• Immigration, Multiculturalism and Citizenship (multicultural cities and identities; politics of difference in the city; neoliberalisation of immigration policy; social justice, media representations of immigration and multiculturalism, and North American border politics);
• Urban and Environmental Politics (planning, design and urbanism; exurban growth and environmental conservation; political ecology of landscapes; and environmental justice).

Research interests are articulated around two poles: Immigration, Multiculturalism and Citizenship (multicultural cities and identities; politics of difference in the city; neoliberalisation of immigration policy; social justice, media representations of immigration and multiculturalism, and North American border politics) and Urban and Environmental Politics (planning, design and urbanism; exurban growth and environmental conservation; political ecology of landscapes; and environmental justice).

Professor Smith came to McGill in 1974. His research has dealt with, among other things, organizational structures, industrial disputes, the politics of macroeconomic policy, trade and its social consequences, economic policy in Quebec, labour market functioning, flexibility and training, economic security and its consequences, the labour market outcomes of immigrants, and the North American pulp and paper industry. In 1997 he was awarded an Overseas Research Fellowship by the Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa. In the Fall of 2002 he was a Chercheur invité at the Université de Montréal, in the Spring of 2003 a Visiting Research Fellow at the Research School of Social Sciences of the Australian National University, in 2004-2005 he was Virtual Scholar in Residence with the Law Commission of Canada, and in Fall of 2006 he was Visiting Fellow at Flinders University of South Australia. In January 2005 he was awarded a James McGill Professorship.