I am a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at the University of Toronto. My research focuses on the cultural and cognitive dimensions of the urban environment. I am interested in the meanings we invest in buildings, streets, parks, and other physical features of the city, and how these meanings effect (rather than just reflect) social life.

My dissertation research examines the recent "iconic" architectural expansions of the Royal Ontario Museum and the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, focusing specifically on the role that civic identity played in both the development of these buildings and their reception in the surrounding community.

Urban Sociology, Sociology of Culture, Social Theory, Legitimacy, Public Space, Culture and Cognition, Sociology of Architecture, Urban Political-Economy, Public Cultural Institutions

Patterson, Matt (Forthcoming) "The Role of the Public Institution in Iconic Architectural Development." Urban Studies. Accepted March 2012.

Patterson, Matt and Josée Johnston (Forthcoming) "Theorizing the Obesity Epidemic: Health Crisis, Moral Panic, and Emerging Hybrids." Social Theory and Health. Accepted October 2011.