Scholars
Laura Tozer
University of Toronto
Based in
Canada
North America
Laura Tozer is an Assistant Professor of environmental studies in the Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences at the University of Toronto on Dish with One Spoon territory. Her research and teaching is about how we can accelerate action to address the climate crisis. She has conducted research on the planning and implementation of just, zero carbon, and resilient transitions in cities; the politics of transnational urban climate governance; and pathways to mainstream sustainability solutions so that they become standard practice for urban development. Her current research focuses on how to accelerate equitable transitions to net zero and resilient cities, particularly related to energy transitions and building decarbonization. She co-lead the Urban Just Transitions Cluster at the University of Toronto Scarborough. She is also the Academic Associate Director of Community Engagement and EDI of the Climate Positive Energy Initiative and a steering committee member for the Women and Inclusivity in Sustainable Energy Research (WISER) Network.
Country(ies) of Specialty
United States Canada United KingdomFocus areas of expertise
Climate policy and politics Net Zero Climate Justice Renewable energyPublications
Articles
Tozer, L., Bulkeley, H., Toxopeus, H., van der Jagt, S., Xie, L. and Runhaar, H. 2022. Catalyzing Sustainability Pathways: Navigating Urban Nature Based Solutions in Europe. Global Environmental Change, 102521.
van der Jagt, A., Tozer, L., Toxopeus, H., & Runhaar, H. 2023. Policy mixes for mainstreaming urban nature-based solutions: An analysis of six European countries and the European Union. Environmental Science & Policy, 139, 51–61.
Tozer, L., Mayr, M., Greenwalt, J., Nadi, G. and Runhaar, H. 2022. Mobilizing infrastructure investments for urban climate action in Africa: Enabling factors for multilevel action. Local Environment. 1-15.
Armstrong, A., Bulkeley, H., Tozer, L., & Kotsila, P. 2022. Border troubles: urban nature and the remaking of public/private divides. Urban Geography, 1–21.
Tozer , L., Bulkeley, H., Kiss, B., Luque-Ayala, A., Voytenko Palgan, Y., McCormick, K., Wamsler, C. 2022. Nature for Resilience? The Politics of Governing Urban Nature. Annals of the American Association of Geographers.
Dorst, H., van der Jagt, A., Toxopeus, H., Tozer, L., Raven, R., & Runhaar, H. 2022. What’s behind the barriers? Uncovering structural conditions working against urban nature-based solutions. Landscape and Urban Planning, 220, 104335.
Tozer, L., Bulkeley, H., and Xie, L. 2022. Transnational governance and the urban politics of nature-based solutions for climate change. Global Environmental Politics. 22(3), 81–103.
Xie, L., Bulkeley, H., & Tozer, L. 2022. Mainstreaming sustainable innovation: unlocking the potential of nature-based solutions for climate change and biodiversity. Environmental Science & Policy, 132, 119–130.
Linton, S., Clarke, A., & Tozer, L. 2022. Technical pathways to deep decarbonization in cities: Eight best practice case studies of transformational climate mitigation. Energy Research & Social Science, 86, 102422.
Linton, S.H., Clarke, A., and Tozer, L. 2021. Strategies and governance for deep decarbonization plans at the local level. Sustainability, 13(1), 154.
Hughes, S., Giest, S. and Tozer, L. 2020. Accountability and data-driven urban climate governance. Nature Climate Change, 10, 1085–1090.
Tozer, L., Hörschelmann, K., Anguelovski, I., Bulkeley, H., and Lazova, K. 2020. Whose nature? Whose city? Towards inclusive nature-based solution governance. Cities, 107,102892.
Tozer, L. 2020. Catalyzing political momentum for the effective implementation of decarbonization for urban buildings. Energy Policy, 136, 111042.
Tozer, L. 2019. Deep decarbonization in practice: Solutions and challenges for low-carbon building retrofits. Canadian Journal of Urban Research, 28(2), 32-45.
Tozer, L. 2019. The urban material politics of decarbonization in Stockholm, London and San Francisco. Geoforum, 102, 106-115.
Tozer, L. and Klenk, N. 2019. Urban configurations of carbon neutrality: insights from the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance. Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, 37(3), 539-557.
Romero Lankao, P., Bulkeley, H., Pelling, M., Burch, S., Gordon, G., Gupta, J., Johnson, C., Lecavalier, E., Simon, D., Kurian, P., Tozer, L., Ziervogel, G., and Munshi, D. 2018. Urban transformative potential in a changing climate. Nature Climate Change, 8, 754–756.
Tozer, L. and Klenk, N. 2018. Discourses of carbon neutrality and imaginaries of urban futures. Energy Research and Social Science, 35, 174-181.
Tozer, L. 2018. Urban climate change and sustainability planning: an analysis of sustainability and climate change discourses in local government plans in Canada, Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 61(1), 176-194.
Tozer, L. 2013. Community energy plans in Canadian cities: success and barriers in implementation. Local Environment, 18(1), 20-35.
Prno, J., Bradshaw, B., Wandel, J., Pearce, T., Smit, B. and Tozer, L. 2011. Community vulnerability to climate change in the context of other exposure-sensitivities in Kugluktuk, Nunavut. Polar Record, 30, 7363.