Negotiating an ethic of place in a globalizing society

Abstract

Dr Stefanovic is Director of the Centre for Environment and Professorof Philosophy at the University of Toronto. She is also a member of the World Society for Ekistics and served as Chair of the Natural City symposion, a meeting co-organized by the University of Toronto and the World Society for Ekistics in June 2004, and was guest-editor for the special volume of Ekistics (vol. 71, no. 424-432, 2004) reporting on this symposion. A book of essays is in preparation for the University of Toronto Press, entitled The Natural City: Re-Envisioning the Built Environment. Dr Stefanovic's main area of research interest relates to how values and perceptions affect decision making relating to environment and human settlements. Projects have included work on evaluative images of the Lake Ontario Waterfront Trail (reported in Ekistics,vol. 69, no. 415/416/417, July-December 2002) and, more recently, a research grant investigated risk perceptions underlying urban development in designated floodplains. She has published many articles on interdisciplinary issues affecting human settlements and a number of books, including the recent Safeguarding Our Common Future:Rethinking Sustainable Development (SUNY, 2000).