The School of Planning, University of Waterloo welcomed students from local high schools to celebrate this event by participating in a design charrette to introduce them to Planning and to get them thinking about planning and how it may impact their community. It was exciting to watch these students engage in our example which focused on Climate Change and the potential increase of more frequent and intense storms which increases the risk of flooding. The charrette was a great opportunity for our young guests to collaborate with upper year planning students to brainstorm on solutions for the Lancaster Village site.
A sample of questions they considered included:
- What are the ways local climate is going to potentially change?
- Among the changes coming, which is most severe and how will it impact the community?
- What is open space and what are the constraints (slope, flood fringe, and floodway)?
- How does the site interact with social, economic, and political forces, the Region and the planning framework?
- What solutions might there be for resolving potential impacts.
The morning was a huge success and now many more young minds have a better understanding of, ‘What Planning is and what Planners do…’
The School looks forward to hosting another exciting event in 2016!
For further information please contact Shelley Knischewsky.