Michael Chrobok

PhD Student, (he/him)
michael.chrobok@mail.utoronto.ca

Campus

  • Downtown Toronto (St. George)

Fields of Study

  • Culture & History
  • Economic Geography
  • Policy & Planning
  • Social & Political Geography
  • Urban

Areas of Interest

Urban food accessibility and security, gentrification and food environment change, municipal food policy and governance, consumer behaviour.

Working Dissertation

Title

FRESH Food for Whom? The Design, Implementation, and Outcomes of Incentivized Supermarket Development in New York City

Supervisors

Sarah Wakefield

Biography

I am an urban geographer interested in food accessibility, gentrification, policy development, and consumer behaviour in North American cities.

My current dissertation research blends document analysis, mapping, and in-depth interviews to explore the design, implementation, and outcomes of New York City's "Food Retail Expansion to Support Health" (FRESH) program. I am also a team member on two ongoing research projects: an examination of gentrification and food environment change in the Bronx (PI: Dr. Nevin Cohen, City University of New York), and a study of purpose-built rental housing policy in four Canadian cities (PIs: Dr. Zachary Hyde and Dr. Alan Walks, University of Toronto).

I currently work as a Graduate Educational Developer in the Centre for Teaching Support & Innovation at the University of Toronto, where I apply my 10 years of university teaching experience to develop workshops and pedagogical resources to support graduate student educators.

Education

PhD (In Progress), Geography, University of Toronto
MA, Geography, York University
BA, Geography & Political Science, York University

Cohort

  • 2014-2015