Matti Siemiatycki is Professor in the Department of Geography & Planning, and Director of the Infrastructure Institute, School of Cities. He was previously Canada Research Chair in Infrastructure Planning and Finance.

His research focuses on delivering large-scale infrastructure projects, public-private partnerships, and the effective integration of infrastructure into the fabric of cities. Professor Siemiatycki was a faculty leader of StudentMoveTO, a joint initiative between the University of Toronto, York, Toronto Metropolitan University and OCADU that successfully developed a model for inter-university research collaboration and mobilization on city-building issues. He was the Interim Director of the University of Toronto’s School of Cities, and most recently launched the Infrastructure Institute, which offers a range of programming supporting inclusive city building and social purpose real estate initiatives.

Professor Siemiatycki is a highly engaged public scholar with a deep commitment to informing public discourse about city building. He regularly provides advice to governments, civic institutions, and industry, and is a frequent commentator in the media and public realm on urban issues, with a honed ability to communicate with various audiences.

Professor Matti has made significant contributions and extraordinary efforts to ensure underrepresented groups gain training, employment and development opportunities in the infrastructure and city building sectors.

As a long-time member of TCBN’s Leading on Diversity Leadership Table, he is a strong ally in supporting the need for public spending on infrastructure project to include economic, social and environmental benefits for equity deserving groups.

Through his work on the Diversity Leadership Table he has supported the following:

• Mobilizing and collaborating with stakeholders on new approaches to achieve equity, diversity and inclusion in construction and infrastructure workplaces,
• Collaboration with sector stakeholders on actions that result in more welcoming workplaces for diverse workers, mentoring various youth,
• Became educated on diversity and inclusion in the construction and infrastructure sector, and other leadership actions with measurable results.

Professor Matti is a highly engaged public scholar with a deep commitment to informing public discourse about city building, and the important social return on investment that well-developed community benefits agreements can achieve.

In 2020 he contributed to the launch of the Leading Social Justice Fellowship (now the Leading Social Justice Collective), a cross-sectoral leadership development program for individuals engaged in social justice transformation in the GTA, co-hosted by United Way of Greater Toronto and the University of Toronto’s School of Cities. In 2022, he was part of the team that developed and launched the Social Purpose Real Estate Accelerator at the University of Toronto’s Infrastructure Institute, which provides non-profits with capacity building and mentorship supports to develop their own social purpose real estate projects. Most recently, he is contributing to the Spring 2023 launch of FutureBUILDS, a BIPOC Real Estate Development Incubator developed by Monumental and implemented in partnership with the University of Toronto's Infrastructure Institute.

Professor Siemiatycki was a faculty leader of StudentMoveTO, a joint initiative between the University of Toronto, York, Toronto Metropolitan University and OCADU that successfully developed a model for inter-university research collaboration and mobilization on city-building issues.