Anthony Perl

Anthony Perl is Professor of Urban Studies at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He is also cross-appointed as Professor of Political Science. Before joining SFU, Anthony worked at the University of Calgary, the CityUniversity of New York, and Universite Lumiere in Lyon, France. He received his undergraduate honours degree in Government from Harvard University, followed by an MA and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Toronto.

Anthony’s research crosses disciplinary and national boundaries to explore policy decisions made about transportation, cities and the environment. He has published in dozens of scholarly journals including Cities, Energy Policy, Transport Policy, Transportation Research, Journal of Transport Geography, World Transport Policy and Practice, Journal of Air Transport Management, Transportation Research Record, Journal of Public Policy, Canadian Public Policy, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Journal of Planning Education and Research, Journal of Urban Technology, Canadian Journal of Political Science and Scientific American. His work has been awarded prizes for outstanding papers presented at the World Conference on Transport Research and the Canadian Transportation Research Forum.

He has also produced ten books. The Politics of Improving Urban Air Quality, which he co-edited and co-authored was published in 1999 by Edward Elgar, U.K. New Departures: Rethinking Rail Passenger Policy in the Twenty-First Century was published by the University Press of Kentucky in 2002. In 2003, the University of British Columbia Press released The Integrity Gap: Canada’s Environmental Policy and Institutions, co-authored and co-edited by Perl. His co-authored book, Transport Revolutions: Moving People and Freight Without Oil, was first published by Earthscan. A second edition of Transport Revolutions has been published by New Society Publishers. Anthony is also co-author of the Oxford University Press textbook Studying Public Policy: Principles and Processes, Fourth Edition. In 2020, McGill Queen’s University Press released his book entitled: Big Moves: Global Agendas, Local Aspirations and Urban Mobility in Canada. And he is a lexicographer, having co-edited the Dictionary of Public Policy. Most recently, he co-edited The Handbook of Transportation and Public Policy, a major reference work published by Edward Elgar.

Perl advised governments in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, and the United States on transportation and environmental research and policy. He served on the Board of VIA Rail, Canada’s national passenger railway. He has also served on the Selection Committee of Transport Canada’s Urban Transportation Showcase Program. He has chaired the Rail Group of the U.S. Transportation Research Board (TRB), a division of the National Academies of Science, Medicine and Engineering. He has also chaired TRB’s Committee on Intercity Passenger Rail. Anthony is also an Adjunct Professor at the Cities Research Institute, Griffith University in Queensland, Australia. He served a five-year term on the Vancouver City Planning Commission.