Geoplan-2015
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2015 Geography & Planning GEOPLANTHE DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY & PLANNING UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO ASSOCIATION OF GEOGRAPHY ALUMNI (UTAGA) UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PLANNING ALUMNI COMMUNITY (PAC) 2015 Friends of Planning Spring Social B D M - PAC C n April 16, 2015 the Great Hall at Hart House was home to a lessons learned were provided to the gathered group. great party: the 19th Annual Friends of Planning Spring Social. e University of Toronto’s Planning Alumni Committee (PAC) Over 300 planning students, alumni, faculty, and professionals would like to thank the many individual Friends of Planning donors Ocame out to enjoy great food, live jazz, and one another’s company. As whose contributions directly support student success in graduate plan- usual, it was an excellent opportunity to reconnect with old friends and ning programs at U of T. As well, PAC wishes to recognize the substantial reach out to colleagues from across the industry. long-term contribution of the event promotional sponsor, NRU Pub- e keynote was delivered by Ken Tanenbaum, Vice Chairman of lishing Inc., as well as ongoing support from the Ontario Professional the Kilmer Group. Mr. Tanenbaum’s presentation, titled ‘e Pan Am Planners Institute and BILD. Finally, the generosity of the Social’s many Village: A Sneak Peak Beyond the Fence’, provided a behind the scenes corporate sponsors is deeply appreciated. look at the West Don Lands which was home to 10,000 athletes over the Pan-Am and Para Pan-Am Games this past summer. e West Don Lands is now becoming Toronto’s latest community as residents and busi- Premiere Sponsors: nesses move in. Mr. Tanenbaum provided insight into the opportunities MHBC Planning, Urban Design & Landscape Architecture; and challenges faced as the West Don Lands was developed. A variety of Davies Howe Partners LLP; LEA Consulting; Devine Park LLP Platinum Sponsors: Odan Detech Group; Hemson Consulting; Bouselds; Aird & Berlis LLP Gold Sponsors: BA Group; Cassells Brock Lawyers; Concord City Place; Crozier & Associates; Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP; Fogler Rubino LLP; Goodmans LLP; Walker, Nott, Dragicevic Associates; Planning Alliance; Urban Strategies; Tate Economic Research; e Sorbara Group; SGL Planning Associates; Wellings Planning Consultants; WeirFoulds LLP; IBI Group; Stikeman Elliott LLP; Speight Van Nostrand & Gibson Surveying; e Daniels Corporation Silver Sponsors: Altus Group; Brattys LLP; Azimuth Environmental Consulting; Hammerschlag & Joe; UrbanMetrics; Valcoustics; GSP Group; R.E. Millward & Associates; JKO Planning Services; Weston From left to right: Paul Hess, Director of Graduate Programs in Consulting; Johnston Litavski Planning Consultants; Turner Planning, Ken Tanenbaum, Vice Chairman of the Kilmer Group, Fleischer Architects; Venchiarutti Gagliardi Architect Michael Noble and Melissa McEnroe, PAC Co-chairs 2015 Chair’s Message: Name Changes B V M elcome to the 2015 edition of Table of Contents GeoPlan. You may have noticed a small but very important change in 19th Annual Spring Social • Front Cover theW banner for the rst page of this newsletter. Chair’s Message • Page 2 It says ‘Department of Geography & Plan- Message from the PAC Chair • Page 3 ning’ rather than ‘Department of Geography Planners Unplugged • Page 4 and Program in Planning’. at is because we Bouseld Distinguished Visitor in Planning • Page 5 changed the undergraduate St. George and Giving Back • Page 6 graduate tri-campus departments’ names this Awards Night 2015 • Page 7 year. To our surprise, we discovered early in the year that the depart- Alumni News • Page 11 ment names had never been changed ocially – meaning with approval In Memoriam • Page 11 from the University’s Governing Council - from ‘Department of Geog- GeoTrips • Page 12 raphy’ to ‘Department of Geography and Program in Planning’. at Department News • Page 14 news made us reect on how we wanted to be known and lead to the On the Road Again • Page 15 idea of a slightly dierent name. Student Field Trips • Page 16 Let me give you a little history. Both the St. George and graduate tri-Campus units have been known unocially as the ‘Department of Graduate Student Proles • Page 19 Geography and Program in Planning’ since the 1980s when the Plan- Undergraduate Student Prole • Page 21 ning graduate program became a part of the Department of Geog- Faculty Published Books • Page 21 raphy. At that time, faculty members teaching in the Master’s degree Alumni Published Books • Page 22 in Planning moved to the department from the School of Graduate Studies,where the program had been housed since its former home, the since the graduate student association has been known as the Graduate Faculty of Architecture, Urban and Regional Planning, and Landscape Geography and Planning Student Society (GGAPSS) since Planning joined Architecture, was dissolved in 1975 (and later reconstituted as the Geography in the 1980s, the choice of ‘Department of Geography & Plan- School of Architecture in 1976). ning’ clearly made sense. Since the 1980s, Planning has become fully integrated into the e addition of another discipline to a Geography department and department at the undergraduate (St. George) and graduate levels. e to its name is quite common and a growing trend. In the US, Canada St. George undergraduate curriculum oers a course cluster in Planning and the UK, just under half of the 280 Geography departments are within the Human Geography Major and Specialist programs of study. Geography ‘Plus’ departments, with Environment being the most com- About one-third of the faculty members at the St. George campus have mon addition to a department’s name. Notable Geography ‘Plus’ units appointments in Planning, meaning that most of the courses that they outside Canada include the School of Geography & Environment at teach are in the graduate program in Planning. e tri-campus gradu- Oxford University and the Department of Geography & Environment ate program has two distinct degree paths: one in Geography (PhD, at the London School of Economics. In Canada, there are 42 Depart- MA, MSc) and one in Planning (MScPl, PhD). Approximately 120 ments of Geography of which 16 are Geography ‘Plus’ departments. graduate students are enrolled in the Geography program and about 80 Among those, 13 are Geography & Environment, two are Geography in the Planning program. & Planning (Saskatchewan, Queen’s), and one is Geography, Planning We consulted widely about the name change, including consulta- & Environment (Concordia). tion with UTAGA and PAC. We presented three possible names for the Another notable new name this year, also found on the rst page department: ‘Department of Geography’, ‘Department of Geography banner, is the ‘Planning Alumni Community’. is new organization and Program in Planning’, and ‘Department of Geography & Plan- is the equivalent of UTAGA for Geographers and includes all Planning ning’. Everyone felt that Planning should be in the department’s name alumni. e Planning Alumni Committee continues its role as the and virtually all agreed that that the simpler ‘Department of Geography management committee for all Planning alumni aairs. & Planning’ was best. From the perspective of our graduate students, Welcome New Alumni! Members of the MScPl Class of 2015 at their graduation lunch Page 2 PAC Chair’s Message B D MK am pleased to report that 2015 was a great year for the Uni- versity of Toronto’s Planning Alumni Committee. is past year, we hosted a fabulous Spring Social attended by over I300 professionals, and featured Ken Tanenbaum as our speaker. With the funds raised through the Social, and the time and eort of alumni volunteers, PAC was also able to enrich the learning experience of current graduate students and strengthen bonds with alumni in the Planning Program by organizing and subsidizing many events and initiatives, outlined in the sidebar on this page. e commitment of our volunteers and the interest from planning students in PAC activities is a testament to the strength of the program and the enjoyment that we all receive from spending time with each other and contributing to the student experience. I hope you will join us on April 14, 2016, when the Plan- In the last decade, we have seen the rise of social media, marking the ning Alumni Committee will host the 20th Annual Friends of second generation of web-based interaction. This next decade will bring Planning Spring Social. e sidebar to the right announces this the third generation, featuring the rise of artificial intelligence, cloud com- year’s distinguished speaker, Jesse Hirsh. puting and the semantic web. What will it mean for communities and city I encourage you to join us in connecting with students and building as the web delivers what you want by harnessing the explosive power of user generated content? reconnecting with alumni through any of PAC’s many activities - join the Committee, become a mentor, lead a module – there are Jesse Hirsh is an internet strategist, researcher, and broadcaster. You many ways to get involved! Email us at: [email protected]. will recognize his voice from his nationally syndicated weekly CBC radio See you at the Social! column that explores the latest trends and emerging developments in tech- nology and what they mean for everyday life. Interested in sponsorship of this event? Please contact David McKay at [email protected]. Fall 2015 at a Glance Mentorship, Networking and Career Development Scholarships and Student Funding • PAC held the Fall Planning Mixer at the beginning of the school year, • rough the Friends of Planning Fund, PAC raises money for scholar- providing the opportunity to strengthen the bonds between current and ships. We have established four over the years: e Matthew Hanson former students. Scholarship in Planning, e Planning Alumni Graduate Scholarship, University of Toronto Planning Alumni OGS Award, and most recently • PAC held the Mentoring Meet and Greet in the Fall, which kicked o e Friends of Planning Graduate Scholarship for Innovation.