Sarah Cooper

• Ph.D. (Urban Planning and Policy), University of Illinois, Chicago
• M.C.P. (City Planning), University of Manitoba
• B.E.S. (Environmental Studies), York University

• Canadian Institute of Planners
• Manitoba Professional Planners Institute
• Registered Professional Planner (RPP)

Housing policy; housing and community development; neighbourhood change; planning in colonial contexts; Indigenous planning; neoliberal urbanism; community-based research.

My research interests include on housing and community planning, through a social justice lens. My current research focuses on housing for low-income households, housing as a colonial and decolonial practice, and how to teach professional planning in a colonial context. I am a first-generation settler (England/Ireland) and grew up in Toronto. I have worked on a wide variety of research and planning projects, including neighbourhood housing plans, watershed and community plans, and housing and social policy analysis.
 

Emms, A., S. Cooper and I. Cowkur. 2025. From Repairs to Rent Hikes: Tenant Perspectives on Above-Guideline Rent Increases in West Broadway. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-Manitoba.

Dirks, Y. and S. Cooper. 2025. Stoking the fire to make change: Supporting policy advocacy by community-based organizations and the communities they serve in Winnipeg’s Inner City. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-Manitoba.

Cooper, S. 2025. Manitoba Housing Policy. In Public Service in Tough Times: Working under Austerity in Manitoba (Eds. J. Hajer, I. Hudson and J. Keith). University of Manitoba Press.

Cooper, S. 2024. The Right to Housing in a Neoliberal and Colonial Context. Planning Practice and Research 39(6): 1012-1031. https://doi.org/10.1080/02697459.2024.2385226 

Cooper, S. 2024. Building capacity for Indigenous planning. In Routledge Handbook of University-Community Partnerships in Planning Education (Eds. M. Heim-LaFrombois and J. Mittal). Routledge.

Bernas, K., S. Cooper, Y. Dirks, L. Fernandez, S. MacKinnon and C. Maes Nino. 2023. A Social Housing Action Plan for Manitoba. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-Manitoba.

Starr, C., A. McKinnon, and S. Cooper. 2022. From house to home: Safe spaces for us. Spence Neighbourhood Association.

Cooper, S. (2022). Becoming Landlords: The Changing Interests of Non-profit and Co-operative Housing Providers in Manitoba, Canada. Housing Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673037.2022.2057931 

Cooper, S., Hajer, J., and S. Plaut. 2020. Assisting Renters: A Critical Analysis of Manitoba’s Rent Assist in the Context of Canada’s National Housing Strategy. Winnipeg: Manitoba Non-Profit Housing Association and Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-Manitoba.