OVERVIEW

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) is now a forefront consideration of city building internationally. In a recent letter to Toronto Mayor John Tory, Gladki Planning Associates noted “[recent] reflection has allowed us to see the role of our industry in an uncomfortable history of supporting structures of systemic racism in Canada.” And “Current engagement practices can burden or marginalize the voices of racialized communities.” While appropriate in a Planning context, these issues are important to the entire Real Estate industry.

This year’s Curtner Urban Leadership Program will focus on EDI in a planning, land use and development context. Working in teams, participants will lead monthly public sessions focused on identifying challenges and examining solutions. Using input from these sessions as well as their own experiences and research, they will then identify and develop those inclusive actions that can leverage diversity to achieve equity.

OBJECTIVES
Participants: Develop knowledge and appreciation of EDI in a planning and development context; create collaborative consultative experiences; connect and network with peers and others in the planning and development community; improve the way things are done.

Advisors/Mentors: Pay it forward; learn new approaches; expand professional network.

Policymakers and the Planning/Development Community: Understand the problems and challenges; learn from demonstrated evidence, cases, examples and lived experiences; do it better.

Public: Be included; Those who should be included are those who believe they should be included.

Program Design Philosophy
An evolutionary, co-design approach is going to be taken with this program. The participants are being asked to collectively determine the focus and priorities and then to develop a monthly public session and set of related activities based on each month’s focus topic. In addition to a selected topic, each month will also focus on a different, specific example project, region, or neighbourhood from across the GGH. The structure and outline below are presented as a “straw dog” with the intent to be changed and refined by the participants during a co-design session in December.

Expected Commitment
Participants are expected to attend day-long sessions on the last Friday of every month, December 2020 to June 2021. Each day will consist of a session that is open to the public and the ULI Community followed by a reflective discussion and other activities as developed. Additionally, each participant within a group is responsible as a team member to be actively involved in the design, planning, development and execution of one of the six monthly sessions. This will include meeting with mentor/advisors in the weeks leading up to the specific monthly session, organizing the public session, and developing and organizing the other activities around that month’s topic. There could be some pre-reading or other small activities to complete between the monthly meetings, but any additional work will not be onerous. Participants are encouraged to participate in ULI and other opportunities related to equity, diversity and inclusion to share new knowledge and experiences with the group.

SESSIONS
Session 1 – Kick off
Session 2 – Public/Community Session EDI Issues in Development and Planning
Session 3 – The Now: Decolonizing Planning & Systemic Racism
Session 4 – The Future We Want and (Need)
Session 5 – Policies & Procedures
Session 6 – EDI: Who Has to do What?
Session 7 – Tools & Community Engagement
Final Townhall

2021 Curtner Urban Leadership Program Directory

Class of 2021 Curtner Urban Leadership Program participants:
Abdullah Diab, City of Toronto
Anna Kathrina Cipriano, Great Gulf Homes
Cate Flanagan, urbanMetrics
Christian Jattan, Dillon Consulting Limited
Daniel Tse, University of Toronto
Dapo Olajide, Northcrest Developments
Darrin Rankine, Dream
Elaha Safi, Halton Region
Hailey Quiquero, Entuitive
Hilary Black, Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing
Jannat Nain, Urban Strategies
Jennifer Johnson, Wordsearch Place
Kaari Kitawi, City of Toronto
Kevin Somra, First Gulf
Kumsa Baker, Toronto Community Benefits Network
Lillian D’Souza, City of Toronto
Marem Kushtova, BDP Quadrangle
Mutiat Bello, Infrastructure Ontario
Ori Abara, ERA Architects Inc.
Paul Nichols, Toronto Lands Institute
Rui Zhou, MTE Consultants
Shakaka Jadhav, Youth Climate Lab
Simone Hodgson, Bousfields Inc.
Sivahami Vijenthira, Metrolinx
Sonali Praharaj, DTAH
Surbhi Kamboj, B+H Architects
Temo Cruz, ED Modular Inc.
Trystan Anderson, Bothwell-Accurate Co. Inc.