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Contact info
For Library research help, please contact Moninder Lalli, Librarian for Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies or Nina Smart (nina_smart@sfu.ca), Librarian for Urban Studies, or Ask a librarian.
Other relevant library research guides: Urban Housing Policy URB 665, Urban Research Methods URB 670, Urban Bylaws, Public Policy, Legislation and Planning Resources
Research process
Start Your Research Here -- This page gives you an overview of the research process, or in other words how to find materials for your essay.
Selected reference sources
Use encyclopedias, dictionaries and handbooks to obtain definitions and overviews of a topic and also to identify key authors.
- A companion to feminist geography
- Encyclopedia of the city
- Encyclopedia of urban studies [print]
- See "Reader's guide" entries under "Urban Studies—Topical Areas: Gender and Sex – Social Space" such as: Gay Space, Gendered Space, Sex and the City
- International encyclopedia of housing and home
- International encyclopedia of human geography
- Routledge companion to modernity, space and gender - See articles such as:
- Roberts, Marion , "Engendering Urban Design" , in The Routledge Companion to Modernity, Space and Gender ed. Alexandra Staub (Abingdon: Routledge, 13 Mar 2018 ), accessed 06 Jan 2023 , Routledge Handbooks Online.
- Routledge handbook of gender and feminist geographies
- Routledge handbook of people and place in the 21st century city
Find journal articles
How to find journal articles
Search for journal articles on your topic using the databases, below. You can "limit" your search to "academic or "scholarly / peer reviewed" journals.
Use the "Get@SFU" icon will to find copies of articles which are not full-text within the database or to request the article through Inter-Library Loans.
- Women's Studies International - main database for any gender, women's studies or feminist topics
- Sociological Abstracts - main database for sociological literature
- GEOBASE - main database for human geography. The scope is international, dating back to 1980
- Social Sciences Full Text Coverage of both applied and theoretical aspects of the Social Sciences, including Gender Studies, Geography, Planning & Public Administration, Policy Sciences, Political Science, etc.
- Environment Complete Urban planning, public policy
- CBCA Fulltext Reference - Covers Canadian topics including business, politics, literature, history and news event
Find books, book chapters, journal articles
The Library Catalogue provides access to books, journal articles, videos, government documents and much more.
Library Catalogue search guide
Search the SFU Library Catalogue, either the Basic or the Advanced search
Note: In the searches below, search results can be been limited to "Resource type" of "Books" and "Subject" (left-hand column)
- (women OR female* OR gender) AND ("Public space*" OR urban OR city)
- (women OR female* OR gender) AND ("Public space*" OR urban OR city) AND (safe* OR mobilit* * OR transit* OR walk*)
- (women OR female* OR gender) AND ("Public space*" OR urban OR city) AND (safe* OR mobilit* * OR transit* OR walk*) AND canad*
- (gentryf* OR gentrif*) AND (city OR urban) AND canad*
- (LGBT* OR transgender OR queer) AND (city OR urban) AND canad*
- (city OR urban) AND (women OR female* OR girl*) AND "public space*"
- (aborig* OR indigen* OR poor OR marginal*) AND (city OR cities OR urban) AND canad*
- engender* AND ("urban design" OR "urban plan*" OR "built environment")
Combine different concepts using AND
Combine same concepts using OR
Use quotation marks to search for a phrase
Use brackets for synonyms
Use asterisk (*) for different endings of words
Use pulldown menu and select, "Source Types" as "Books"
Note: For Catalogue Search, when combining concepts, use CAPITAL letters ( "OR", "AND")
Selected books
- Changing Image of Affordable Housing: Design, Gentrification and Community in Canada and Europe
- Contentious cities : design and the gendered production of space
- Feminist city : a field guide / Leslie Kern
- Gentrification around the world. Volume I : gentrifiers and the displaced
- Gentrifier
- Geographies of Transport and Ageing
- Globalizing cities reader
- Homelessness and health in Canada
- Indigenous in the City: Contemporary Identities and Cultural Innovation
- Integrating Gender into Transport Planning: From One to Many Tracks
- Lesbian Geographies: Gender, Place and Power
- Marginality in the Urban Center The Costs and Challenges of Continued Whiteness in the Americas and Beyond
- Planning and LGBTQ Communities: The Need for Inclusive Queer Spaces
- Production of alternative urban spaces : an international dialogue
- Public space reader [print]
- Queering Urban Justice: Queer of Colour Formations in Toronto
- Resistance and the city : negotiating urban identities: race, class, and gender
- Right to Home Exploring How Space, Culture, and Identity Intersect with Disparities
- Safety and Security in Transit Environments: An Interdisciplinary Approach
- Street Sex Work and Canadian Cities: Resisting a Dangerous Order
- Toward equity and inclusion in Canadian cities : lessons from critical praxis-oriented research
- Urban Aboriginal Policy Making in Canadian Municipalities
- Urban female youth and their relationship with public space
- Walkability in Toronto's high-rise neighbourhoods : final report
- Women and girls' eyes on the neighbourhood : feeling safe in public space
Subject headings
Browse Books in the Library Catalogue Using Subject Headings
Catalogue Search / Browse then change "Title" to "Subject" and enter your subject term. To find critical or biographical material about a person, enter the last name, and then the first name.
- City planning -- Canada
- City planning -- Social aspects
- Feminist geography
- Gentrification
- Housing -- Canada
- Housing policy -- British Columbia -- Vancouver
- Housing policy -- Canada
- Public safety
- Public spaces
- Sociology -- Urban
- Urban policy -- Canada
- Urban Studies/Sociology
- Urban transportation -- Canada
- Urbanization -- Canada
- Women and city planning
Government information
Library guides
- Annotated bibliographies
- Evaluating sources
- How to write book reviews
- What is a scholarly (or peer-reviewed) journal?
- What is plagiarism? Guide to common forms of plagiarism and how to avoid them.
Presentation skills
- Resources on developing your participation skills
- Resources to help you improve your presentation skills