Matthew Adair

My dissertation research investigates the role of financial actors on the production of the built environment. Here’s a recent article published in Yale Climate Connections about my project.

Current Research

I have presented my doctoral research at the conferences of the Urban Affairs Association and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP). Dissertation chapters are under development.

In October 2026, I will be presenting a paper titled “Soft De-densification: The policy landscape and effects of dwelling unit combinations” at ACSP in Pittsburgh.

I currently have a manuscript under final revision with Rust Belt Journal: A Journal of Emplaced Humanities. Another article is accepted with revisions at the Journal of Planning Education and Research (JPER).

A manuscript titled “From ‘Dust Bowl’ to ‘Rust Belt’: Tracing the etymological lineage of an imagined region” is also currently under development.

In September 2024, I had a post published by the blog of the Urban History Association, The Metropole. “Where Do You Summer: How the urban elite forged connections while escaping the city” discusses the cultural importance of seasonally leaving cities to class solidarity in the early twentieth century. I also currently serve as an editor of The Metropole.

Teaching

URBP 641: Reading the Urban Landscape
School of Urban Planning, McGill University

• A required course for first-year graduate students in the Master of Urban Planning (MUP) program, Reading the Urban Landscape offers an overview of techniques to assess the congruence between urban environments and people in order to develop students’ ability to observe, document, analyze, interpret, and communicate knowledge about the built environment. Attention is paid to the experiential qualities of urban settlements with particular attention to public space.
• In addition to teaching this course, I have served as a grader for URBP 612: History and Theory of Planning. For two years, I have also delivered one lecture each semester.

Conference Activity

Upcoming: October 2026 —

“Myopic Market or Stifling State?: Investigating the source of multi-family housing homogeneity”

• Paper presentation, Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) Annual Conference
• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

May 2026 —

“Soft De-densification: The policy landscape and effects of dwelling unit combinations”

• Paper presentation, International Conference on Urban Affairs
• Chicago, Illinois

October 2025 —

“Soft De-densification: The policy landscape and effects of dwelling unit combinations”

• Paper presentation, Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) Annual Conference
• Minneapolis, Minnesota

April 2025 —

“Investor Inertia: How finance influences housing potentialities”

• Paper presentation, International Conference on Urban Affairs
• Vancouver, British Columbia

March 2025 —

“Tenure attraction: How the political weakness of tenants fuels the rental housing sector”

• Paper presentation, American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting
• Detroit, Michigan
• Session organizer for Development Dynamics: Forces of finance, law, and grassroots resistance

Other Activities

Urban Affairs Association (UAA) Publishing Fellows Program

• Hosted by the Scholar Development Editors (SDEs) of the Journal of Urban Affairs (JUA)

Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) Doctoral Workshop

• Hosted by the Doctoral Committee of ACSP, I was selected to participate in the 2023 workshop

Recent Research Experience