Deborah Cowen

Deborah Cowen is a Professor in the Department of Geography & Planning at the University of Toronto, focusing on the intersection of infrastructure, race, space, and settler colonialism. Her work examines how socio-technical systems shape urban life and reproduce violence through logistics and colonial projects.

• Current Research: Spineless: Infrastructure for the Apocalypse (colonial infrastructure in North America)
• Collaborative Projects: Infrastructure Otherwise (alternative infrastructure models)

Her recent work analyzes the geopolitical dimensions of oil infrastructure and urban inequality in Toronto. She has received the 2016 International Political Sociology Book Award.

• Scientific Awards: International Political Sociology Book Award (2016)

Cowen advises PhD, MA, and MScPl. students across topics like anti-Blackness in urban planning, Palestinian resistance under occupation, and Indigenous rights in resource extraction. She leads the Infrastructure Otherwise project, collaborating with artists and activists to reimagine decolonial infrastructure.