ABSTRACT
The history of most academic disciplines reveals distinct periods of research activity characterized by competing intellectual paradigms, 192varying student interest and volatile public awareness. This paper asks whether the 1980s was one of those periods for Canadian urban geography. One perspective views the 1980s as a rather dry valley of declining interest, productivity and relevance. In effect, the decade served as a transition period from the vibrancy of urban research in the 1960s and 1970s to the pluralism and renewed urban interest of the 1990s. To test these propositions five indices were developed to measure levels of activity and output in Canadian urban geography and related fields, from the 1960s to the present: government funding, the number and composition of academic journals, government publications, and membership in academic and professional organizations. The results are mixed, but revealing. There is no clear valley of decline in the 1980s, no single trajectory in the evolution of urban geography, and no apparent resurgence of interest or activity during the 1990s. Instead, research activity in the sub-field appears to have declined, to have become more fragmented and dispersed, and to have been subjected to the effects of increased privatization and professionalism. The concluding section explores the reasons for this experience, and emphasizes the fundamental importance of context and timing—changing national social conditions, the political climate and the growth of the urban system under study—in shaping the urban agenda generally and Canadian urban geography in particular.
