Jonathan Cinnamon, PhD

Associate Professor

Digital Arts and Humanities, Geography, Urban and Regional Studies

Office: ART 264
Email: jonathan.cinnamon@ubc.ca

Research Summary

digital and visual geographies; data studies; GIS and society; urban studies; visual methods

Biography

I am an Associate Professor of Geography in the Department of Community, Culture and Global Studies at UBC Okanagan, and co Editor-in-Chief of Digital Geography and Society. With an academic background in GIS and human geography, my research program is strategically positioned at the intersection of information science and social science. In my current research I’m developing novel spatial and visual methods, and examining the impact of digital technologies and data on various stakeholders from cities, to corporations, to grassroots groups. Using a theoretically-informed, mixed-methods approach, recent projects have advanced conceptual and empirical knowledge of platform urbanism, the geographies of AI, data injustice, and digital activism. Prior to joining UBC Okanagan, I was a faculty member at Toronto Metropolitan University (Toronto, ON)  and the University of Exeter (Exeter, UK), and held visiting positions at Wits University (Johannesburg, South Africa), and Ohio State University (Columbus, OH).

Websites

Personal website

Spatial and visual research tools

Degrees

PhD, Simon Fraser University
MA, Simon Fraser University
BA, Toronto Metropolitan University

Research Interests & Projects

1. I am PI on the SSHRC-funded Experimental Digital City project, which examines the connections between experimental modes of urban governance and digital technology innovation through a case study of a mid-sized Canadian smart city.
2. I am a co-investigator on the SSHRC-funded Urban Platform Aesthetics project, which examines the role of digital platforms in shaping how cities around the world look, how these platform aesthetics connect to ‘world city’ ambitions, and the attendant impact on urban inequalities. This study uses an innovative visual methods approach and a comparative urbanisms framework to examine urban platform visualities in Canada, Poland, and Turkey.

Selected Publications & Presentations

Google Scholar

Recent Publications

Cinnamon, J., and Dai, J. (2026). Unseen things: Computer vision and the geographies of AI failure. Digital Geography and Society, 10, 1-13.

Jahiu, L., Cinnamon, J. and Leszczynski, A. (2026). Visual negotiations of gentrification in Toronto: Contestation, politicization, and resistance through urban signage. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 1-20.

Leszczynski, A., Cinnamon, J., and Jahiu, L. (2026). The last meter problem in cities: Digital platforms, urban signage, and the enduring analog. Urban Geography, 47(6), 1205–1222.

Cinnamon, J., Leszczynski, A. and Jahiu, L. (2026). 360-degree photography: A step-by-step method for collecting and analyzing spherical visual data in the social sciences. Field Methods 38(1), 85-92.

Gallina, D., and Cinnamon, J. (2025). Place, temporality, and wine identity: A visual analysis of winery website imagery in the Okanagan Valley Wine Region. GeoJournal 90(6), 1-21.

Cinnamon, J., Leszczynski, A., Asa, S., and Jahiu, L. (2025). 360-degree video for whole scene capture: From immersive realism to immersive holism in place-based research. International Journal of Qualitative Methods 24, 1-10.

Leszczynski, A., Cinnamon, J., Asa, S., and Jahiu, L. (2025). Docklessness, aesthetic governance, and the urban ‘micromobility mess’.  Urban Studies 62(12), 2508-2525.

Cinnamon, J. (2024). Visual imagery and the informal city: Examining 360-degree imaging technologies for informal settlement representation. Information Technology for Development 30 (4), 590-607.

Maalsen, S., Cinnamon, J., and Kinsley, S. (2023). Artificial intelligence, geography and society. Digital Geography and Society 4(1), 1-4.

Cinnamon, J., and Jahiu, L. (2023). 360-degree video for virtual place-based research: A review and research agenda. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems 106, 1-12.

Cinnamon, J., and Noth, T. (2023). Spatiotemporal development of informal settlements in Cape Town, 2000 to 2020: An open data approach. Habitat International 133, 1-11.

Cinnamon, J. (2023). On data cultures and the prehistories of smart urbanism in “Africa’s Digital City”. Urban Geography, 44(5), 850-870.

Cinnamon, J. & Gaffney, A. (2022). Do-it-yourself street views and the urban imaginary of Google Street View. Journal of Urban Technology 29(3), 95-116.

Cinnamon, J. (2020). Platform philanthropy, ‘public value’, and the COVID-19 pandemic moment. Dialogues in Human Geography 10(2), 242-245.

Cinnamon, J. (2020). Attack the data: Agency, power, and technopolitics in South African data activism. Annals of the American Association of Geographers 110(3), 623-639.

Cinnamon, J. (2020). Data inequalities and why they matter for development. Information Technology for Development 26(2), 214-233.

Cinnamon, J. (2017). Social injustice in surveillance capitalism. Surveillance & Society 15(5), 609-625.

Selected Grants & Awards

2022-2024: Research Grant – The Experimental Digital City: Learning from the Kelowna Model of Smart Urban Innovation. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).  Principal Investigator.

2022-2026: Research Grant – Urban Platforms: Aesthetics, Inequality, and World-Class City Making. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). Co-Investigator.

2016-2018: Research Grant – Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK)

2016: Atlas Award for research with the potential for significant social impact, for the Geoforum article “Evidence and future potential of mobile phone data for disease disaster management”.

2017: Visiting Research Fellowship – National Research Foundation (South Africa)

2015: Research Grant – Economic and Social Research Council and Department for International Development (UK)

2013-15: Postdoctoral Fellowship – SSHRC

2009-2012: Canada Graduate Scholarship (PhD) – SSHRC

Professional Services/Affiliations/Committees

Co Editor-in-Chief – Digital Geography and Society

Editorial Board Member: Canadian Geographies

Editorial Board Member: Big Data & Society

Member: Peer Review College, Economic and Social Research Council (UK)

Member: Canadian Association of Geographers

Member: American Association of Geographers

Fellow: Royal Geographical Society (with Institute of British Geographers)