Dr. Sara Macdonald

Dr. Sara Macdonald

UU
s.macdonald@uu.nl

Since 2017, Sara Macdonald has been a PhD candidate in Human Geography and Spatial Planning at Utrecht University under the supervision of Professor Jochen Monstadt (Utrecht University), Professor Roger Keil (York University) and Dr. Abigail Friendly (Utrecht University). The title of her dissertation is the “Governing greenbelts in Southern Ontario and the Frankfurt Rhine-Main region: an institutional perspective”. Her research explores the factors that influence the governance and planning of greenbelts in the Greater Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario, Canada and the Frankfurt RheinMain region of Germany and how they shape institutional coordination and policy implementation. This research aims to draw lessons from experiences in Ontario and Frankfurt about how the governance and planning of greenbelts could be improved. 

This PhD research is part of the "Global Suburbanisms: Governance, Land and Infrastructure in the 21st century" project based at York University and more details for this international research project can be found at the following website:  http://suburbs.info.yorku.ca/. Sara's research interests include:

  • Greenbelts
  • Urban and Regional Planning
  • Urban and Regional Governance
  • Global Suburbanisms and Suburbanization

She was the Coordinator of the City Institute and the Project Coordinator for a Major Collaborative Research Initiative entitled "Global Suburbanisms: Governance, Land and Infrastructure in the 21st century" based at York University from 2006 to 2017. She has a long standing research interest in greenbelts and suburbanisms, and has been following the development of the Ontario greenbelt since its introduction in 2005. She has been a visiting scholar at Aberystwyth University, Wales and Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany. Her Master's and Bachelor's degrees are from the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University.