News

The Senate is a key institution in the Canadian parliamentary system. Composed of representatives from across the country, the Senate provide a complementary review of government bills before they become the law and undertakes investigations on important social and political issues. A key role of the Senate is for the representation of regional interests. During the Sustainable Communities Conference in St John’s on October 5, Dr.

The School of Environmental Design and Rural Development was well represented at the recent Sustainable Communities Conference, which brought together rural leaders, community-based organizations, government policy makers, businesses, students, and researchers. A total of 16 presentations and posters were delivered by students and faculty from the School! Details of each contribution are listed below with SEDRD students and faculty noted in bold:

Ashleigh Weeden (PhD Candidate, Rural Studies) won the poster competition at the 2019 Sustainable Communities Conference, which was co-hosted by the Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation and the North Atlantic Forum in St. John’s, Newfoundland. The poster competition was decided by vote by conference participants, which included rural leaders, community-based organizations, government policy makers, businesses, students, and researchers from across Canada, the United States, and Europe.

The Landscape Architecture Symposium, held on September 19, 2019 at the University of Guelph attracted a full house of students (graduates and undergraduates), faculty, and some professions to listen and engagement with an array of talented, well- accomplished international speakers, who are highly regarded in the field. Each presenting a range of creative scholarly work with a focus on landscape representations and data visualization.

Community development practitioners, policy makers, and community leaders gathered in London, Ontario for the 2019 Econous Conference. The conference highlighted how the new ideas that will be most transformational will be those that are created by and carried by communities. EconoUs2019 featured dynamic speakers, interactive storytelling and skill-building sessions, local and regional tours, a day for turning learning to action, and opportunities to network.

Ashleigh Weeden (PhD Candidate, School of Environmental Design & Rural Development) has been featured in a collection of researchers, journalists, academics and public figures in sharing insights on knowledge mobilization in advance of the 2019 Canadian federal election.

You can read her advice to researchers looking to share their work with policy makers on the iVote/jeVote website.

Jill Robertson is a MLA grad, and an active part of several landscape architecture associations, including the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects and Landscape Architecture Canada Foundation.  She is a Principal and Landscape Architect at DIALOG in Edmonton. Now Jill is recognized as a "Top 40 Under 40" in Edmonton. "Jill is named for the progressive ways she is shaping Edmonton's future through landscape architecture", said Dr. Robert Corry, Professor and MLA Program Co-ordinator.

From Thursday, August 8 to Sunday, August 11, 2019, a group of landscape architecture students from the University of Guelph participated in a field trip to New York City. During this time, these students had an opportunity to visit various parks and public spaces within this urban mecca. The trip included visiting significant historical and contemporary parks and green-scapes that have shaped NYC and have made an impact to the landscape architectural field in the city.

WexPOPS, a SEDRD created community gathering place that ‘popped up’ in the Wexford Heights Plaza in Scarborough this summer was mentioned in a recent Toronto Star article that discusses the value of converting parking space to park space with case studies from Toronto and San Francisco and announces a new parklet bylaw that the City of Toronto will be enacting this fall. 

We are pleased to welcome Steven Clarke as a new Assistant Professor in Landscape Architecture, effective July 1, 2019.