Jill Wigle
Associate Professor
- MSc.Planning (University of Toronto) Ph.D. (University of Toronto)
- Email Jill Wigle
Biography
As an urban geographer, I鈥檓 broadly interested in housing, planning and urban governance issues and their relationship to precarity and equity. In Mexico City, my research has focused on the geographies of 鈥渋nformal鈥 housing and spatial regulation; everyday planning practices, space and gender; and city-making and the politics of neighbourhood upgrading. This research explores access to land and housing, the right to the city, and the ways that 鈥渇ormal鈥 planning practices produce 鈥渋nformality鈥 in different territories of the city. More recently, I鈥檝e started to explore affordable housing and community land trusts as part of the 杏吧原创鈥檚 multidisciplinary research project, A Safe and Affordable Place to Call Home (2023-2033). At 杏吧原创, I鈥檓 cross-appointed to the Institute of Political Economy (IPE) and participate in the Latin American and Caribbean Studies (LACS) Program. I welcome graduate students with related research interests. Some students may also be interested in our .
2024-2025 Courses
- Community-engaged Research (GEOG 4450), Fall 2024
- Approaches to Geographic Inquiry (GEOG 5000), Fall 2024
- Cities in a Global World (GEOG 3023), Winter 2025
- Regional Field Excursion: Mexico City (GEOG 3030), May 2025
Research Interests
- The social production of housing and the right to the city
- Urban planning, spatial regulation, power and precarity
- Affordable housing and community land trusts
Publications
Jill Wigle, Laura Macdonald, Lucy Luccisano & Paula Maurutto. 2023. Journal of Urban Affairs. pp.1-20.
Wigle, Jill and Lorena Z谩rate.2022. Claiming the right to the city in Mexico City: From lived experience to mobilizing for change, in Patricia Ballamingie and David Szanto (eds.) Showing Theory to Know Theory: Understanding Social Science Concepts through Illustrative Vignettes. Showing Theory Press. Available at:
Wigle, Jill and Lorena Z谩rate. 2022. The right to the city in Latin America and the Caribbean, in Jes煤s Gonz谩lez-P茅rez, Clara Iraz谩bal Zurita and Rub茅n Lois-Gonz谩lez (eds.) Routledge Handbook of Urban Studies in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Wigle, Jill. 2020. . Latin American Perspectives 47 (6): 56-76.
2017. Cape Town, South Africa and Waterloo, Canada: African Centre for Cities, University of Cape Town and Wilfrid Laurier University/Balsillie School of International Affairs.
Connolly, Priscilla and Jill Wigle. 2017. . Planning Theory and Practice, 18 (2): 183-201.
Wigle, Jill. 2016. De 脕reas Verdes a Zonas Grises: Gobernanza del Espacio y Asentamientos Irregulares en Xochimilco, Ciudad de M茅xico, in Antonio Azuela (Ed.) . Mexico City: Instituto de Investigaciones, UNAM and PAOT.
Wigle, Jill. 2014. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. 38(2): 573-589.
Wigle, Jill and Lorena Z谩rate. 2012. Progressive Planning 193: 35-38.
Wigle, Jill. 2010. . Cities 27: 337鈥347.
Wigle, Jill. 2010. . Urban Studies 47(2): 411鈥436.
Wigle, Jill. 2008. International Planning Studies 13 (3): 197-222.
Graduate Student Supervision
2018-2020. Lucia Morales Vargas, MA student in Human Geography. Gender Mobility on Guatemala City鈥檚 Transmetro: Women鈥檚 lived experiences of public transportation.
2019- Monika Imeri, PhD student in Human Geography (co-supervision with Professor David Hugill)
2019- Jessica Sperry, MA student in Human Geography
2018- Lucia Morales Vargas, MA student in Human Geography
2017- Lorna Quiroga, PhD student in Human Geography (co-supervision with Professor Christina Rojas)
2017-2019 Paulina Ascencio Ramos, MA student in Human Geography. Everyday Experiences of Women in Mass-produced Housing in the Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara, Mexico.
2010-2016 Andrea Carri贸n, PhD, DGES, co-supervised with Professor Derek Smith. The Spatial Restructuring of Resource Regulation. The Gold Mining Enclave of Zaruma and Portovelo, Ecuador (1860-1980). Winner of the 2017 award for best doctoral dissertation, Canadian Association for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CALACS).
2013-2016 Alex Copp, MA, DGES, From Urban Forests to Neighbourhood Treescapes: An Examination of Power, Actors and Processes in Champlain Park, Ottawa.
2013-2014 Glennys Egan, MA, IPE, co-supervised with Professor Blair Rutherford. 鈥Actually-existing鈥 Neoliberalism in Nairobi, Kenya: Examining Informal Traders鈥 Negotiations over Access to the Entrepreneurial City.
2010-2013 Chris Bisson, MA, DGES, co-supervised with Professor Patricia Ballamingie. Forests for the People: Resisting Neoliberalism through Permaculture Design.