Reimagining the Scarborough RT
What if, instead of spending hundreds of millions to tear down the Scarborough Rapid Transit (SRT) infrastructure, we transformed it into a vibrant and iconic community space that fosters local arts and culture, promotes sustainable mobility, provides healthy recreational options and supports inclusive local economies? IIESL is working with Scarborough community leaders, urban planners and students to think boldly and brainstorm repurposing ideas, as part of a broad discussion that brings together community perspectives and technical expertise.
City of Toronto Inclusive Economic Development Framework
IIESL is working with the City of Toronto to build their inclusive economic development framework and to strengthen local assets, promote economic justice and community well-being, and expand opportunities for equity-deserving groups with the local leaders and community organizations whose vision, advocacy, and practices played a key role in its development.
Alpujarra RARA: Queer Peripheries, Touristification, and the Politics of Rural Economic Development
Alpujarra RARA is an ongoing initiative of the IIESL that explores how rural territories can develop more community centered, inclusive and place-based approaches to tourism and local economic development. Grounded in queer, decolonial, and place based perspectives, the project centers local memory, storytelling, and community cultural production as foundations for belonging. It asks how difference, particularly sexual and gender difference, can be recognized as a living and constitutive part of the territory rather than erased, folklorized, or commodified in rural economic development strategies.
Land Trusts Across Toronto: Resisting Displacement Through Collective Ownership
The 2026 Jack Quarter Lectureship on the Social Economy, taking place on March 6, 2026, will feature Parkdale Neighbourhood Land Trust, Kensington Market Community Land Trust, Toronto Chinatown Land Trust and Little Jamaica Community Land Trust. Panelists will explore how grassroots, community-led land trusts are protecting affordability, cultural spaces, and local futures in the face of displacement and speculation.
Workers Governing Digital Technologies: Collective strategies across contexts
This two-day in-person event, taking place on September 25-26, 2025, at the University of Toronto, will bring together 20 invited speakers from Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Spain, and the United States to exchange insights on worker-led governance of digital technologies—including platforms, data, and AI—through collective bargaining, co-op formation, and policy reform.