2024 Vico Lecture: The Italians Build Houses: Ethnicity vs. Structural Factors in Mass Migrations History – The Case Studies of Italian Economic Niches in 1890s-1920s USA and Post-WW2 Toronto

The annual Vico lecture promotes themes of city-building, urban development, and cultural evolution, and Toronto and its outskirts have been shaped by immigration. The series features speakers whose work address principles related to how immigrant and minority groups have affected the development of the Greater Toronto Area, including via culture, labour, business, and more. The Vico lecture honours the cultural and historic contributions of minority communities to civil society and the development of urban space.