Faculty and Staff List

Norma Rantisi

Norma Rantisi (Ph.D. Toronto, 2002)

Tel: (514) 848-2424, ext. 2018
Fax: (514) 848-2032

norma.rantisi @ gmail.com

Education

Dr. Rantisi has a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Illinois at Chicago, an M.A. in Political Science from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an M.R.P. from the Department of City and Regional Planning at Cornell University. She received her Ph.D. (2002) from the Department of Geography at the University of Toronto. Her dissertation examined the geography of design innovation for the New York City’s women’s wear industry. Dr. Rantisi’s current research looks at the innovation system for the Montréal apparel industry and assesses the role that government policy can play in promoting design-oriented production strategies for local manufacturers. She is also engaged in a collaborative study on the governance of the design sector in Montréal with Dr. Deborah Leslie, Department of Geography, University of Toronto.

Teaching

  • URBS 230 Urban Development
  • URBS 360 Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods
  • URBS 380 Urban and Regional Economic Development
  • URBS 450/GEOG 450 Industrial Restructuring
  • GEOG 491/URBS 491 Honours Thesis Seminar

Research Interests

  • Industrial restructuring of mature industries in urban settings
  • Political economy of innovation
  • Local and regional economic development policy
  • The cultural economy of cities; the economic value of design

Books

  1. Edensor,T., Leslie, D. Millington, S. and Rantisi, N.M. (eds.) (2009) Spaces of Vernacular Creativity: Rethinking the Cultural Economy. London: Routledge Press.

Select Publications

  1. Edensor, T., Leslie, D., Millington, S. and Rantisi, N.M. (2009) "Introduction: Rethinking Creativity," in Spaces of Vernacular Creativity: Rethinking the Cultural Economy, edited by Tim Edensor, Deborah Leslie, Steve Millington and Norma M. Rantisi. London: Routledge Press.
  2. Rantisi, N.M. and Leslie, D. (2009) "Creativity by Design? The Role of Informal Spaces in Creative Production," in Spaces of Vernacular Creativity: Rethinking the Cultural Economy, edited by Tim Edensor, Deborah Leslie, Steve Millington and Norma M. Rantisi. London: Routledge Press.
  3. Rantisi, N. M. (2009) “Cultural Intermediaries and the Geography of Designs in the Montréal Fashion Industry” for Industrial Design and Competitiveness: Spatial and Organization Dimensions, edited by Grete Rusten and John R. Bryson . Hampshire, U.K.: Palgrave Macmillan.
  4. Leslie, D. and Rantisi, N.M. (2009) “Fostering a Design Culture” in Creativity, Innovation and the Cultural Economy, edited by Andy C. Pratt and Paul Jeffcutt. London: Routledge Press.
  5. Rantisi, N.M. and: J.S. Boggs (2009) “Relational Economic Geography,” entry for The International Encyclopedia of Human Geography, edited by Robert Kitchen and Nigel Thrift. Volume 9, pp. 314-319, Oxford: Elsvier.
  6. Rantisi, N.M. (2007) "Conceptualizing City-regions as 'Places' and 'Spaces'" The Arab Word Geographer, 10 (3-4), pp, 227-237.
  7. Rantisi, N.M. and Leslie, D. (2006) “Branding the Design Metropole: The Case of Montréal, Canada” Area, 38, (4), pp. 364-374.
  8. Rantisi, N.M., Leslie, D. and Christopherson, S.M. (2006) “Placing the Creative Economy: Scale, Politics and the Material,” introduction for a special issue of Environment & Planning A, 38 (10), pp. 1789-1797.
  9. Rantisi, N.M. (2006) “How New York Stole Modern Fashion” in Fashion’s World Cities, edited by Christopher Breward and David Gilbert. London: Berg Publishers, pp. 109-122.
  10. Leslie, D. and Rantisi, N. M. (2006) “Governing the Design Sector in Montréal” Urban Affairs Review, 41, pp. 309-337.
  11. Rantisi, N.M. and Blackman, M.J. (2005) “A Cultural Policy for Montréal: Supporting the Arts or the Neoliberal Agenda?” Progressive Planning Magazine, No.165, Fall, pp. 27-29.
  12. Rantisi, N.M. (2004) “The Designer in the City and The City in the Designer,” in Cultural Industries and The Production of Culture, edited by Dominic Power and Allen J. Scott. London: Routledge Press, pp. 91-109.
  13. Rantisi, N.M. (2004) “Cultural Industries and Economic Revitalization Revisited: Lessons from the New York Apparel Industry” Plan Canada, Summer 2004, 44 (2): 33-35.
  14. Rantisi, N.M. (2004) “The Ascendance of New York Fashion,” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 28 (1): 86-106.
  15. Boggs, J.S. and Rantisi, N.M. (2003) ‘The ‘Relational Turn’ in Economic Geography,’ The Journal of Economic Geography, 3 (2): 109-116.
  16. Rantisi, N.M. (2002) ‘The Competitive Foundations of Localized Learning and Innovation: The Case of Women’s Garment Production in New York City,’ Economic Geography, 78 (4): 441-462.
  17. Rantisi, N.M. (2002) ‘The Local Innovation System as a Source of Variety: Openness and Adaptability in New York City’s Garment District,’ Regional Studies, 36 (6): 587-602.
  18. Lobo, J. and Rantisi, N.M. (1999) ‘Local Government Investments in Infrastructure as Determinants of Metropolitan Productivity Growth,’ Growth & Change, 30 (1): 106-127.

Presentations

  1. 2009 "Creativity and Place in the Evolution of a Cultural Industry: The Case of Cirque du Soleil" co-presented by N.M. Rantisi and D. Leslie at the European Business History Association-Business History Conference Joint Annual Meeting, Milan, Italy, June 11-13.
  2. 2009 "Marketing Montréal Fashion: Exploring the Role of Intermediary Institutions," at the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Las Vegas, U.S.A., March 22-27.
  3. 2009 "Rematerializing the Spaces of Creativity: Lessons from the Design Sector in Montreal, Canada" co-authored by N.M. Rantisi and D. Leslie and presented by N.M. Rantisi at the School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, U.K., February 24.
  4. 2009 "The Social and Material Foundations of Creativity for Montreal Independent Designers," co-authored by N.M. Rantisi and D. Leslie and presented by N.M. Rantisi at the Department of Environmental and Geographical Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, U.K. February 17.
  5. 2008 "Placed-based Dimensions of Creativity: The Case of Cirque du Soleil" co-presented by D. Leslie and N.M. Rantisi at the 9th International Conference on Urban History, Lyon, France, August 27-30.
  6. 2008 “Fostering a Design Culture,” co-presented by N.M. Rantisi and D. Leslie, at the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association of Geographers, Québec City, May 20-24, 2008.

Masters Theses Supervised:

  1. 2007-2009 Ryan Craven, Is Ethical Fashion an Alternative Economic Space?
  2. 2007-2009 Thomas Cummins-Russell, The Networks of Montréal's Independent Musicians
  3. 2004-2008 Genevieve Aboud, Sustainable Development: Actualized or Abandoned in the Efforts for Rural Economic Development in Huntingdon?
  4. 2003-2007 Antonino Scozzari, Understanding Gentrification and its Implications for a Revitalised St. Henri

Professional Associations

  • Board member of the Institut de Politique Alternative de Montreal (IPAM)
  • Co-chair of Planners Network International
  • Vice-chair, Economic Geography Specialty Group (AAG)
  • Member of editorial board, Geography Compass: Economic Geography
  • Member of editorial board, Progressive Planning Magazine
  • Canadian Regional Science Association (CRSA)
  • Canadian Association of Geographers (CAG)
  • American Association of Geographers (AAG)
  • Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP)
  • Regional Science Association International (RSAI)
  • IPAM (ipamontreal.org)

Interesting Planning and Geography-related links