Sir Wilfrid Laurier Collegiate Institute, in Scarborough, is the latest high school that has worked with the Toronto district council of the Urban Land Institute to deliver the UrbanPlan program into its curriculum, specifically with the grade nine geography students in 2018. Learning about the program at a TDSB session, Sadhana Hirdaramani, a teacher at the school, worked with ULI to bring the program to her classroom last year. UrbanPlan has now been well-received in nine local Toronto high schools by both faculty and students. A practical and engaging project-based learning curriculum for high schools, UrbanPlan brings together topics of economics, city government, real estate and urban planning. The program provides high school students with a hands-on experience in developing realistic solutions to real estate challenges and an understanding of how residents can engage in the development of their city.

The program was taught to a total of 58 grade nine geography students by Hirdaramani by the end of 2018. Hirdaramani was supported by ULI volunteers working in the urban development profession.

“Students said it was really valuable and that they enjoyed doing it; they learned a lot from the visitors (i.e. ULI volunteers, industry guest speakers) and developed team building skills as well,” Hirdaramani said. “They had to figure out ways to make their ideas heard but then also to have the collaboration piece — how do you work with people when you don’t agree with them?” She also explained that students learned about the challenges of working with limited resources – feedback frequently written in the students’ reflection pieces when UrbanPlan was finished for their semester.

In groups, the students had to redevelop a 5 ½ block site in a fictional city while balancing the challenge of competing demands such as market realities and competing public needs and desires. Students eventually presented their program to a mock City Council that awarded the development contract to the winning team.

Hirdaramani said that she recognized the learning benefits of UrbanPlan, such as students developing critical thinking, problem-solving and team building skills for later in life. She also noted the importance of her students working on a hands-on project that challenges them to think about and work through the complex decisions involved in a city-building project.

The most outstanding proposals were the ones that effectively met and surpassed demands by considering all stakeholder needs, such as how to accommodate and welcome indigenous populations, how to design more inclusive outdoor spaces, and how to think outside the box.

As for the high school being in the suburbs of Toronto and students not necessarily being exposed to the major and frequent urban development of the downtown core, Hirdaramani said that it’s good for students to also learn about that area of the city. However, she believes that there are similar issues facing students who live in both the suburbs and downtown core, such as the transit system.

“Even though it looks different outside our window, it’s some of the same issues that they are dealing with, just in a different way,” she said. “We talk about downtown Toronto and all the related stats. We live in a big city but in the class, too, I try to focus on what’s happening in real life. What does it look like? What does it mean to us?” She explained that Scarborough is currently experiencing a lot of redevelopment. Although it may not be as major or frequent as urban projects in the core of the city, she wants students to learn how they can work and think about space in their own neighbourhood.

Overall, Hirdaramani was happy with the success of the program and plans on teaching the UrbanPlan curriculum again to students in the spring.

“It’s positive because they are very engaged when they are doing the project. Even when they are leaving the class, they are having discussions,” she said. Hirdaramani explained that during the project, considering a homeless shelter in the plan brought up a lot of discussion, both in and out of the classroom. “Those are the kinds of things I think will have an impact on them as they move forward with their lives, when they leave the school, become adults and have to make important decisions.”