Biography

Originally from Wahpekute Oceti Sakowin (Sioux) territory, Tiffany Muller Myrdahl is an immigrant settler to Canada, who came first to the University of Lethbridge where she was an assistant professor from 2008 to 2012. She then came to SFU via a visiting stint at York University’s Centre for Feminist Research and held the Ruth Wynn Woodward Junior Chair at SFU from 2012 to 2015. She is now grateful to hold a cross appointment with Urban Studies and GSWS, which truly reflects her interdisciplinary interests and training as a feminist geographer.

Broadly speaking, she is interested in how cities work for those who have historically been left out of planning and decision-making processes. She is also invested in understanding how to improve the sense of safety and belonging of structurally marginalized communities, especially through community-designed and community-driven research. This podcast interview and its associated Twitter thread provide a picture of her work.

She lives in East Vancouver with her partner and kid, where they work to be good guests on the unceded territories of the hən̓q̓əmin̓em- and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh-speaking peoples.

Research

Tiffany Muller Myrdahl’s research examines urban inequalities and inclusion strategies, especially those targeting women and 2SLGBTQ+ communities. Recently, she has written about trans inclusion and welcoming and inclusive cities policies, as well as the installation of and controversy over symbolic municipal infrastructure like rainbow crosswalks. Her research has also involved collecting LGBTQ+ oral histories in Lethbridge, Alberta and with the Twin Cities Oral History Project. In the way back, she conducted research on the interplay between lesbian community and women’s professional sport spaces (specifically, at WNBA games).

Community Engagement

Tiffany Muller Myrdahl has been involved in SFU’s Community Engaged Research Initiative (CERi) from its inception in 2019 and organized one of CERi’s first community events, a workshop on Participatory Approaches to Quantitative Research presented by Dr. Brett Stoudt. During his visit, she interviewed Dr. Stoudt about critical participatory action research and his role in the Public Science Project and the Morris Justice Project/Researchers for Fair Policing. Listen to the interview here, and read the associated blog post here.

She has long been involved with NGOs working to create safe, inclusive and equitable cities and communities. She served on the board of Women in Cities International (now an initiative with the European Forum on Urban Safety) and has been actively affiliated with the local organization Women Transforming Cities since its launch in 2012. Through her involvement with the REACH-Cities project and CHATR Lab, she is currently supporting the YWCA City Shift with their work helping cities undertake action on equity.

Publications

ResearchGate

Google Scholar

(Forthcoming) Podmore, J., Muller Myrdahl, T., & A. Bain. "Rainbow Crosswalks" in G. Hartal, V. De Craene, V. & K. Filep, Eds. Routledge Handbook of Sexualities and Space. Routledge. 

April 2024. Winters, M., Fuller, D., Cloutier, M-S, Harris, M.A., Howard, A., Kestens, Y., Kirk, S, Macpherson, A., Moore, S, Rothman, L., Shareck, M., Tomasone, J.R., Laberee, K., Poirier Stephens, Z., Sones, M., Ayton, D., Batomen, B., Bell, S., Collins, P.A., Diab, E., Giles, A.R., Hagel, B.E., Harris, M.S., Harris, P., Lachapelle, U., Manaugh, K., Mitra, R., Muhajarine, N., Muller Myrdahl, T., Pettit, C.J., Pike, I., Skouteris, H., Wachsmuth, D., Whitehurst, D. & Beck, B. Building CapaCITY/É for Sustainable Transportation: Protocol for an Implementation Science Research Program in Healthy Cities. BMJ Open. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2024-085850

2023. “At the intersection of equity and innovation: Trans inclusion in the City of Vancouver.” Urban Planning, 8:2 DOI:10.17645/up.v8i2.6461.

2022. “LGBTQ+ Communities” in D. Pojani, Ed. Alternative Planning History and Theory. Routledge.

2021. “We’ve painted a rainbow crosswalk. Now what?” Plan Canada, special issue on Social & Racial Equity. Canadian Institute of Planners, Spring 2021.

2019. Canadian Feminist Geography in the 21^st Century. Gender, Place and Culture, DOI:
10.1080/0966369X.2018.1563525.

2019. “Gendered Space” in A. Orum, Ed. The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies. John Wiley & Sons. DOI: 10.1002/9781118568446.eurs0116.

2018. “Theatre Outre and Lessons from a Welcoming and Inclusive Community” in C. Andrew, F. Klodawsky and J. Siltanen, Eds. Promoting Equity and Inclusion in Canadian Cities. McGill-Queens University Press.

2016. “Visibility on their own terms? LGBTQ lives in small Canadian cities” in G. Brown & K. Browne, Eds. Companion to Geographies of Sex and Sexualities. Surrey, UK: Ashgate.

2014. “A Geographer in the Gallery: The value of making sexual difference visible” in J. Mills, Ed.Complex Social Change: teaching/performing/exhibiting/designing/mapping, pp. 34-53. Lethbridge, AB: University of Lethbridge Art Gallery.

2013. Ordinary (small) cities and LGBQ lives. ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies, 12, 279-304.

2011. “Queerying creative cities” in P. Doan, Ed. Queerying Planning: Challenging heteronormative assumptions and reframing planning practice, pp. 157-167. Surrey, UK: Ashgate.

Muller, T. 2007. ‘Lesbian community’ in WNBA spaces. Social & Cultural Geography, 8, 9-27.

Muller, T. 2007. Liberty for all? Contested spaces of women’s basketball. Gender, Place and Culture, 14, 197-214.

Co-authored Texts

2019. Marchbank, J. & T. Muller Myrdahl. “Queering Timmies: Theorising LGBTQ Youth Claiming and Making Space in Surrey, BC, Canada” in S. Habib and M. Ward, Eds. Youth, Place and Theories of Belonging. BSA/Routledge.

2016. With G. Brown & P. Vieira. “Editor’s Introduction: Urban Sexualities” in G. Brown & K. Browne, Eds. Companion to Geographies of Sex and Sexualities. Surrey, UK: Ashgate.

Other Links

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TMMyrdahl