David Frederick Ley is a

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

and a professor emeritus at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

. Ley was born in

Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, earned his B.A. at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

, and his M.S. and Ph.D. at

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...

Early life and education

Born in Swansea, Wales, Ley attended the Windsor grammar school and then Jesus College at

, where he studied Geography and earned a bachelor's degree in 1968. During his undergraduate studies, he conducted a field study in the Weald of Sussex in southern England. After graduation, Ley moved to the United States and studied at

. He began forming his critique of the quantitative, statistical and theoretical status quo within the field of

Human Geography Human geography or anthropogeography is the branch of geography which studies spatial relationships between human communities, cultures, economies, and their interactions with the environment, examples of which include urban sprawl and urban ...

. He graduated with a PhD. in 1972; his doctoral dissertation, titled ''The Black Inner City as Frontier Outpost: Images and Behavior of a Philadelphia Neighborhood'', was published in 1974 by the

Association of American Geographers The American Association of Geographers (AAG) is a non-profit scientific and educational society aimed at advancing the understanding, study, and importance of geography and related fields. Its headquarters is located in Washington, D.C. The ...

Career

Following his Ph.D., Ley taught at the Department of Geography at the

, where he served as department head between 2009 and 2011. He was the first Co-Director of the Vancouver Centre of the Canadian Metropolis project. In 1976, Ley and Marywan Samuals published a volume of essays entitled ''Humanistic Geography''. Ley’s 1990s book ''The New Middle Class and the Remaking of the Central City'', described patterns of urban

gentrification Gentrification is the process whereby the character of a neighborhood changes through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents (the "gentry") and investment. There is no agreed-upon definition of gentrification. In public discourse, it has ...

in six Canadian cities outlines a demand-side explanation to gentrification, as opposed to Smith’s Marxist supply-side

hypothesis A hypothesis (: hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. A scientific hypothesis must be based on observations and make a testable and reproducible prediction about reality, in a process beginning with an educated guess o ...

. His later book titled ''Millionaire Migrants: Trans-Pacific Life Lines'' looks at wealthy east Asian immigration, and the effects these migrants have had on the cultural and economical landscape of North American, Australian and New Zealand cities. He has argued that Vancouver has an over-supply of housing and that more housing will contribute to gentrification and higher housing costs. He has blamed Vancouver's housing crisis on immigration and real estate speculation by foreigners.

Recognition

* Fellow of

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 ...

. *

Canada Research Chair Canada Research Chair (CRC) is a title given to certain Canadian university research professors by the Canada Research Chairs Program. Program goals The Canada Research Chair program was established in 2000 as a part of the Government of Canada ...

in Urbanization and Cultural Diversity. * Pierre Trudeau Fellow 2003. * Lifetime Achievement Award by the Association of American Geographers in 2009. * Massey Medal 2013 *

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

(Officer) 2022

Bibliography

Books

* Ley, D., in preparation. Millionaire Migrants: Trans-Pacific Life Lines. * * Hasson, S. and D. Ley, 1994. Neighbourhood Organisations and the Welfare State. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 387 pp. * Duncan, J. and D. Ley (eds.), 1993. Place/Culture/Representation. London and New York: Routledge, 341 pp. * Bourne, L. and D. Ley (eds.), 1993. The Changing Social Geography of Canadian Cities. Montreal: McGill-Queens Press, 487 pp. * Clarke, C., D. Ley and C. Peach (eds.), 1984. Geography and Ethnic Pluralism. London and Boston: Allen and Unwin, 294 pp. (Spanish edition, 1987). * Ley, D., 1983. A Social Geography of the City. New York and London: Harper and Row, 449 pp. * Ley, D. and M. Samuels (eds.), 1978. Humanistic Geography. Chicago: Maaroufa/Methuen, London: Croom Helm, 337 pp. * Ley, D. (ed.), 1974. Community Participation and the Spatial Order of the City. Vancouver, BC: Tantalus Publications, 126 pp. * Ley, D., 1974. The Black Inner City as Frontier Outpost: Images and Behaviour of a Philadelphia Neighbourhood. Washington, DC: Association of American Geographers, Monograph Series No. 7, 282 pp.

References

External links

*
David Ley - Canada Research Chair

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ley, David Welsh geographers Canadian geographers Social geographers Academic staff of the University of British Columbia Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Living people Massey Medal recipients Year of birth missing (living people) Officers of the Order of Canada Welsh emigrants to Canada