The Plangineers engage experts Sven Beiker and Gary Hsueh to explore the world of autonomous vehicles. Dr. Sven Beiker is Managing Director of Silicon Valley Mobility Gary Hsueh is Director of Mobility Programs at Prospect Silicon Valley In part 2 of this 2-part interview, Michelle and Rob continue their conversation with Sven and Gary to discuss s…

The Plangineers engage experts Sven Beiker and Gary Hsueh to explore the world of autonomous vehicles. Dr. Sven Beiker is Managing Director of Silicon Valley Mobility Gary Hsueh is Director of Mobility Programs at Prospect Silicon Valley In part 1 of this 2-part interview, Michelle and Rob engage with Sven and Gary who break down the basics of "Aut…

Indy Johar, Visionary, is co-founder of Project 00, Dark Matter Labs, as well as multiple social ventures in England. While doing all of this, he also works with large global multinationals and institutions to support their transition to a positive Systems Economy. In this discussion, Indy explains the necessity of the "boring" revolution to equip …

Olivia Labonte, Executive Director of Young Diplomats of Canada, talks about grassroots youth engagement. Olivia, an economist with a passion for global youth advocacy and sustainable cities, distills ideas from the Canada at 100,000,000 panel. She shares insights from her work as Executive Director of Young Diplomats of Canada, a national non-prof…

Derek brings his extensive experience in the development and management of housing to answer our questions on the topic. We talk about the merits of piloting policy in real-life versus the pitfalls of policy from the boardroom, and discuss takeaways from the Future Cities Canada Summit 'Housing for All' panel.…

Fang shares insights from her experiences leading workshops and meetings that aim to tackle diverse social issues. The aim of her work is to deal with cross-government issues and enhance a better organisational culture from inside to outside of the government.By Muneef Ahmad, Michelle Berquist and Rob Muir

Claire Hicks, Program Manager for Future Ready at WSP Canada, shares successes in sustainability. Future Ready is WSPs global innovation program, encouraging staff and clients to see the future more clearly and design for it today. Claire strives to support teams to deliver resilient, sustainable and people-centred project solutions that are prepar…

Leah Lawrence is a lifelong advocate for engineering, entrepreneurship and the environment. The President and CEO of Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) shares behind-the-scenes insights on technology and how 'change management' can be about 'change expectation.' Check her out in 'The Future of Business' panel discussion at the Future …

Geoff Cape, is the founder and CEO of Evergreen. Since being founded in 1991, Evergreen has evolved into a national organization focused on integrating people, natural and built worlds, turning spaces into great places. On-site at the inaugural Future Cities Canada Summit, Geoff talks about how lessons learned at the Evergreen Brick Works site can …

Desmond Cole, award-winning journalist, activist and author, speaks to the Plangineers on the heels of his opening keynote at the Future Cities Canada Summit, held November 7-9, 2018 at Evergreen Brick Works in Toronto. Click here to see his intriguing presentation. He points to segregation within the City of Toronto and encourages city builders to…

Jo Flatt, Senior Lead of Policy & Partnerships at Evergreen speaks to us about the Future Cities Canada Summit. Future Cities Canada is a new national collaborative that aims to accelerate urban innovation to transform cities for the benefit of us all. The Summit takes place from November 7-9, 2018 at Evergreen Brick Works in Toronto.…

Alex Lenarduzzi, Water Resources Engineer at Conservation Halton shares her thoughts on the role of the natural environment and how it co-exists with the urban environment. We talk about: Differences and similarities between practice in the public and private sector The lingering impacts of extreme weather and the human stories around such events A…

In our second episode ever, “Good, or good enough?” Michelle and Rob discuss how paradigms were broken for the revolutionary Deep Lake Water Cooling system. Our ancestors first form of “district energy,” sharing fire in a cave Vancouver’s Olympic village district energy system Sustainable development at the Regent Park Revitalization Discussing Enw…

The Plangineers talk about the illusions and realities of public consultation. Rob explains the methods by which we gather and consider various points of consideration when undertaking city-building initiatives. Dialogue revolves around engaging early and often. Michelle shares the pizza analogy of consultation. We talk about change management and …

Sheila Boudreau, Senior Landscape Architect at Toronto & Region Conservation Authority, shares stories of teaching, engaging and opening up opportunities for indigenous youth. Sheila speaks to us about: How her experiences have been interwoven to shape what and how she teaches Taking care of the forest in a free-range upbringing Why she has embarke…

The Plangineers, Michelle & Rob, share how their professional fuel often comes from outside their professional lives. We talked about: Voracious reading Understanding people How Ray Dalio's "Idea meritocracy" resonated with Rob Thinking Fast & Slow, in Rob’s case about Floods and Flow Finding the strength to put down a book Michelle’s reflection ab…

Helen Noehammer, Director of Transportation & Infrastructure Planning at the City of Mississauga shares her take on pink-handled tools and how soft skills help alongside the hard skills in the engineer’s toolbox. Helen talks to us about... How "a little bit of everything" adds up to a lot What happens when "life happens" Changes in the representati…

Lesley Pavan, Director of Design and Development at the City of Mississauga shares her insights into the lifestyle choices on offer in the rapidly urbanizing city where she both works and lives. Lesley speaks to us about... Her path from humble roots on the farm, to geographer and through a municipal journey to her role as Director. Mississauga's e…

The Plangineers talk about ingrained falsehoods and the challenge of living up to our professional duty Factual review of engineering data is found here relating to the fact that storm intensities have not increased Rob shared data and engaged specific outlets to expose falsehoods. In this article from Canadian Underwriter, editors consulted Enviro…

A “Millenial” is defined as someone born between 1981 - 1997. Our Millenial Planner, Michelle, and Gen X-er Engineer Rob, share their perspectives on the topic of the “Millenial experience,” and challenge the current narrative. Age-ism is a recurring and troubling theme as is the reality of how it may be ever-present, but simply being dealt with di…

The Plangineers talk about how the input of technical experts can help round out storytelling to add the "why" to the "who cares?" (Sorry for the confusion in the intro...this is actually episode #5, you're right.) Reporting on the GO Train flooding of 2013 may have exaggerated the frequency of this occurrence Check out Rob's CityFloodMap blog post…

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Episode #4: Dancing About Infrastructure Michelle and Rob reflect on the artistry that reveals our invisible services and why these reminders are an important part of our urban existence Talking about music, is like dancing about architecture. But we’ll try dancing about infrastructure anyway Older underground sewers are brick works of art like the…

At the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage in Ontario, we ask is there a "woman's place" in the Plangineering space? Ontario became the fifth province in Canada to grant women the right to vote on April 12, 1917. This came following more than half a century of activism. Discussing how the controversial dialogue between Jane Jacobs and Robert Mose…

Episode #2: Good, or good enough? Michelle and Rob, our Plangineers, discuss how paradigms were broken for the revolutionary Deep Lake Water Cooling system. Our ancestors first form of “district energy,” sharing fire in a cave Vancouver’s Olympic village district energy system Sustainable development at the Regent Park Revitalization Discussing Enw…

In the debut podcast, Michelle and Rob talk about what inspired them to urban planning and engineering and why the bridge between their practices is shorter than we think. This month, we talked about: Urban dictionary reference to Plangineer The three pillars of planning: Public Health, Legislation & Architecture Rob's toothpick bridge Discussing h…