SFU Urban Studies research projects

• Browse for past Urban Studies projects within SFU's online open access repository, Summit
• For more advanced searching and sorting capabilities, look for Urban Studies projects in the Library Catalogue
  • For projects completed between 2006 and 2010, try a title search for Theses (Urban Studies Program)
  • For projects completed from 2010 onwards, try a title search for Research Project (Urban Studies Program)
• To locate the full text of newly submitted projects (still awaiting auditing), check the Thesis Registration System (keyword search: urban)

Municipal and Local history research

While the SFU catalogue has a good collection of books on various cities, especially for the Lower Mainland and BC, if you are interested researching other cities sometimes the quickest path to find local material is via the public library or local archives.

Selected public library links:

• Vancouver Public Library, including Local History and Vancouver History resources
• Other library catalogues SFU list of local public and academic libraries
• BC OneCard How to borrow books from any public library in BC
• Request items from other libraries  SFU Library's excellent Interlibrary Loan service
• Sample catalogue subject terms: Cities and Towns -- Ontario ;  Kelowna (B.C.) -- History

Selected archives links:

• City of Vancouver Archives  covering historical materials for Vancouver and other Lower Mainland municipalities Search Archives for materials including over 100,000 digitized photographs and more.  For in-person research book an appointment at 604-736-8561 or archives@vancouver.ca.
• Burnaby Archives located in the McGill Branch of the Burnaby Public Library
• For more archives see: MemoryBC's Websites of Archives in British Columbia ​​​​​​; Archives Canada archival institution list; Archives World Map (which is self-reported)
• Using Archives: A Guide to Effective Research from "What are archives?" to an annotated finding aid example
• A Survival Guide to Archival Research American Historical Association's very practical guide
• Advice for Graduate Students Embarking on Archival Research "You can never take enough notes" and more words of wisdom

Local government websites

• City of Vancouver, including its Open Data Catalogue  and Green Vancouver
• City of Burnaby including Maps and Open Data
• City of North Vancouver including GEOweb
• City of Richmond
• City of Surrey
• For a complete list see Local municipal government websites from the guide Finding Government Resources & Information 
• Metro Vancouver 
  "collaboratively plans for and delivers regional-scale services...drinking water, wastewater treatment and solid waste management"
  including their Harry Lash Library catalogue with internally-produced reports and historical materials

Web resources and Associations

Canada

• Canadian Urban Institute  provides "applied research, education/training and communication to improve the processes and policies needed to make informed decisions about urban assets"
• Canadian Urban Transit Association  network of national and international public transit associations
• CivicInfo BC "British Columbia's local government information hub"
• Community Information Database  "consistent and reliable socio-economic and demographic data and information for all communities across Canada"
• Federation of Canadian Municipalities  national federation of municipal governments
• Institute of Urban Studies (University of Winnipeg)  reports on many urban topics, including housing & homelessness, urban Aboriginal issues, and sustainable urban development
• Municipal Services Project  free online books, emphasis on international development, alternatives to privatization
• Muniscope  "Canada’s national resource on municipal issues, sponsored by the Provincial-Territorial Officials Committee on Local Government (PTOC)"
• Spacing Vancouver  Canadian magazine that focuses on "topics like public transit, urban design, public art, community planning, and sustainable development"
• Union of BC Municipalities  provincial union for local governments, providing resources such as policy papers, including the extremely useful Local Government fact sheets "easy-to-read and easy-to-understand information on local government operations. Subjects include the role and powers of elected officials, taxation, planning process, policing, and bylaws"
• Vancouver Public Space Network  advocacy organization that is dedicated to addressing issues around public space

United States

• City Observatory  (Portland) "discussing the success of cities" Includes a reports and data section
• Community Tool Box (University of Kansas) "step-by-step guidance in community-building skills...community assessment, planning, intervention, evaluation, advocacy"
• Lincoln Institute of Land Policy  online books and reports on global economic, social, and environmental challenges
• Planetizen  "independent resource for people passionate about planning and related fields"
• Sightline Institute  (Seattle) independent, nonprofit research and communications center that focuses on sustainability solutions that benefit communities in the Northwest
• Social Science Research Network (SSRN)  repository of working and accepted social science papers
• Urban Affairs Association  "the international professional organization for urban scholars, researchers, and public service professionals"

Other SFU Library subject guides

• GIS & maps including including SFU-purchased and open-access Geospatial data as well as  GIS consultations
• Public Policy
• SFU Archives including guide Introduction to Archival Research. Use the AtoM database to search SFU Archives and SFU Library's Special Collections and Rare Books.