Nik Luka is based in the Department of Geography and Planning at the University of Toronto. He seeks to bridge theory and practice in environmental design. His approach is based on the intricate learning connections among research, teaching, and practice. He has a degree in urban and regional planning, which he studied at Ryerson University (Toronto) and Sheffield-Hallam University (Sheffield, England), and a degree in architecture (urban design) from Université Laval in Québec City, where he worked under Carole Després.

In addition to his academic work, he has a Toronto-based planning and urban design consultancy; he has also worked in the field in Toronto, Basel (Switzerland), and Helsinki (Finland).

His primary research and teaching interests are housing, landscape, and urban form, from the transdisciplinary perspective of environment-ehaviour studies and urban design. This perspective encompasses (in no particular order) anthropology, architecture, cognitive science, cultural landscape studies, ecological design, environmental planning, environmental psychology, housing studies, human geography, policy studies, regional planning, social psychology, and sociology. Other research interests include ecological design, sustainable development, transportation, and the uses and representations of space. At the core of his work is the interaction of mind and environment in everyday settings: how people make their environments meaningful, through the processes of perception, cognition, and evaluation, leading to goal-seeking behaviour.

Now in the second year of a PhD in geography at the University of Toronto, his dissertation research focuses on continuity and change in the landscapes of cottage country in central Ontario. He is currently a member of two interdisciplinary research groups. The first, based at Université Laval: 'Suburbia revisited' (http://www.girba.crad.ulaval.ca/), developing planning and urban design strategies for the sustainable revitalisation of early postwar suburbs. The second, based at University of Toronto, is exploring the places and cultural landscapes of exurbia from the critical perspective of human geography.

In addition to his work in environmental design, he sings with Tafelmusik Chamber Choir in Toronto (www.tafelmusik.org) and is involved with a number of community groups in the Toronto area. He is also President of the University of Toronto Graduate Geography & Planning Student Society (http://www.geog.utoronto.ca/grads/ggapss.html).

Contact address:
Nik Luka, M. Arch.
Department of Geography, University of Toronto
Room 5047, 100 St George St.
Toronto ON Canada M5S 3G3
nik.luka@utoronto.ca