Shawn Micallef is a Toronto based writer and associate editor at Spacing Magazine, a web and print publication that covers the urban landscape from a public space angle. Since the launch of the magazine in December 2003, Spacing has become an integral voice in the dialogue about Toronto's urban landscape and public spaces and has won numerous awards, including Canadian Small Magazine of the Year in both 2007 and 2008. In 2007 Spacing expanded to Montreal, launching a city blog there.
Shawn is also co-founder of the location-based mobile phone documentary project [murmur] that records personal stories and memories and lets people hear those stories where they take place via their personal cellular telephone. The project was developed at the Canadian Film Centre's New Media Lab and first established in Toronto in 2003 and has since spread to Dublin, Edinburgh, San Jose CA, Sao Paulo, Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary and most recently, Galway, Ireland.
Shawn was born in the shadow of the Motor City, just across the Canadian border in Windsor and spent his formative years exploring and falling in love with everything Detroit, but moved to Toronto after completing an MA in Political Science. Shawn's writing on civic life, architecture, urban design and culture has been found in The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, The National Post and Eye Weekly, where his "Stroll" column has explored many corners of Toronto on foot. His urban themed essays have been published in four books. In 2001 he co-founded the Toronto Psychogeography Society, a group of flaneurs who drift through the city on weekly ambulatory exercises.
Shawn also teaches interactive design at the Ontario College of Art and Design and is a regular commentator on civic events and life in print, television and radio and has lectured on urban culture throughout North American and Europe.
