipal governance: Lessons from the transformative frontier, Canadian Public Administration 61(1) 130-134

Walker, R (2017) Supporting Indigenous planning in the city, Planning Theory & Practice 18(4) 653-656

Mohammed, M, Walker, R, Loring, P, Macdougall, B (2017) Perpetuation or remediation of structural violence toward Aboriginal peoples through city planning and policy processes - a choice to be made, in F Klodawsky, J Siltanen, C Andrew (eds), Toward Equity and Inclusion in Canadian Cities: Lessons from Critical Praxis-oriented Research (Montreal-Kingston, McGill-Queen's University Press)

Walker, R, Berdahl, L, Lashta, E, Newhouse, D, Belanger, Y (2017) Public attitudes towards Indigeneity in Canadian prairie urbanism, Canadian Geographies 61(2) 212-223

Lashta, E, Berdahl, L, Walker, R (2016) Interpersonal contact and attitudes towards Indigenous peoples in Canada's prairie cities, Ethnic and Racial Studies 39(7) 1242-1260

Prusak, S Y, Walker, R, Innes, R (2016) Toward Indigenous planning? First Nation community planning in Saskatchewan, Canada, Journal of Planning Education and Research 36(4) 440-450

Engler-Stringer, R, Muhajarine, N, Ridalls, T, Abonyi, S, Vatanparast, H, Whiting, S, Walker, R (2016) The Good Food Junction: A community-based food store intervention to address nutritional health inequities, JMIR Research Protocols 5(2) e52, DOI: 10.2196/resprot.5303

Walker, R (2016) Programming public space: The street as set, stage, studio, and gallery, Curb magazine 6(2) 18-19

Fawcett, R B, Walker, R, Greene J (2015) Indigenizing city planning processes in Saskatoon, Canada, Canadian Journal of Urban Research 24(2) 158-175

Filion, P, Moos, M, Vinodrai, T, Walker, R (eds)(2015) Canadian Cities in Transition: Perspectives for an Urban Age, 5th edition (Toronto, Oxford University Press)

Gyepi-Garbrah, J, Walker, R, Garcea, J (2014) Indigeneity, immigrant newcomers and interculturalism in Winnipeg, Canada, Urban Studies 51(9) 1795-1811

Walker, R (2013) Gov't must lead regional planning, Op-Ed in The Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Aug 16, A11 (see Photo Gallery for the article)

Walker, R (2013) Better transit will help build city, Op-Ed in The Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Aug 3, A8 (see Photo Gallery for the article)

Walker, R, Jojola, T, Natcher, D (eds)(2013) Reclaiming Indigenous Planning (Montreal-Kingston, McGill-Queen's University Press), winner of 2014 Award of Merit from the Canadian Institute of Planners and the Innovation in Planning award from the New Mexico American Planning Association

Walker, R, Belanger, Y (2013) Aboriginality and planning in Canada's large Prairie cities, in R Walker, T Jojola, D Natcher (eds), Reclaiming Indigenous Planning (Montreal-Kingston, McGill-Queen's University Press)

Walker, R, Matunga, H (2013) Re-situating Indigenous planning in the city, Plan Canada 53(2) 14-17

Walker, R (2013) Increasing the depth of our civic identity: Future seeking and place making with Aboriginal communities, in E Peters, C Andersen (eds), Indigenous in the City: Contemporary Identities and Cultural Innovation (Vancouver, UBC Press)

Belanger, Y, Walker R (2013) Winnipeg’s ‘Aboriginal pathways’: Assessing the impacts of interest convergence and co-production of plans, in I Skelton, O Ixtacuy Lopez (eds), Models of Indigenous Development (Champaign, USA, Common Ground Publishing)

Walker, R (2011) Equitable urbanism in Saskatchewan's large cities: Balancing environmental design, society, and our concept of place, in D McGrane (ed), New Directions in Saskatchewan Public Policy (Regina, Canadian Plains Research Centre Press)

Walker, R, Moore, J, Linklater, M (2011) More than stakeholders, voices and tables: Towards co-production of urban Aboriginal policy in Manitoba, in E Peters (ed), Urban Aboriginal Policy Making in Canadian Municipalities (Montreal and Kingston, McGill-Queen's University Press)

Walker, R (2011) Urban design responses: Cities in transition, in P Gordon (ed), Resiliency: Cool Ideas for Locally Elected Leaders (Vancouver, Columbia Institute Centre for Civic Governance)

Moore, J, Walker R, Skelton, I (2011) Challenging the new Canadian myth: Colonialism, post-colonialism and urban Aboriginal policy in Thompson and Brandon, Manitoba, Canadian Journal of Native Studies 31(1) 17-42

Bunting, T, Filion, P, Walker, R (eds)(2010) Canadian Cities in Transition: New Directions in the Twenty-first Century, 4th edition (Toronto, Oxford University Press)

Walker, R, Carter, T (2010) At home in the city: Housing and neighbourhood transformation, in T Bunting, P Filion, R Walker (eds), Canadian Cities in Transition: New Directions in the Twenty-first Century, 4th edition (Toronto, Oxford University Press)

Walker, R, Barcham, M (2010) Indigenous-inclusive citizenship, the city & social housing in Canada, New Zealand & Australia, Environment and Planning A 42(2) 314-331

Walker, R (2010) Traffic bridge must be saved, Op-Ed in The Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Oct 15, A6 (see Photo Gallery for the article)

Walker, R (2009) The political challenge of implementing social housing policy in Saskatchewan, in H Leeson (ed), Saskatchewan Politics: Crowding the Centre (Regina, Canadian Plains Research Centre Press)

Belanger, Y, Walker, R (2009) Interest convergence & co-production of plans: An examination of Winnipeg’s 'Aboriginal pathways', Canadian Journal of Urban Research 18(1) Supplement 118-139

Walker, R, Patrick, R (2009) Cityscape must reflect values of citizens, Op-Ed in The Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Feb 20, A11 (see Photo Gallery for the article)

Walker, R (2008) Indigeneity: A cornerstone of diversity planning in Canadian cities, Progressive Planning 177 8-13

Walker, R (2008) Improving the interface between urban municipalities and Aboriginal communities, Canadian Journal of Urban Research 17(1) Supplement 20-36

Walker, R (2008) Aboriginal self-determination and social housing in urban Canada: A story of convergence and divergence, Urban Studies 45(1) 185-205

Walker, R (2008) Ottawa should change its housing policies for urban aboriginals, Op-Ed in The Gazette (Montreal), Jul 2

Walker, R (2008) Social housing and the role of Aboriginal organisations in Canadian cities (Montreal, Institute for Research on Public Policy)

Walker, R (2008) Condo restrictions serve public interest, Op-Ed in The Saskatoon StarPhoenix, May 2, A10 (see Photo Gallery for the article)

Sully, L, Kellett, L, Garcea, J, Walker, R (2008) First Nations urban reserves in Saskatoon: Partnerships for positive development, Plan Canada 48(2) 39-42

Walker, R (2008) Unsettled places: Aboriginal people and urbanisation in New South Wales, Book Review, G Morgan (Wakefield 2006), Urban Studies 45(5&6) 1293-1295

Walker, R (2006) Searching for Aboriginal/Indigenous self-determination: Urban citizenship in the Winnipeg low-cost housing sector, Canada, Environment and Planning A 38(12) 2345-2363

Walker, R (2006) Interweaving Aboriginal/Indigenous rights with urban citizenship: A view from the Winnipeg low-cost housing sector, Canada, Citizenship Studies 10(4) 391-411

Walker, R (2006) We call it home: A history of state housing in New Zealand, Book Review, B Schrader (Reed 2005), New Zealand Geographer 62(1) 91-92

Walker, R (2005) Social cohesion? A critical review of the Urban Aboriginal Strategy and its application to address homelessness in Winnipeg, Canadian Journal of Native Studies 25(2) 395-416

Walker, R (2005) Reflections on planning with the urban Aboriginal community, Plan Canada 45(4) 38-41

Klein, J, Walker, R (2005) Statutory and non-statutory approaches to crime prevention through environmental design, Planning Quarterly 159 (December) 15-17

Peters, E, Walker, R (2005) ‘Chapter 1: Introducing a framework’ in E Peters, Indigeneity and marginalisation: Planning for and with urban Aboriginal communities in Canada, Progress in Planning 63(4) 327-404

Walker, R (2003) Engaging the urban Aboriginal population in low-cost housing initiatives: Lessons from Winnipeg, Canadian Journal of Urban Research 12(1) Supplement 99-118

Townshend, I, Walker, R (2002) The structure of income residential segregation in Canadian metropolitan areas, Canadian Journal of Regional Science 25(1) 25-52

Walker, R, Seasons, M (2002) Planning supported housing: A new orientation in housing for people with serious mental illness, Journal of Planning Education and Research 21(3) 313-319

Walker, R, Seasons, M (2002) Supported housing for people with serious mental illness: Resident perspectives on housing, Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health 21(1) 137-151

Walker, R (2001) Fundza libraries in Swazi schools: Programme evaluation and implications for performance and policy, Innovation: Appropriate Librarianship and Information Work in Southern Africa 23 31-40

• PLAN 341.3 Urban Planning
• PLAN 410.3 Planning Internship
• PLAN 441.3 Challenges in Urban Development
• PLAN 445.3 Planning with Indigenous Communities
• GEOG 845.3 Advanced Urban Geography

Indigenous urbanism age-friendly communities city planning downtown public space urban design urban geography

My research can be grouped into four areas.

Indigenous urbanism & planning

Working on Indigenous and Settler relations, among peoples, land, resources, worldviews, planning, policy, programming, and design in cities is a long-standing passion of mine. Most of my major grants (e.g., SSHRC, CMHC) have financially supported this focus for over two decades. None of this work would have been possible without the support of Indigenous organizations. I first began working in this area when I was a Ph.D. student under the supervision of Evelyn Peters. My focus expanded from Canada to include New Zealand and Australia when I worked at Massey University's School of People, Environment and Planning in New Zealand. When I moved back to Canada my focus on Indigenous planning expanded further to the USA and Mexico through a multi-year exchange program with universities there, and the University of Manitoba and USask here.

Interacting with students and faculty at Toronto Metropolitan University's School of Urban and Regional Planning, while a visiting professor there, helped me to delve into some new ideas and writing in this field. I continue to be involved in Indigenous community-based research as a co-investigator on a CIHR project grant led by Sarah Oosman.

Downtown

My downtown focus began when, with Jill Blakley, a team of our planning students, and about 50 community volunteers, we studied the interactions between public space, built environment, pedestrian activity, and urban design to help complete phase one of the City of Saskatoon’s City Centre Plan. Titled the Public Spaces, Activity and Urban Form Strategic Framework the project was a three-way partnership between the City of Saskatoon, USask, and a Toronto-based architecture and planning firm, earning the Award for Planning Excellence (New and Emerging Planning Initiatives) from the Canadian Institute of Planners, the Downtown Merit Award (Planning) from the International Downtown Association, and the Premier's Award of Excellence in Design (Community Planning). I continued my focus on city centre public space research in Montreal during a term as visiting professor at the School of Urban Planning, McGill University.

More recently, I worked with colleagues at USask, City of Saskatoon and Downtown Saskatoon business improvement district on the Creating Demand for a Downtown Lifestyle in Saskatoon project, examining ways to enhance livability and create a sought after urban residential lifestyle in Downtown Saskatoon, informing planning, development, and investment. It was carried out with funding from the Research Junction, a joint initiative by USask and City of Saskatoon to connect university research with the City's strategic goals.

As a visiting professor at the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Plymouth, England, my knowledge of downtown planning was advanced in new ways that have influenced my perspective on the Canadian experience and inspired me to continue onward in this area of research.

Age-friendly communities

My interest in this area grew out of working with Mark Rosenberg, Kathi Wilson, USask colleagues and several community partners, focusing on groups of older adults whose voices tend to be overlooked or actively marginalized in age-friendly community building, such as LGBTQ, Chinese-Canadian, and frail older adults. The goal is to understand how to make communities age-friendly in ways that equally support the social construction of spaces of belonging.

Supported housing for people with mental illness

This began as a master's student under the supervision of Mark Seasons and was driven by personal interest coming from my family experiences with schizophrenia. Set in the cities of Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph and the towns of Waterloo Region and Wellington and Dufferin Counties I partnered with local housing and support agencies, city administrators, and the district health council to produce applied research that would guide new supported housing creation, and to contribute to scholarly research. The work won awards from the federal government's Policy Research Initiative, the Canadian Institute of Planners, and Ontario Professional Planners Institute (Gerald Carrothers).

With funding from Housing New Zealand Corporation's Housing Innovation Fund I worked with local housing and mental health organizations to undertake a social housing needs assessment and create a community housing plan in Palmerston North while working at Massey University.

B.A. (with distinction) Urban and Regional Studies (University of Lethbridge)
M.A. Planning (University of Waterloo)
Ph.D. Geography (Queen’s University, Kingston)

Greystone Leadership (Advanced) Development Program (University of Saskatchewan)

4 Seasons of Reconciliation Certificate (First Nations University of Canada)

Alternative Dispute and Conflict Resolution Certificate (Mediation Centre of Southeastern Ontario)

Learning and Teaching Development Certificate (Massey University, New Zealand)