Urban Scientist. Community Builder. Keynote Speaker.
In the last few weeks, people have been discussing the issue of diversity in urbanism. At the recent CanU conference, there was an all-white all-male panel that got people talking. What happened at CanU isn't uncommon; many urbanist conferences often have a lack of gender and racial diversity in their speaker and panel rosters. So, … Continue reading A City That Works For Everyone: Reflections on the Necessity of an Intersectional Urbanism
Last week, I had the privilege to do a talk at the Winter Cities Shake-Up. The conference brought together innovative thinkers from all over the world to discuss ways in which we can make the most out of winter. I thoroughly enjoyed the conference and felt that it validated a lot of my feelings around … Continue reading Winter, Mental Health and Urban Design: Social connection and Public Spaces
It’s Bell Let’s Talk Day tomorrow. Across the country, people will be tweeting #BellLetsTalk in support of mental health. Each tweet raises 5 cents towards funding for mental health research and program development. To date, they have committed over 66 million dollars. Beyond fundraising, the initiative has done great work in helping challenge the stigma … Continue reading Please Talk. We Are Listening
This past Saturday, I had the opportunity to introduce Dr. Gabor Maté. Dr. Maté was in Edmonton to speak as part of the Edmonton Public Library’s Forward Thinking Speaker Series. As I had mentioned in my opening speech, I was a little star struck. In my world, Dr. Maté is a bit of a rockstar … Continue reading Combating a Toxic Culture in Edmonton: Some Thoughts on Dr. Gabor Mate’s Wisdom
What is community? Merriam Webster defines community as : a group of people who live in the same area (such as a city, town, or neighborhood) : a group of people who have the same interests, religion, race, etc. : a group of nations As you can see, the definition isn't particularly clear. I’ve been … Continue reading What is community?
