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Morning Panels (11:45 - 12:45)
Imagining 2050: Developing Long-Range Regional Plans in Metro Vancouver
Join us as we discuss the three major regional long-range plans that are currently under development: Metro 2050, Transport 2050, and Climate 2050. Speakers from TransLink, Metro Vancouver Regional Planning, and Metro Vancouver Air Quality and Climate Change will discuss how these plans will help shape the region’s response to emerging challenges including climate change, growing inequality, and new technology.
Panelists
- Erin Rennie is a Senior Planner with Metro Vancouver’s Regional Planning team as well as the Project Manager for Metro 2050, the update to the Regional Growth Strategy. Her work focuses on the integration of land use and transportation planning by focusing growth in transit-oriented locations. Erin has worked as Transportation Planner at TransLink and King County Metro and holds a Master’s Degree in Community and Regional Planning from the University of British Columbia.
- Jason Emmert has more than 20 years of experience in environmental, community and regional planning. His career journey has taken him from environmental policy and projects in Kazakhstan to fisheries management in Brazil to smart growth planning in British Columbia. He is currently a Senior Planner in the Air Quality and Climate Change Division at Metro Vancouver. His portfolio includes leading the development of Climate 2050, Metro Vancouver ‘s 30-year regional climate action strategy and the implementation of regional climate change policies and programs.
- Caitlin Cooper is the Project Manager for Transport 2050- TransLink's Long-Range Regional Transportation Strategy for Metro Vancouver. Caitlin is an accomplished public policy professional and has worked with all levels of government to develop and implement strategic policies and plans. Caitlin has also worked on the two previous long-range transportation strategies, as well as the Regional Goods Movement Strategy for Metro Vancouver and the Pattullo Bridge Replacement Project.
Imagining Global Resilience: Exploring Local and International Perspectives
Join us as we explore innovative systems thinking in this panel. Featuring the perspectives of food resilience and security, equity in long-range Vancouver planning, and more, we are excited to explore similarities across diverse systems as we plan for a climate-impacted future.
Panelists
- Khadija Anjum is a first-year doctoral student at the School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP) at UBC. Khadija’s research interests relate to planning for equitable regional economic development in cities of the Global South, with focus on food security. Prior to joining SCARP, Khadija completed her Master in Regional Planning from Cornell University.
- Marisa Espinosa serves as Director, Scenario Planning for Vancouver Plan - the city's long range strategic plan with Planning, Urban Design and Sustainability. She was previously Director, Engineering. Marisa’s career spans public sector experience in planning, transportation, land use, and sustainability in Canada and the US. She previously served as Senior Manager - Strategic Planning, for TransLink, leading the development of the Mayor’s Council Vision for Regional Transportation Investments.
- Patrick Chan's work explores ways to transgress Planning's orthodox strata to produce new territories of spaces, speech, bodies and relations - a flight away from identity.
- Kai Chan is a sustainability scientist whose work straddles social and natural systems with a focus on values and transformative change. He is a professor at the University of British Columbia, a member of the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists (2017), a Coordinating Lead Author of the IPBES Global Assessment, a Lead Editor for the new journal People and Nature, and co-founder of CoSphere (a Community of Small-Planet Heroes).
Imagining Possible FUTURES: Vision-Led Planning for an Uncertain World
Explore real-world case studies in this hands-on workshop and discover new ways the changing environment is influencing the transportation sector using a framework called FUTURES (Future Uncertainty Toolkit for Understanding and Responding to an Evolving Society).
Note: Limited Space Available
Panelists
- Kristy McConnel is an Urban Planner specializing in transportation and sustainability. A UBC Alumni, she completed her BSc in Natural Resource Conservation, followed by her Masters of Community and Regional Planning. Today she is driven to find innovative solutions that help communities thrive while navigating a rapidly changing world.
- James Bottomley
Imagining Solutions for Inclusive Housing: Exploring affordable housing futures with CMHC
Join CMHC as they present solutions for making inclusive housing and neighborhoods a reality.
Panelists
- Elizabeth Tang and Marcia Jean-Baptiste work together with CMHC's Partnerships & Promotions team and are focused on engaging with stakeholders in the housing industry, academics, provincial and municipal governments to ensure access to the most relevant housing solutions from CMHC. Elizabeth & Marcia have been with CMHC for close to 15 years and combined have worked in various divisions such as of Market Analysis, Research Information Transfer, Mortgage Loan Insurance, and Affordable Housing.
Afternoon Panels (2:15 - 3:15)
Imagining Smart(er) Cities: The Intersection of Technology and Sustainability
This panel will discuss how smart cities are equipped to respond to the climate crisis, accessibility and equity challenges. Are smart cities truly for all? Have cities always been smart? As we adapt to today’s technologies and issues, how can we ensure that cities continue to be smart and are flexible enough to deal with the challenges of tomorrow? These questions will be explored further during this panel.
Panelists
- Crystal Legacy is a Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning at the University of Melbourne, Australia where she is also the Deputy Director of the Informal Urbanism Research Hub (InfUr-). Crystal has published widely on the topics of transport governance, urban politics and citizen participation. Crystal is on the Editorial Board of the journals Planning Theory and Practice and Urban Policy and Research.
- Martino Tran’s research focuses on understanding the environmental, societal and ethical implications of new data, technology and infrastructure in the city. The goal is to help inform urban policy to achieve more sustainable and equitable outcomes.
Imagining Woven Futures: Envisioning a Non-colonial World
Workshop participants will be guided through discussions and exercises to imagine a decolonised world. Participants will explore a variety of stories, touching on potlatch economy, decolonised food, interactions with technology, and a world based on Indigenous laws and ways of knowing.
Note: Limited Space Available
Panelists
- Rena Soutar is of Haida descent and works as Reconciliation Planner for the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation. Her portfolio includes the ambitious goal of decolonizing the Vancouver Park Board. Among other initiatives, she works inter-governmentally with local First Nations on a long-term comprehensive plan for Stanley Park. Rena currently is leading the colonial audit for the Vancouver Park Board.
- Brittany Morris strives towards shaping planning practices, governance structures, and dialogue that remind us of our humanity and creativity, and center a justice lens. She has collaborated on sustainable community development and community-led projects in Canada, South Africa, Ghana, Australia, and New Zealand. Brittany is currently a Planning Analyst with the Vancouver Park Board.
Imagining a Climate-Focused City: Using Dialogue Kits to Engage on Vancouver’s Climate Emergency Action Plan
This hands-on workshop led by the City of Vancouver’s Climate Emergency Team will invite participants to work through bold climate actions using the Climate Emergency dialogue kits. Until April 22, the City of Vancouver is seeking feedback on 19 bold actions to drastically reduce carbon pollution. These ‘Dialogue Kits’ are one way the City is collecting feedback on the actions. They are designed so anyone can gather a group, walk through the instructions and comment on the actions. Staff will then use this input to help finalize the Climate Emergency Action Plan that will go to Council in October. This session will include a brief overview of The City’s current progress on climate, future goals and how equity is being considered as the Climate Emergency plan is developed. Participants will also gain an appreciation of how to develop creative engagement tactics for a city-wide planning effort.
Note: Limited Space Available
Panelists
- Amanda Mitchell - Public Engagement Specialist
- Matt Horne - Climate Policy Manager
- Marga Pacis - Planning Analyst
- Sarah Labahn - Planning Analyst III
Imagining Intersectional Planning: Theory to Praxis
This interactive activity invites participants to plan through real-life, intersectional planning scenarios. It also includes a reflection period to debrief participants' learning experiences and a closing. Facilitators will have a wide diversity of positionality and planning experience. Key takeaways will include the importance of intersectional planning in order to work meaningfully with communities (because all communities hold multiple, nuanced, and intersecting identities); and the ability to think through complex planning situations to find tangible, inclusive, and systems-based solutions.
Note: Limited Space Available
Panelists
- Andrea Oakunsheyld was born on, and has returned to, the traditional, ancestral, and stolen lands of the the xwməθkwəyə̓ m (Musqueam), səlilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) and Swwú7mesh (Squamish) Nations. She is curvy bigender neurodivergent queer woman. She is a survivor of many contexts. She comes from the MacKay clan of Scotland, the O’Farrell Clan of Ireland, and the Swoboda and Eder Houses of Austria. Andrea is an intersectional planner, theorist, pagan witch, and human rights activist.
- Lara Therrien Boulos is a mixed race queer planner who grew up on unceded Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh territories. She believes a strong planning process makes space for joy, deep listening, and meaningful relationship building. Her company, Unearthing Wisdom Consulting, focuses primarily on planning projects with Indigenous communities and organizations, as well as facilitation for social transformation. Supporting decolonization and planning with an intersectional lens are central pillars of Lara’s work.
- Luna Aixis: Fran de la Luna is a mixed-race, trans non-binary queer, body positive, sex-positive, neurodivergent, POC. They facilitate community engagement initiatives and relational justice projects, and has been involved in planning work through through an intersectional lens. Luna is currently part of a provincial systems change project called Hey Neighbour Collective, where they focus on relational and social resilience within communities in high-rises, mainly purpose-built rental apartments.
- Spencer Lindsay was born and raised in the territories of the Lekwungen-speaking Esquimalt and Songhees peoples (Victoria, BC). His maternal ancestors settled in Treaty 7 territory near Cremona Alberta from Scotland and Germany. His paternal ancestors were Anglo-Métis and Scots who settled in Treaty 4 territory (Chelan, Saskatchewan). Spencer works for the City of Vancouver as an Indigenous Social Planner focusing on urban Indigenous community engagement, healing and wellness and equity.
- Adam Rudderis an Adjunct Faculty member at Fairleigh Dickinson University Adam Rudder, was born in Vancouver and completed his Master of Arts degree in history at the University of Victoria, where he wrote about the Hogan’s Alley community in Strathcona. He is an adjunct faculty member at Fairleigh Dickinson University (Vancouver) and is co-chair of the Hogan’s Alley Society, which is committed to the research and writing of Black experience in the 20th century in B.C.
For Breakout Session scheduling, see the About page.
CMHC Presents: Reshaping Neighbourhoods Through Redevelopments
While large-scale redevelopments in urban centres offer tremendous opportunities that address current needs via infill that weaves into the existing urban fabric, there are complexities with such redevelopments. These complexities range from balancing competing visions to ensuring minimal disruption for existing residents. This panel will explore high profile redevelopments that look to reshape and renegotiate their respective neighbourhoods.
Getting Lost: Exploring Narratives of Childhood Spaces
In 2004, the mayor of Bogota famously stated that children are an ‘indicator species’ of how we perceive and engage with our cities. In particular, walking to school is linked to parents' and children's trust, fears and lifelong health. As designers, sharing stories about the spaces we valued as children can inform our approach to designing for future generations. Join us as we explore design and narrative through interactive drawing activities.
(Mis)representation: Revealing the Hidden in Urban Visuals
City representations are everywhere. From maps to models, we are bombarded with representational information. Far from neutral entities, representations harbour social and cultural biases, governing how we understand and interpret the world around us. This, in turn, affects how we think about and plan the built environment.
As one of the foundations of urban planning, representations inform decision-making at all levels. But what, and whose, story do they tell? What, and who, do they represent? Too often they describe singular, over-simplified narratives to complex issues—misrepresenting our contemporary understanding of the world. This session will look critically at different urban representations: attempting to uncover their biases and describe their implications on urban planning thought.
Making Space for Music
Live music contributes to the creative vibrancy and cultural identity of the city. Yet, as the City of Vancouver continues to face development pressures and affordability concerns, music venues are often displaced, altered or shut down. This panel hopes to explore the past trends of Vancouver’s music venues; the expanding role that planners play in making space for music; how the music community is keeping the tunes alive; and what the future of securing space for music in Vancouver may look like.
Moving in the Right Direction: Equity and Diversity in Transit
Traditionally, transit systems have been designed by and for a narrow subset of the population. In this interactive session, we will strive to understand how gaps in infrastructure and service, a lack of diversity in industry and decision-making, and safety concerns can be addressed through inclusive planning and engineering.
All Our Father’s Relations: A Multicultural Storytelling of Chinese-Musqueam Connections
All Our Father’s Relations (祖根父脈)” is a multicultural story-telling of the Grant siblings who journey from Vancouver to China in an attempt to rediscover their father’s roots and better understand his fractured relationship with their Musqueam mother. Raised primarily in the traditions of the Musqueam people, the Grant family and their story reveals the shared struggles of migrants and Indigenous peoples today and in the past. A circle discussion with Elder Larry Grant, the film producer and a Chinatown city planner on the power of storytelling in planning for under-represented communities will follow. It will provide space for participants to learn, unlearn and relearn planning through storytelling and conversations with others. See more at: http://allourfathersrelations.com/trailers
Planning with a Creative Lens: Exploring the Relationship Between Film and Planning
Grounded in the definition of planning as an act of storytelling, this breakout session will explore the relationship between film and planning. We will screen a series of short planning-related films. After the screening we will explore with our panelists the role of film in not only documenting stories about our relationship to each other and place, but also as tool in the community planning process itself.
Who is Public Space For?: Unsettling Uncomfortable Conceptions of Who Can Participate in Public Space
Public spaces are ostensibly “for everyone,” but does everyone feel welcome in public spaces? This panel discussion will highlight that even in Vancouver everyone experiences public spaces differently. This breakout session offers a thoughtful discussion on how racialized community members, low-income community members, and other residents and visitors perceived as “not from the community” experience implicit and explicit challenges to their rights in public space.
Walking Through Universal Accessibility
Join UBC Campus and Community Planning for a walking tour of campus that highlights universal accessibility. As planners, and those in planning-adjacent careers, we strive to make our spaces accessible for all bodies. This walking tour is an opportunity to learn more about planning for accessibility and opening up our spaces.
2019 SCARP Symposium Breakout Session Proposals
Please fill out this form and submit to info.scarpsymposium@gmail.com by January 18th, 2019
This year’s symposium theme is [Re]present: Sharing Stories and Spaces Through Planning.
[Re]present is about coming together to reflect on our history, re-examine the ways in which we engage in planning practice, and redefine our future. It is about the power of stories and narratives in shaping how we interact with each other and the built environment - as well as about making room for all voices, bodies, and perspectives in our communities. Join us at the 11th annual SCARP Symposium to explore how stories shape our spaces and how our spaces shape our stories. Come prepared to renegotiate what planning is and what it can be.
[Re]present will be hosted on March 1, 2019 in The Nest at UBC Campus, which is on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Musqueam People. Submissions from all backgrounds are welcome and, for now, only need be a proposal. Upon being accepted, our Session Support team will work with you to finalize speakers, details, and logistics.