Nicholas K. Blomley (born 1962) is a British-Canadian legal geographer. He is a Professor and former Chair of Geography at

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...

Career

In 1989, Blomley joined the faculty of Geography at

(SFU) as a temporary replacement for a professor. He ended up impressing the department and was hired full-time. In 1994, Blomley published "''Law, Space, and the Geographies of Power''" through the

Guilford Press Guilford Press or Guilford Publications, Inc. is a New York City-based independent publisher founded in 1973 that specializes in publishing books and journals in psychology, psychiatry, the behavioral sciences, education, geography, and research ...

. This book examined the geographies of law through critical theory. In 1997, Blomley began to develop a computerized geographical information system with data on Vancouver's downtown eastside land market as a way to combat gentrification. The next year, he petitioned then University president Jack Blaney to review the university's decision regarding support for criminology graduate student Russel Ogden, apologize, and pay him full compensation for his court appearances. In 2001, he co-edited "''The Legal Geographies Reader''" alongside Richard Thompson Ford and David Delaney. The next year he sat on the Graduate Urban Studies Steering Committee, which introduced SFU's inaugural graduate diploma in urban studies. Between May 2003 to May 2007, Blomley helped referee manuscripts for the ''Southeastern Geographer'' journal. In 2004, Blomley published "''Unsettling the City''" through

Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...

. The book focused on how problems facing gentrification and Indigenous land claims are generated through modern concepts of property and ownership. In 2010, he published "'' Rights of Passage: Sidewalks and the Regulation of Public Flow.''" The book would go on to win the Hart Socio-Legal Studies Association book prize. During the 2011–12 academic year, Blomley sat on the Graduate Student Activity Committee of the

Law and Society Association The Law and Society Association (LSA), founded in 1964, is a group of scholars from many fields and countries who share a common interest in the place of law in social, political, economic and cultural life. It is one of the leading professional ...

. He was also promoted to Chair of the geography department. Nick Blomley and Brian Owen

The next year, Blomley sat on the Editorial Advisory Board for the ''Territory, Politics, Governance'' Journal. In 2017, Blomley was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...

for his research in legal geography. In 2018, Blomley, Natalia Perez, and Andy Yan began a pilot study on evictions in the private rental housing market in Metro Vancouver. The study found that Maple Ridge had the highest number of tenant disputes that more than doubled the Metro average. As well, his paper "'' Land use, planning, and the "difficult character of property''" was shortlisted for the AESOP Best Published Paper Award 2018. The next year, he sat on the Graduate Studies Committee and on the Executive Board of the

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC; , CRSH), often colloquially pronounced 'shirk' (), is a Canadian federal research-funding agency that promotes and supports post-secondary research and training in the humani ...

funded research project "Landscapes of Injustice" He was also selected to sit on the Application and Nomination Review Committee for the

Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation (), commonly called the Trudeau Foundation (), is a Canadian charity founded in 2001 named after former Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau. Donations to the charity increased when Justin Trudeau became t ...

. and awarded a grant for two research projects.

References

External links

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SFU profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blomley, Nicholas Living people 1962 births Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Canadian geographers Academic staff of Simon Fraser University University of California, Los Angeles faculty Alumni of the University of Bristol Boston University faculty