News

The School of Planning is proud to announce that School of Planning PhD Candidate Khairunnabila Prayitno has been awarded a 2023 Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS) Toronto Chapter Scholarship!

The WTS International aims to attract and advance women and other unrepresented groups in the transportation industry through professional development, gender equity advocacy, legislative advocacy and the scholarship and training opportunities provided by the WTS Foundation. The WTS Toronto Chapter Scholarship supports women enrolled in post-secondary programs with the intention of pursuing a career in transportation complete their educational journey and enter the transportation industry.

Nabila is a 5^th Year PhD Student whose dissertation centres ‘care’ and ‘justice’ in expanding the future of urban mobility to include marginal voices. Her work is guided by aspirations of a society that allows for self-reflection, and thus self-determination. She strives to contribute to a planning community that is more just and caring, that illuminates the human aspects of daily life and provides people with agency in shaping policy based on their values.

Congratulations from all of us at the School of Planning!

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) recently held rallies across several Canadian cities regarding tenants' experiences of higher rents and poorer maintenance in units owned by real estate investment trusts.

The School of Planning's Dr. Brian Doucet spoke about these concerns, stating that Canada has focused largely on building new housing stock, while "losing sight of the housing that is already affordable."

This housing is often lost through demolition, or through the process of "renoviction", where tenants are evicted, so units can be renovated and rented at higher rates. 

The School of Planning's Dr. Martine August's 2022 report on TheFinancialization of Housing in Canada states that the largest financial firms in Canada hold an estimated 20-30 per cent of multifamily rental units, with that number increasing each year. 

More information on this issue and ACORNS concerns can be found in the original article, featured on CTV News. 

To learn more about affordable housing models and how Canada can apply them, please refer to Dr. Brian Doucet's August 2023 research report with the Canada Research Chairs. 

Chen Yang will be receiving his Doctor of Philosphy (PhD) in Planning at convocation this weekend. 

On September 30^th, 2023, the School of Planning hosted its Welcome to Planning ceremony. This event provided an opportunity for our incoming students and their supporters to connect with the School of Planning community and engage with issues relevant to the Planning community that will shape their educational journey going forward.

School of Planning Alum Samantha Biglieri (PhD, 2019), in collaboration with the School of Planning’s Dr. Jennifer Dean, has been awarded the 2023 PlanON Award for Innovation in Research at this year’s OPPI Annual Conference.  

The School of Planning's PhD Candidate, Cloé St-Hilaire, has been award the prestigious Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship for her research proposal into the effects of financialization and digital technologies on the Canadian rental housing market.

Professor Moos from the School of Planning collaborated with Skye Collishaw and Professor Tara Vinodrai from the University of Toronto on new research that shows people living in subsidized housing having more sustainable commutes (defined as the shorter distance travelled and lower car use) than otherwise similar renters. The findings have important planning and policy implications for the role of subsidized housing in terms of meeting housing affordability and climate change goals. The findings provide support for policies that promote investment in subsidized and affordable housing near transit as a housing affordability and sustainability strategy, particularly benefiting lower-income earners.

The research relies on Statistics Canada census data and is published in Housing Policy Debate.

For those of you who were unable to attend this year's Futures Forum 2023 event, or would like to see it again, a recording of Bianca Wylie's keynote presentation "Public Engagement, Technology and the Art of Living Well Together" is now available on Youtube at the link below.

The School of Planning's Dr. Leia Minaker has recently published a report in partnership with Heart & Stroke which details how food and beverage companies employ dozens of tactics to market their products directly to children at point-of-sale locations across Canada, such as grocery stores and restaurants.

Moving to Canada comes with challenges, such as not being able to find work. On Tuesday July 26, Dr. Jennifer Dean, Associate Professor in the School of Planning, was featured in a brief clip on CTV news, and says this is common for newcomers due to lack of recognition of foreign credentials. She mentions that Canadian businesses prefer experiences in the workforce in Canada and this of course, is a challenge for newcomers to the country who do not have this experience.