Publications
At the HAP Lab, we write, present and demonstrate our work in a variety of ways, including: peer-reviewed academic journals, industry and popular magazines, as well as podcasts and public events. Check out some of our work below.
Academic Publications
Biglieri, S., Ahmed, N., Main, S., Tupling, O. L., Vijayakumar, R., Boger, J., ... & Middleton, L. (2025). Developing and Sustaining Dementia Capable Communities: An Analysis of the Current Evidence. Dementia, 14713012251404533.
Biglieri, S., Weldrick, R., Luu, S., & Vijayakumar, R. (2025). Living with dementia during COVID-19: a participatory examination of suburban neighbourhood access and place. Cities & Health, 1-20.
Biglieri, S., McQuillan, R., MacDonald, D., & Ross, T. (2025). Understanding accessibility and disability in the planning profession: an examination of planners’ knowledge and practices. Town Planning Review, 1-26.
Perez-Amado, V., Biglieri, S., Mani, V., & Vijayakumar, R. (2025). Ageing together: a policy case study analysis of socio-spatial inequities for older adults.Journal of Urban Design, 30(2), 179-202.
Biglieri, S., Bochenek, J., Abdalla, S., Hartt, M., Lopez, K., Keil, R., & Weldrick, R. (2024). Networked everyday lives in the ‘care-full’ city: A framework for examining the complexities of immigrants living with dementia, carepartners, and care workers. Journal of Urban Affairs.
Biglieri, S., & Hartt, M. (2024).The ‘Double Risk’ of Aging: Examining Vulnerability and (Un) supportive Built Environments in Canadian Cities. Canadian Journal on Aging/La Revue canadienne du vieillissement, 43(1), 99-113.
Biglieri, S. & J. Dean. (2022). Fostering mobility for people living with dementia in suburban neighbourhoods through land use, urban design and wayfinding.Journal of Planning, Education and Research.
Gaber, S.; Thalén, L.; Malinowsky, C., Margot-Cattin, I., Seetharaman, K., Chaudhury, H., Cutchin, M., Wallcook, S., Kottorp, A., Brorsson, A., Biglieri, S., Nygard, L. (2022). A cross-national perspective of social citizenship through out-of-home participation among older adults living with and without dementia. Journal of Applied Gerontology.
Biglieri, S., De Vidovich, L., Iacobelli, J. & R. Keil. (2022). Health Governance of COVID-19 in Milan and Toronto: Long Term Trends and Short Term Failures. Studies in Political Economy: A Socialist Review.
Biglieri, S. & J. Dean. (2021). Everyday built environments of care: Examining the socio-spatial relationalities of suburban neighbourhoods for people living with dementia.Wellbeing, Space & Society. Vol. 2, 100058. Open Access.
Biglieri, S. (2021). The Right to (Re) Shape the City: Examining the Accessibility of a Public Engagement Tool for People Living With Dementia . Journal of the American Planning Association. DOI: 10.1080/01944363.2020.1852100
Biglieri, S., De Vidovich, L. & R. Keil. (2020). City as the Core of Contagion? Repositioning COVID-19 at the social and spatial periphery of urban society. Cities & Health.
Dean, J., Biglieri, S., Drescher, M., Garnett, A., Glover, T. and J. Casello. (2020). Thinking relationally about built environments and physical activity: A study of adult walking behavior in Waterloo, Ontario.Health & Place, 64.
Hartt, M., Channer, N.*, & S. Biglieri. (2020). Aging-in-Place and the Spatial Distribution of Older Adult Vulnerability in Canada. Applied Geography, 125, 102357.
Biglieri, S. (2018). Implementing Dementia-Friendly Land Use Planning: An Evaluation of Current Literature and Financial Implications for Greenfield Development in Suburban Canada. Planning Practice & Research, 33(3), 264-290.
Hartt, M. & Biglieri, S. (2018). Prepared for the Silver Tsunami? An Examination of Municipal Old-Age Dependency and Age-Friendly Policy in Ontario, Canada. Journal of Urban Affairs, 40(5), 625-638.
Hartt, M., Biglieri, S., Rosenberg, M. & S. Nelson (Eds.) (2021) Aging People, Aging Places. Policy Press: Bristol, UK.
Books
Book Chapters
Lawrence, Maddy. (2025). Understanding the Seasonal Effects of Blue Spaces and Mental Health in the Canadian Context. [Major Research Paper]. Toronto Metropolitan University.
Dyck, Julia. (2025). No car? No Problem! Addressing mobility in older adults experiencing chronic pain. [Major Research Paper]. Toronto Metropolitan University.
Bakker, Dana. (2025). The Dutch Social Support Act 2015: A Comparative Policy Analysis. [Major Research Paper]. Toronto Metropolitan University.
Chiefari, Christina. (2024). Catalyzing Change: Integrating Public Health into Land Use Planning for Mitigating Carcinogenic Exposure from the Petrochemical Industry. [Major Research Paper]. Toronto Metropolitan University.
Ragavan, Ramya. (2024). Examining Urban Design and Mental Health in Burlington: A Case Study for the Journal of Urban Design and Mental Health. [Major Research Paper]. Toronto Metropolitan University.
Rehner, Kaight. (2024). Perceptions of Walkability as a Determinant of Walking Behaviour in Hamilton's Urban Core. [Major Research Paper]. Toronto Metropolitan University.
Abdalla, Salma. (2023). The Power of Care: A Case Study on the Socio-Spatial Navigation of Muslim and Arab Immigrant Women in the City of Mississauga. [Major Research Paper]. Toronto Metropolitan University.
Bochenek, Justine. (2023). Planning Radical Imperfection: Generating meaningful accessibility in cultural spaces through lessons of disability experience, cultures, and histories. [Major Research Paper]. Toronto Metropolitan University.
McQuillan, Robert. (2023). Understanding Accessibility and Disability in the Planning Profession. [Major Research Paper]. Toronto Metropolitan University.
Munshaw, Katrina. (2023). Sensorial Stimuli in the Built Environment: A Review of the Effects of Stimuli for People Living with Autism and Solutions to Creating More Equitable Cities. [Major Research Paper]. Toronto Metropolitan University.
Vilde, Tomas. (2023). Taking a Turn: A Quantitative Analysis of the Travel Habits of Adults Living With Dementia in Regional Waterloo. [Major Research Paper]. Toronto Metropolitan University.
Livingston, Brittany. (2022). Capturing Urban Public Space Experiences and In-Situ Mental Wellbeing for Individuals Living with Mental Illness.[Major Research Paper]. Toronto Metropolitan University.
McDonald, Dustin. (2022). Exploring the Accessibility Knowledge of Professional Planners. [Major Research Paper]. Toronto Metropolitan University.
White, Lauren. (2022). Housing for Seniors with Mental Illness: A Content Analysis. [Major Research Paper]. Toronto Metropolitan University.
Kumar, Parvesh (2022). Land Value Capture and Climate Change: An Assessment Framework. [Major Research Paper]. Toronto Metropolitan University.
Pelopidas, Christina. (2021). Age-Friendly Policy: Creating Walkable Environments for Older Adults in Mid-Sized Ontario Municipalities.[Major Research Paper]. Toronto Metropolitan University.
Biglieri, S. & Keil, R. (2024). Desynchronized Infrastructures of Care: Suburban Imaginaries Re-Examined, in Infrastructural Times: Temporality and the Making of Global Urban Worlds. Bristol, UK: Bristol University Press. Edited By: Jean-Paul Addie, Michael Glass, Jen Nelles.
De Vidovich, L., Biglieri, S., Iacobelli, J.* & R. Keil. (2022). COVID-19 in the Lombardy Region: Socio-spatial peripheries and forgotten densities of long-term care. Cities Learning from a Pandemic: Towards Preparedness. Edited By: Simonetta Armondi, Alessandro Balducci, Martina Bovo and Beatrice Galimberti. London, Uk: Routledge. DOI: 10.4324/9781003240983-11
Biglieri, S. (2021). Examining everyday outdoor practices in suburban public space: the case for an expanded definition of care as an analytical framework, in Cities, Action, Research and Education: New Perspectives in Urban Studies and Planning Theory. Edited By: N. Cohen, A. Gabauer, T. Haas, S. Knierbein, H. Lebuhn, K. Trogal, and T. Viderman. London, UK: Routledge.
De Vidovich, L., Iacobelli, J., Biglieri, S., & R. Keil. (2021). The view from the socio-spatial peripheries: Milan, Italy and Toronto, Canada in Global Reflections on COVID-19 Urban Inequalities: Policy and Planning. Edited by: P. Filion, R. van Melik and B. Doucet.
Biglieri, S. & Dean, J. (2017). Aging in the Suburbs, in Still detached and subdivided? Suburban ways of living in 21st century North America. Edited By: M. Moos and R. Walter-Joseph. Berlin, Germany: JOVIS Publishers.
Keil, R., Biglieri, S. & L. De Vidovich. (2022). A heuristic device, not an actual map. . . revisiting the urban periphery. Cities & Health, 1-4.
Industry Publications + Reports
Koneswaran, N. Biglieri, S., Robinson, P., Huynh, T., and S. Bartleman. Aging in a Vertical City: Recommendations for the City of Toronto’s Seniors’ Strategy 3.0. Report prepared by: A Collaboration between the Naturally Occurring Retirement Community (NORC) Innovation Centre at the University Health Network and Toronto Metropolitan University.
Biglieri, S., Weldrick, R., Ahmed, N., Main, S., Tupling, O.L., Vijayakumar, R., Boger, J., Daum, C., Dupuis, S., Koch, M., Liu, L., Lopez, K., Mann, J., Martin, M., McAiney, C., Nasir, H., Nasir, N., Pearce, B., Vanderlinden, K. & L. Middleton. (2025). Creating a Municipal Dementia-Capable Community Action Plan. Report Prepared as part of the Dementia Capable Communities Project, funded by the New Frontiers in Research Foundation.
Eyob, S., Kolcak, M. & S. Biglieri. (Winter 2022). Accessibility and the Planning Profession. Plan Canada - Special Edition on the State of the Profession. Vol. 61, No. 4.
Iacobelli, J., Biglieri, S., De Vidovich, L., & R. Keil. (Summer 2021). COVID-19 and the Forgotten Densities of Long-Term Care. Plan Canada, Special Issue on Aging. Vol. 64, Issue 2.
Biglieri, S. Tools for the Trade – JAPA Takeaway. Planning. (American Planning Association Magazine).
Biglieri, S. (Fall 2017). Dementia + Planning: Expanding accessibility through design and planning practice. Plan Canada, Vol. 53, Issue 3.
Hartt, M. & S. Biglieri. (Fall 2017). Understanding Municipal-level Demographic Dependency and Age-Friendly Policy: Results from Ontario. Plan Canada, Vol. 53, Issue 3.
Biglieri, S. & M. Hartt. (2018). Identifying Built Barriers: Where do our most vulnerable live in Ontario’s Mid-Sized Cities? in Evergreen’s Mid-Sized Cities Research Series. Prepared By: Members of the Evergreen Mid-Sized Cities Research Collaborative.
Biglieri, S. & M. Hartt. (2017). Aging and Age-Friendly Policy in Ontario’s Mid-Sized Cities, in Leveraging Ontario’s Urban Potential: Mid-Sized Cities Research Series. Prepared By: Members of the Evergreen Mid-Sized Cities Research Collaborative.
Media
Co-Presenter - “Building a Dementia-Capable Community” Webinar, hosted by the Research Institute on Aging (January 2026).
Interviewed by Mary Harmer (Office of the Vice-President Research and Innovation) about our Aging in a Vertical City: Recommendations for the City of Toronto’s Seniors’ Strategy 3.0. (November 19, 2025). Report profiled in the Fall issue of TMU’s Innovation Magazine (Issue No. 43), entitled “In Our Community: Designing the future of aging in place.”
Co-Presenter “Kitchener 2051 Speaker Series - A Caring City” Live at the Kitchener Public Library, as part of the Official Plan Review Process.
Co-Presenter - “How better design can help people living with dementia” Webinar, hosted by the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada.
Keynote - “Aging, Access, Care and Inclusion in Neighbourhoods”. Food for Thought Lecture, Department of Architecture and City Planning, University of Manitoba.
Co-Presenter - “COVID-19 and the City: Centres and Peripheries”. CITY Institute, York University.
Podcast Interview on The Developer UK podcast with Christine Murray – “What can people with dementia teach us about the liveability of our places?”
Podcast Interview on Dense City with Rebecca Mayers – “People living with Dementia and Public Engagement”, a podcast supported by the American Planning Association.
Research Featured on CBC Radio’s ‘Spark’ on “How urban design can help people with dementia navigate neighbourhoods and public spaces.”
Podcast Interview on Plan B with Ralph Benmergei – “Aging in Suburbia” by Upstream: Institute for a Healthy Society Podcast.
Keynote - “Planning for Accessibility” 1UP Connect Webinar, Urban Minds.
Interview in the Dementia Connections Magazine for the article “Nature as Medicine” by Shannon Cleary.
Interview in the article -“A park for everyone — designed with dementia in mind” By: Elizabeth Hewitt, Next Avenue. (29 May 2025).
Interview on CBC Radio’s local programs (Ontario Morning, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Windsor, and Ottawa) about the co-authored paper “Prepared for the Silver Tsunami?” with M. Hartt.