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| December 2011 |
| University Updates | ||||
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The Rural Planning and Development (RPD) program at the University of Guelph orchestrated two well-received events this past World Town Planning Day on November 8, 2011. The first event was a lecture series put on by Paul Kraehling MCIP, RPP who presented his insider take on the 25 years of issues that have gone into planning for a mid-sized urban centre in Ontario. Paul is a retired planner from the City of Guelph and shared his observations on the planning profession in the past and present with students in the School of Environmental Design and Rural Development. The presentation went beyond just planning, into the broader discussion of community sustainability with examples shown from the City of Guelph. Keeping with school tradition, a handful of RPD students also painted “Old Jeremiah.” Old Jeremiah, as he is formally known, is an antique British naval cannon that is rumoured to have witnessed action in the War of 1812. After World War I, the barrel of the cannon was plugged and it was brought to campus in remembrance of those who lost their lives during the War. Today, Old Jeremiah sits on the University grounds as a symbol of the University’s strong connection to the broader community. As a local tradition on campus, students have the opportunity to paint the cannon to highlight upcoming events, personal messages, etc. This was a great opportunity for the RPD program to promote the World Town Planning Day event to planners and non-planners alike.
The fall semester started early for the Dalhousie University School of Planning, with 20 students attending the annual Maritime Field Trip. This year’s trip, lead by Dr. Patricia Manuel, was to western Newfoundland. We visited Port-Aux-Basques, the Corner Brook and Humber Arm area, and spent several days in Gros Morne National Park. Students learned about a wide variety of planning issues, including regional planning, waste management, water and wastewater management, parks planning, business development, food security, and climate change adaptation, with a focus on issues unique to small or isolated communities. We also explored the unique, varied, and breathtaking natural environment. In mid-October, the School of Planning participated in Nocturne, a nighttime art festival. Kelly Sims coordinated the project, and the main contributors were Kevin Hooper and Nick Shaw. Spectators became participants when they were invited to decorate a translucent building structure — dubbed the “Glow Home” — with glow-in-the-dark paint. Overhead, a GIS projection of the Halifax Peninsula transformed from an abstract pattern to a recognizable image as various layers accumulated. The project was so popular that by mid-way through the evening, participants struggled to find unadorned space on the Glow Home. In November, students working with Dr. Ahsan Habib presented their work at the 58th Annual Meeting of the North American Regional Science Association in Miami, Florida. Daniel Richardson developed a method for determining transit user priorities regarding trip time, cost, and mode. Katrina Leckovic explored possibilities for the use of public transit in the Halifax Regional Municipality for mass evacuations in emergencies. The School of Planning is always proud to see student work contributing to planning practice.
The University of Toronto M.Sc. Planning students are off to a busy start for the 2011–2012 school year. The department welcomed a new Director of the Program in Planning, Paul Hess, one of the many outstanding faculty members at the University of Toronto. The second-year planning students took their annual planning field trip to New York City where they took part in a one-week planning expedition touring the streets and sites of Manhattan, the Bronx, and the Lower East Side. The group had the chance to meet with planning students from both Hunter College and Columbia University and also met with academics such as Sharon Zukin (author of The Naked City: The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Places). Overall, the trip was jam-packed with content and perspective for the group from Toronto. We have also welcomed 30 new planning students from all around the globe. Second-year planning students volunteered to be “planning buddies” to help integrate the first-year students into the department and act as mentors throughout the academic term. A similar program is also carried out and is organized by the Planning Alumni Committee where practicing planners act as mentors to U of T planning students. University of Toronto students are also engaged in conferences and events such as the OPPI 25th Anniversary conference held in Ottawa, the CAPS conference in Vancouver, World Town Planning Day where we will be organizing events with middle schools in the GTA, and various speaker series such as “Big City, Big Ideas” Lecture Series featuring Leslie Koch, Larry Beasley, and Bob Yaro. For more information about the University of Toronto or the above-mentioned events, please contact:
The School of Urban and Regional Planning (SURP) at Queen’s University is off to a great start! In September, the school welcomed 35 incoming students into the program joining 36 upper year students. Classes are well underway and students are diligently working on term papers and presentations. The first-year SURP students have hit the ground running. The action-packed semester has consisted of a trip to both Montreal and Toronto where we were hosted by a range of planning leaders and academics. We got to see firsthand some of the opportunities and weaknesses of developments in these major Canadian cities. Additionally, many of us attended the OPPI conference in Ottawa in October. We had the chance to network and engage with practicing planners from across Ontario, taking away many lessons from the real life projects of today. The upper-year students at SURP are busy working on their Master reports or theses and their professional project courses. The reports and theses cover a wide range of study areas from social planning to land use and real estate to environmental planning and aboriginal planning related topics. There are currently four project courses being carried out by SURP students and their clients. The land use group is working towards creating a vision for the Hurdman Station area in the City of Ottawa; the environmental group is developing a Sustainability Planning and Policy Study for the City of Kingston; and the social planning group is in the process of creating a Toolkit for Social Enterprise and Innovation for the Social Planning Council of Kingston and District. In early December, a team of nine students will be heading to Shanghai, China to carry out three projects: reviewing land use policies in Shanghai; investigating and providing advice on the role of World Wildlife Fund in land use policies; and gathering information on the relationship between CIP and China’s Ministry of Land and Resources. The Fall 2011 semester at Ryerson somehow just whizzed by us! Nevertheless, it was an enriching experience, both academically and socially. First, a warm welcome is extended to Evan French (1st Year Undergraduate Rep) and to Teresa Rittemann (1st Year Graduate Rep) for joining the OPPI team. These two have already proven indispensable to OPPI and CIP’s presence and activity at Ryerson, and we look forward to a fun-filled and involved year ahead. Ryerson’s Association of Planning Students (RAPS) started off their Speaker Series this year with (former) politician Kyle Rae, and in November, we welcomed Toronto Star Urban Affairs columnist Christopher Hume who facilitated a rousing discussion on “Planning for Failure in Toronto”. In the New Year, RAPS will be hosting a weekend long SURP EXPO filled with guest speakers, workshops and planning fun, for students in the Toronto area. The 25th Anniversary OPPI Conference was held in Ottawa from Oct.12-14 this year, and although only a handful of Ryerson students were able to attend in person, they all remarked upon how rewarding they felt it was. The Friday was deemed “Students’ Day,” which allowed students the opportunity to present their own personal work, attend lecture sessions, as well as network with each other and senior OPPI members. Celebrating World Town Planning Day (WTPD), the Canadian Association of Planning Students (CAPS) with help from OPPI student representatives held a “walkshop” around Toronto to create dialogue around the city’s current urban fabric. In honour of WTPD, the Ryerson Planning Graduate Student Association (RPGSA) also hosted an urban planning movie night on November 9. The group watched the Brazilian film “City of God,” which portrays the social fabric that can exist in a city, as well as the effects that fabric can have on individuals. After students finish their final exams and other demands of first semester, we will finally have the chance to wind down and focus on “fun” things like the holidays, visiting relatives and spending time with family, drinking hot cocoa in front of a warm fire… and working on scholarship applications for the approaching 2012 deadlines. Because in January, we jump right back into it! However, one highlight to look forward to is the CAPS conference in Vancouver in early February. For more information, please don’t hesitate to contact any of the OPPI Ryerson Student Representatives:
The 2011–2012 year began by welcoming 24 students to the Master of Urban Planning program and two students to the PhD Program in Urban Policy, Planning and Design. It also came with excellent news from the second-year Master's class: all eight students in that class who had applied for SSHRC fellowships have received this award for their research this year. The new Master's students are devoting Studio I to an old industrial area at the intersection of three boroughs and will propose plans to guide the area's transition to a mixed-use neighbourhood. In Studio III, the second-year Master's class is working on several projects, including the creation of blue and green corridors in Montréal, the preparation of a redevelopment plan for Mansonville, in the Eastern Townships, and organizing community engagement for the reuse of a brownfield site in Ottawa. Students in the Ad-hoc PhD program, as well as some Master's students, are pursuing top-notch research and publishing articles or presenting papers at conferences. Kevin Manaugh, who works with Professor Ahmed El-Geneidy, received the prize for Best Student-Led Paper at the World Symposium on Transport and Land Use Research. The Community-University Research Alliance (CURA) at McGill is now in its fifth year and is continuing its work on the relationship between the new McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) Glen Campus Superhospital and the surrounding neighbourhoods, as well as on the potential impacts of other large-scale projects in Montreal. Research projects, community events, courses and lectures are bringing the university and the community together in joint activities. Finally, planning has begun for the 65th anniversary of Urban Planning as a program at McGill. (This was the first program in Canada.) In celebration, the School will be hosting an event in the fall of 2012. For more information on the McGill School of Urban Planning, please contact Dea Van Lierop (2013 class president) at dea.vanlierop@mail.mcgill.ca or Michael Angrove (McGill’s CIP student representative) at michael.angrove@mail.mcgill.ca. The Regional and Urban Planning program at the University of Saskatchewan currently has 94 students enrolled for the 2011–2012 school year. It is the only CIP-accredited undergraduate program in Western Canada and we are happy to see the program growing. Several students from the program attended the APCPS Annual Conference which took place here in Saskatoon on September 12-14. It was a great event for students to meet professionals in the province and gain some educational experience out of the classroom. The Conference hosted a student mixer night that had a great turnout of students and professionals. We are happy to be sending a delegation to the CAPS Conference in Vancouver. No students from our program attended the conference last year, so it has been a goal this year to send representatives. We look forward to meeting fellow students in Vancouver at the Conference! The University of Manitoba Association of Planning Students (UMAPS) is comprised of students from the University’s City Planning program. Throughout the school year, students take part in numerous events that connect them with other students and professionals. The 2011–12 school year started with a successful orientation BBQ event introducing new students to their second-year counterparts, and upcoming social events include pub nights, Christmas party, and a farewell banquet in April. UMAPS students have a strong relationship with their professional planning affiliate, the Manitoba Professional Planners’ Institute (MPPI), regularly attending professional development sessions (breakfast seminars, workshops). Over the course of the past year, UMAPS supported their long-standing relationship with MPPI by participating in regular meetings and helping to organize mentorship events. UMAPS had a strong presence at the Manitoba Planning Conference in March, with some members presenting their work on envisioning age-friendly communities. UMAPS also maintains relationships with the Canadian Association of Planning Students (CAPS), as well as the Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP). In February 2011, eleven UMAPS students had the opportunity to participate in a two-week Indigenous Planning Exchange (IPEX) field school and conference in Chiapas, Mexico, which included presenting their indigenous planning work. In April, the students presented the outcomes of this conference and field school in a public forum to CIP members, as well as to students and professors from the Faculty of Architecture. In May, two UMAPS members travelled to Memphis for the Planners Network international conference where student work on Indigenous Planning was presented. Work in the area of Indigenous Planning has continued through October 2011 with students presenting at the Association of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) Comprehensive Community Planning Conference. This past year, a UMAPS logo design competition was held and a new logo was selected. From February until April, UMAPS drafted its first-ever Constitution outlining roles, responsibilities, and guidelines. The Constitution drafting process consisted of a working group of students who compiled the interests of UMAPS members through a series of consultations, and was officially approved in May. |
