Kate Parizeau

My research uses waste management practices as a lens through which to interrogate complex systems of social organization and human exchanges with the natural world. This focus has allowed me to make contributions to the fields of waste studies, international development studies, and urban studies. My research interests are centred on the following interrelated themes:

1. Informality, urban inequality, and social difference

My studies of informal sector work describe the ways in which socioeconomic status, gender, and other dimensions of difference play out in uneven urban landscapes. These studies also investigate the uneven production of city spaces, including processes of social exclusion, place branding, and municipal policy redesign.

2. Value and waste

I am interested in how notions of filth and environmental contamination can affect an object’s life course (including disposal), and also how the socio-cultural values of waste and dirt adhere to the people associated with such commodities either through their work or other types of proximity. This theme also encompasses a ‘brown agenda’ of environmental issues, including the provision of sanitation services and other environmental health matters arising from human urban development. This research interest is based in a recognition that exposure to environmental dangers are usually not evenly distributed in society, but often follow gradients of social and spatial inequality. A strong manifestation of this uneven exposure can be seen in environmental health outcomes.

3. Waste management systems and planning

Research in this theme includes studies of waste management systems and how they are planned. Methodologies include baseline empirical studies of waste management systems (including waste audits and curbside observations), as well as qualitative methods to learn about the users and planners of these systems. Current research includes an investigation of food waste in Ontario, co-led by Dr. Mike von Massow. It is estimated that 30% of the food produced in Canada goes to waste, and there are environmental, economic, and social implications to this scale of wastage.

4. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

The final theme guiding my research is the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, which bridges between my teaching and research work. As I develop as a teacher, I am increasingly interested in researching and writing for audiences of students and fellow teachers.

• GEOG*1200 Society and Space
• GEOG*3050 Development and the City
• GEOG*4200 Seminar in Urban Geography
• GEOG*6450 Development Geography
• IDEV*4500 International Development Seminar

*Vander Vennen, R. and Parizeau, K. (2023). “Beyond Charity? Insights on the Upcycle Kitchen: A Food Rescue Work Integration Social Enterprise in Guelph, ON.” Journal of Social Entrepreneurship. [Vander Vennen, Parizeau 2023 Accepted version]

Parizeau, K. (2022). “Uneven Learning Landscapes Ahead: Instructor Perspectives on Undergraduate Student Mental Health.” Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 52(2), 67-80.

Laila, A., von Massow, M., Bain, M., Parizeau, K., & Haines, J. (2022). “Impact of COVID-19 on food waste behaviour of families: Results from household waste composition audits.” Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, 82(A).

Parizeau, K., von Massow, M., & Martin, R. (2021). “Directly observing household food waste generation using composition audits in a Canadian municipality.” Waste Management, 135, 229-233. [Parizeau et al 2021 Accepted version]

Carroll, N., Sadowski, A., Parizeau, K., von Massow, M., Wallace, A., Kira Jewell, David W.L. Ma, Andrea C. Buchholz, Alison M. Duncan, Brianne Chan, Jess Haines (2021). “Food Skills: Associations with Diet Quality and Food Waste among Canadian Parents.” Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 53 (5), 371-379.

Carroll, N., Wallace, A., Jewell, K., Darlington, G., Ma, D., A. Duncan, K. Parizeau, M. von Massow, and J. Haines. (2020). “Association between diet quality and food waste in Canadian families: a cross-sectional study.” Nutrition Journal, 19: 54.

*Millar, S., Parizeau, K., & Fraser, Evan D.G. (2020). “The limitations of using wasted food to feed hungry people.” Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition, 15(4), 574-584. [Millar, Parizeau, Fraser 202 Accepted version]

*Rondeau, S., Stricker, S., Kozachenko, C., & Parizeau, K. (2020). “Understanding motivations for volunteering in food security and food upcycling projects.” Social Sciences, 9 (3), 27.

*Hodgins, K. and Parizeau, K. (2020). “Farm-to-fork... and beyond? A call to incorporate food waste into food systems research.” Food and Foodways, 28 (1), 43-60.

*Kinach, L., Parizeau, K., & Fraser, E. (2020). “Do Food Donation Tax Credits for Farmers Address Food Loss / Waste and Food Insecurity? A case study from Ontario.” Agriculture and Human Values, 37, 383–396.

*Van Bemmel, A., & Parizeau, K. (2020). “Is it food or is it waste? The materiality and relational agency of food waste across the value chain.” Journal of Cultural Economy, 13(2), 207-220.

von Massow, M., Parizeau, K., Gallant, M., Wickson, M., Haines, J., David W.L. Ma, Angela Wallace, Nicholas Carroll, Alison Duncan. (2019). “Valuing the multiple impacts of household food waste.” Frontiers in Nutrition, 6 (Article 143), 17 pp.

Levac, L., Parizeau, K., Varghese, J., Morton, M., Jackson, E., & Hawkins, L. (2018). “Towards a Framework for Building Community-University Resilience Research Agendas.” Social Sciences, 7 (12).

DeLorenzo, A., Parizeau, K., & von Massow, M. (2019). "Regulating Ontario's Circular Economy Through Food Waste Legislation." Society and Business Review, 14 (2), 200-216.

Szoke, T. and Parizeau, K. (2019). "Community-based Public Art and Gentrification in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside." Geohumanities, 5(1), 157-177. [Szoke, Parizeau 2019 Accepted version]

Fraser, C. and Parizeau, K. (2018). "Waste management as foodwork: A feminist food studies approach to household food waste." Canadian Food Studies, 5 (1), 39-62.

Wittmer, J. and Parizeau, K. (2018). "Informal recyclers' health inequities in Vancouver, BC." New Solutions: A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy, 28 (2), 321-343.

Pacheco-Vega, R. and Parizeau, K. (2018). "Doubly-engaged ethnography: Opportunities and challenges when working with vulnerable communities." International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 17 (1), 1-13.

Parizeau, K., Shillington, L., Hawkins, R., Sultana, F., Mountz, A., Beverley Mullings, Linda Peake (2016). “Breaking the silence: A feminist call to action.” The Canadian Geographer, 60 (2), pp.192-204. [Parizeau et al 2016 Accepted version]

Mullings, B., Peake, L., & Parizeau, K. (2016). “Cultivating an ethic of wellness in Geography” (Special Issue Introduction). The Canadian Geographer, 60 (2), pp.161-167.

Parizeau, K. (2016). “Witnessing urban change: Insights from informal recyclers in Vancouver, BC .” Urban Studies, pre-print version available online. [Parizeau 2017 Accepted version]

Wittmer, J. & Parizeau, K. (2016). “Surviving neoliberal urbanism: Informal recyclers' geographies of survival in Vancouver, BC.” Applied Geography, 66, pp.92-99.

Parizeau, K. (2015). "Urban political ecologies of informal recyclers' health in Buenos Aires, Argentina." Health & Place, 33, pp. 67-74. [Parizeau 2015-1 Accepted version]

Parizeau, K. (2015). "Re-representing the city: Waste and public space in Buenos Aires, Argentina in the late 2000s," Environment and Planning A, 47(2), pp. 284-299. [Parizeau-2 2015 Accepted version]

Parizeau, K. & Lepawsky, J. (2015). "Legal orderings of waste in built spaces." International Journal of Law in the Built Environment, 7(1). [Parizeau, Lepawsky 2015 Accepted version]

Parizeau, K. (2015). "When assets are vulnerabilities: An assessment of informal recyclers' livelihood strategies in Buenos Aires, Argentina," World Development, 67, 161-173. [Parizeau 2015-3 Accepted version]

Parizeau, K., von Massow, M., & Martin, R. (2015). "Household-level dynamics of food waste production and related beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours in a municipality in Southwestern Ontario," Waste Management, 35, pp. 207-217. [Parizeau et al 2015 Accepted version]

Parizeau, K. 2013. 'Formalization beckons: a baseline of informal recycling work in Buenos Aires, 2007-2011.' Environment and Urbanization, 25(2), pp. 501-521.

Parizeau, K. 2011. “Un estudio acerca de la salud de los cartoneros de Buenos Aires (A study of the health of Buenos Aires’ informal recyclers).” In Suarez, F. and P. Schamber (Eds.) Recicloscopio II: Miradas sobre recuperadores urbanos de residuos de América Latina (Recycloscope II: Perspectives on Urban Waste Recoverers in Latin America). Prometeo–UNL: Buenos Aires; pp.285-316.

Parizeau, K., V. Maclaren and Lay Chanthy. 2008. “Budget sheets and buy-in: financing community-based waste management in Siem Reap, Cambodia.” Environment and Urbanization, 20(2); pp.445-463.

Parizeau, K. 2006. “Theorizing Environmental Justice: Environment as a Social Determinant of Health.” Munk Centre for International Studies Briefings: Comparative Program on Health and Society Lupina Foundation Working Paper Series 2005-2006; pp.101-128.

Parizeau, K., Maclaren, V, and L. Chanthy. 2006. “Waste Characterization as an Element of Waste Management Planning: Lessons learned from a study in Siem Reap, Cambodia.” Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 49(20); pp.110-128. [Parizeau et al 2006 Accepted version]

Parizeau, K. 2006. “A World of Trash.” Alternatives Journal, 32(1); pp.16-18.

Parizeau, K., Chanthy, L., and V. Maclaren. 2005. “Community-Based Waste Management in Siem Reap, Cambodia.” In Maclaren, V. and Tran Hieu Nhue (Eds.) Integrated Waste Management in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam: Theory and Practice. Science and Technics Publishers: Hanoi; pp. 280-303.

Luginaah, I., Jerrett, M., Elliott, S., Eyles, J., Parizeau, K., Birch, S., Abernathy, T., Veenstra, G., Hutchinson, B., and C. Giovis. 2001. “Health profiles of Hamilton: Spatial characterisation of neighbourhoods for health investigations.” Geojournal, 53(2); pp. 135-147.

Are you interested in exploring the social dimensions of waste in Canada? I welcome inquiries from prospective MA students who are passionate about the social science of waste systems and are eager to contribute to community-based research.

My research examines the social life of waste, and I’m interested in supervising projects on topics such as: food waste and food insecurity, the gendered dynamics of waste systems, circular economy discourses, waste-related labour practices, the governance of waste flows in Canada, and other related topics.

I prioritize applicants with employment or volunteer experience in waste-related sectors, community organizations, food systems, or environmental initiatives. Please note that I am currently considering MA applications only, and am not considering PhD applicants at this time.