Our Location:
Introduction
The School of Planning is part of the Faculty of Architecture and Planning
at Dalhousie University. Dalhousie University is located in downtown
Halifax, which is situated on a peninsula in a large natural harbour.
The area encompassing Halifax, Dartmouth, Bedford, Sackville and Halifax
County has recently been merged into one municipal unit, the Halifax
Regional Municipality, comprising some 340,000 inhabitants. Halifax is
a relaxed but dynamic city with a vigorous night life and an exceptional
physical location. Its climate, moderated by the Atlantic Ocean, is warm
and sunny in summer and cool in winter. Open country is a 15 minute drive
from the city centre and the setting is woodland, lakes and villages
on ocean coves.
For those concerned with land use planning and economic development
and their effects on communities and the environment, Halifax Regional
Municipality is the centre of some of the most varied and creative activity
in Canada.
The Atlantic provinces have been the focus of federally and provincially
sponsored regional development innovations for more than three decades.
The efforts have not been uniformly successful but do provide many lessons.
While some parts of the regional economy such as the groundfish industry
are in difficulty, others such as New Brunswick's aquaculture industry
are booming. Tourism continues to thrive and the software and aerospace
firms clustered around Halifax are now as much a part of the economic
scene as the small potato farms of Prince Edward Island.
Halifax is the headquarters for much of the commercial and government
activity of Nova Scotia and the Atlantic region. As a result, the expertise
of a diverse array of people concerned with development and its consequences
is accessible to our students. A federal presence in regional development
and housing is maintained in Halifax along with provincial government
agencies concerned with land use planning, housing and economic development.
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