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November 2004 News
A conference exploring the potential for more liveable, enjoyable, and comfortable winter communities. February 10- 12, 2005. Please join us as we discuss and debate the question, how can planning and design better respond to energy use, outdoor activity and year-round active transportation, regardless of the weather? The conference is free of charge to all participants. Our Director, Jill Grant, is on sabbatical leave this year. Patricia Manuel has taken over her roles as Acting Director and Undergraduate Program Coordinator for 2004-05. Patricia will maintain her office in Sexton House. Carol Madden, our administrative secretary, will be in her accustomed location in the East Wing of the Architecture and Planning Building. We concluded two programs in the School of Planning this spring: the Master of Urban and Rural Planning (MURP) and the NSCAD Environmental Planning (EP) Program. Congratulations and good luck to our recent graduates in both programs. A few students will continue to finish the MURP degree as continuing thesis or part-time students. This year, we implement Year 2 of the new Master of Planning Program, including new courses, new studios and a new approach to independent projects. We are also implementing the Honours year of the Bachelor of Community Design degree, with a new studio and new courses. Two minor programs (the Bachelor of Science, Minor in Community
Design and the Bachelor of Community Design, Minor in Environmental
Science) and a combined major program (Major in Environmental
Science and Major in Community Design) will go before University
Senate in the fall. The Ad Hoc Committee on GIS at Dalhousie has submitted its report
to the VP Academic and Provost. John Zuck represented the Faculty
of Architecture and Planning. James Boxall (Curator, Map Library
and Geographic Information Services and adjunct faculty with the
School of Planning), is now working with the Dean of Graduate
Studies to implement some of the committee recommendations. GIS
in courses and research is of great interest to the School so
are we are looking forward to the opportunities that will arise
from the work of this committee. Faculty and students attended workshops and conferences this
summer. In May, faculty and students participated in the Nova Scotia
Planning Directors Conference. The theme, Disaster Planning, was
a topic with particular resonance given the events of the past
year! Maritime Field Trip - Over the Causeway Planning students travelled to Cape Breton this summer with the School of Planning Maritime Field Trip. John Zuck led 30 students across the Island to discover first hand the diversity of planning and community development issues in this part of the Maritimes. Visits included Port Hawksbury, Sydney, Louisbourg and Glace Bay. The Cities & Environment Unit, under the direction of Frank Palermo, received the prestigious 2004 Dubai International Best Practices Award to Improve the Living Environment. Congratulations! The First Nations Community Planning Project consists of community-based plans and capacity development in seventeen First Nations communities in Atlantic Canada. It was selected as one of 10 award winners from 680 submissions world wide. School of Planning students were busy working throughout the summer. Our MPLAN students were engaged in planning and design work across the region as part of their work term requirement. We will hear about their experiences in the fall. Some of our graduate and undergraduate students took summer courses here at Dalhousie, at other Canadian schools, and abroad. Several of our students were successful in their efforts to secure research funds to support their independent projects and thesis research. Congratulations to Ben Hoff (MPLAN 2) and Lilith Finkler (Interdisciplinary PhD). Ben and Lilith were both successful in securing funding from the Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation. Late last year, students in the Bachelor of Community Design organized the new Society of Undergraduate Planners (SUP). The society executive is ready to start the new year with many different events designed to help all students connect with the field of community planning and design. More information on both the SUP and GPS (Graduate Planning Students' Society) will be available in September. As reported above, Patricia Manuel has taken over the roles of School Director and Undergraduate Coordinator for the 2004-05 academic year. Patricia was expert witness for a NS Utility Review Board Hearing appeal of a local land use planning decision. She reviewed an environmental impact assessment for Baltzers Bog in the Annapolis Valley, prepared submissions for several planning hearings, continues her community-based planning work through projects with local watershed and environmental groups and led several field excursions. She has been appointed a member of the board of directors for the new Halifax Harbour Watersheds Coalition. She is working with others on two SSHRC applications: one seeking funding to support community-based research and stewardship of the Halifax Harbour watersheds, the other to study the relationship between community design and health. Jill Grant began her sabbatical on July 1. She will spend her leave time working on a book on new urbanism in theory and practice (for Routledge UK), and writing up her gated communities research. In April, Ashgate Publishers released a book, Towards Sustainable Cities, edited by Jill with two colleagues (A. Sorensen and P. Marcotullio). John Zuck began his summer with a trip to Trinidad. John participates in the Secondary Education Modernization Project, training teachers in design-based education. John represented the Faculty on the Ad Hoc Committee on GIS at Dalhousie (reported above). As a result of their work, we look forward to seeing the development of GIS opportunities at Dalhousie. John also participated in a study for the HRM assessing capacity for on-site services in the municipality. The inventory and interpretation maps for this project were used in the HRM regional planning workshops held this summer. Susan Guppy was appointed Associate Professor in July. Congratulations Susan! This summer she has continued work on her Urban Ecology text, ably assisted by Brett Allen (MPLAN 2), with whom she has also initiated a study of the patios which are now part of the summer landscape of Halifax. Michael Poulton attended the Planning Directors' Conference in Halifax, was academic adviser and speaker at the (Queens) executive forum on public property, and was an invited participant at the CD Howe Luncheon meeting on regional development. He is a team member in the development of a major research proposal on Canadas transportation futures. Frank Palermo returned from sabbatical leave in July. During his sabbatical he helped the Halifax Regional Municipality develop an Urban Design Awards program and served on the first jury. With the Cities and Environment Unit, he organized and delivered a First Nations Land Management Workshop for CIP and organized two public BIG IDEAS sessions on the future of HRM. He is advising the Halifax Community Liason Committee (North End) on design and Urban Issues associated with the new sewage treatment facility. James Boxall, adjunct faculty member, attended conferences, including the Geomatics Atlantic Conference (Fredericton) Canadian Association of Geographers Annual Meeting (Moncton) and the Association of Canadian Map Libraries and Archives (Manitoba). James is very active in presenting and publishing papers on accessing and organizing geospatial information. He was recently elected to the Board of Directors for the Geomatics Association of Nova Scotia (2004-2006). We will be joined this year by returning and new part time faculty. Valerie Spencer returns to direct the MPLAN 2 team studio in the winter semester. Lloyd Robbins will teach a new law course in the BCD program. Lloyd taught planning law in the former Environmental Planning program. Brant Wishart (Planning Practice) and Howard Epstein (Planning Law) will also be with us again this year. Carol Madden has been busy working through the summer. Carol has been helping Patricia adjust to her new role as Director, maintaining an efficient administration office in the midst of renovation upheavals, fielding questions from students (new, returning and interested) and welcoming and assisting all new and returning students as they arrive for the new semester. Carol is very much looking forward to moving back into her renovated office by September! Last year saw additions and renovations to our programs. This year, it is our buildings. Renovations have been on-going through August and you will notice changes to the Architecture and Planning building main foyer and to the East Wing. Some walls and the HB3 mezzanine platform are gone. Space is being expanded and re-allocated. The two MPLAN studios are located in the East Wing, using HB 3 and HB 4. The studios share computer and technical working areas in HB 1 and HB 3A. The lobby of the building has been renovated and the flooring replaced. HB 2 continues as a multi-purpose classroom, as does HA18. The Cities and Environment Research Unit has moved to Sexton House. The addition is a portable building beside Sexton House. We anticipate delivery of the building in November. In the meantime, we will have use of temporary classroom space in the St. Matthew's Church Hall a very shot distance from of the Architecture and Planning building. Once installed, the portable building will serve as a multi-purpose classroom for Planning and Architecture courses with a separate seminar room. Susan Guppy, John Zuck, Ben Hoff, Thayer Nugent and Jaspal Marwah have worked hard on behalf of the School, as part of or in consultation with the Faculty Space Committee, to address our physical space needs. They deserve huge thanks, as do all the Space Committee members and others in the University assisting them. |
