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On leave 2025-2026.

Maxwell Hartt is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Planning and the Director of the . He is spending the 2025-2026 academic year as a Craig Dobbin Scholar at University College Dublin, Ireland and the Fulbright Canada Research Chair at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, USA.

Dr. Hartt’s research focuses on the geographies urban and regional population change, the associated implications for planning and policy, and the potential of embedding positivity and play into the built and social fabric of communities. He is the Principal Investigator of New Urban Era, , , and Co-Principal Investigator of City of Bots and the Student Housing Observatory. He has published 3 books and over 50 peer reviewed journal articles (for full list see Curriculum Vitae). He is a two-time Fulbright Scholar, Regional Studies Association Routledge Early Career Award winner, and in 2017 was named by the Order of Canada as 1 of 50 Canadians under the age of 35 guiding the future of Canada.

Dr. Hartt is a Registered Professional Planner, Member of the Canadian Institute of Planners, Associate Editor of the , and on the Editorial Boards of the , , and the . He is on the Management Board of the Shrinking Cities International Research Network, an Affiliated Researcher in the at Toronto Metropolitan University, a Member of the AESOP-ACSP Collaborative Initiatives Committee, and on the Advisory Board of the Area Level Index of Age Diversity (ALIAD) Project at the University of Leicester.

Credentials:

PhD Planning, University of Waterloo

MSc Systems Science, University of Ottawa

Hon. BSc Mathematics, Saint Francis Xavier University

Links:

Representative Publications (for full list see Curriculum Vitae)

Books

Hartt, M. (2026). . University of British Columbia Press.

Hartt, M. (2021). . University of British Columbia Press.

Hartt, M., S. Biglieri, M. Rosenberg and S. Nelson (eds). (2021). . Policy Press.

Journal Articles

Biglieri, S. & M. Hartt. (2024). . Canadian Journal on Aging, 43 (1): 99-113.

Fernandez, B. & M. Hartt. (2022). . Regional Studies, 56 (8): 1308-1319.

Hartt, M. (2019). . Annals of American Association of Geographers, 109 (5): 1651-1670.

Hartt, M. (2018). . Urban Studies, 55 (13): 2946-2959.

Hartt, M., G. DeVerteuil & R. Potts. (2023). . Journal of the American Planning Association, 89 (1): 31-44.

Hartt, M. & E. Vincent. (2024). . Cities & Health, 8 (6): 1017-1030.

Supervision:

I am available to supervise students at both the Master’s (Geography or Planning) and Doctoral (Geography) levels. Please review the if you are interested in pursuing graduate research in any of the following topics:

• Shrinking cities
• Economic decline and/or transformation
• Age-friendly communities
• Play, ludic, and fun geographies/planning