Scott Taylor is a graduate from the University of Waterloo’s planning co-op program. As a student Scott had the opportunity to participate in an International Federation for Housing and Planning (IFHP) summer program in Finland. Since graduation, Scott has spent the last 11 years working for the County of Grey in various planning positions.

As part of his work at Grey County, Scott is involved with a mixture of policy and development planning matters. He loves being part of a small (but mighty) planning department, in a diverse County; as it has allowed for great on-the-job training and plenty of unique experiences. The County is currently undertaking an official plan review, where they are focusing on non-traditional methods of public engagement, to receive broader public input.

Scott is an active volunteer with Ontario Professional Planners Institute (OPPI) and the Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP). He is currently the Vice-Chair of the Lakeland District Leadership Team, and sits on CIP’s Centenary Committee. Scott also serves as a mentor for some younger members working their way through the Professional Standards Board process.

As part of his work with Lakeland District, Scott assists with planning Continuous Professional Learning (CPL) events and public outreach. For the last couple of years Scott, along with other Lakeland District volunteers, has been using LEGO® to engage and educate youth on planning. The LEGO® workshops are interactive, and focus on planning and community involvement in the city hosting the event. Participants are presented with a site from their city and asked to construct their ideas on what to ‘plan’ for the site. In 2016, Lakeland District held nine such workshops at schools, libraries, and youth centres, with a broad range of participants from age four to adult. The idea was also presented at the 2016 OPPI Symposium in Hamilton, with two sessions that were geared towards adults.

Scott’s personal observations from running these events are that kids ‘get’ planning, and are very receptive to planning principles, especially when not spoken in ‘planner-ese.’ As an extension of the LEGO® workshops, he is currently making short videos using the LEGO® to teach people about planning concepts. These videos can be used as part of future workshops, or for standalone viewing.

Antoin Diamond, MCIP, RPP has a unique planning role as the Director of Land Securement for the Bruce Trail Conservancy (BTC), where she has worked since 2007 securing land for the Bruce Trail and conservation corridor. The BTC is a charitable member-based volunteer driven organization that has been securing land on the Niagara Escarpment since the 1970s. To date, they have secured about 52% of the Bruce Trail Optimum Route and manage about 8,500 acres within the Niagara Escarpment Parks and Open Space System (NEPOSS) of the Niagara Escarpment Plan (NEP).

Antoin’s work in land securement requires a broad spectrum of skills and knowledge in landowner relations, real estate and land use planning policies and legislation as well as ecology. She also has the passion to keep pace with the thousands of hikers and hundreds of volunteers who are eager to protect the land. By working with landowners, preparing agreements for land acquisition or easements, and acquiring severances, Antoin assists the BTC in acquiring the ecologically sensitive portions of land. The BTC also partners with many organizations that have the same goal. Tax incentives that encourage land donations play a large role so Antoin also works with the Ecological Gift Program and American Friends of Canadian Land Trust (cross border donations).

Antoin finds her job very rewarding, as she plays a role in trying to strike that balance between development and conserving habitat while also providing responsible public access to the Niagara Escarpment. The Escarpment is recognized nationally as a premier biosphere reserve and internationally by UNESCO. It draws millions of people to southern Ontario every year putting us on the world map and giving us a sense of pride and place. As a Registered Professional Planner, Antoin plays a significant role in helping to acquire and protect those special places.

Splitting his time between Canada and the Caribbean, Michel Frojmovic's professional development has a strong Caribbean influence.

Building on these networks, Michel has developed and led international cooperation projects on behalf of the Canadian Institute of Planners since 1998. Most noteworthy are WorldLink International Internship Program for Planners – over 125 Canadian young professional planners have had six-month overseas placements in over 30 countries – and a series of Canada-Caribbean planning partnerships.

Established in 1999, Acacia Consulting & Research seeks to assist urban, municipal and community-based organizations make better use of data, information and knowledge to inform policy and effect change. Through his company, Michel offers comprehensive support to Canada´s leading municipal indicator and community data access projects. These include Federation of Canadian Municipalities´ Quality of Life Reporting System, Canadian Council on Social Developments´ Community Data Consortium Program and Community Foundations of Canada´s Vital Signs Reports. Michel also provides services to Community Data Canada, a multi-stakeholder process aimed at establishing a permanent forum for collaboration among Canadian governments and community organizations to improve access to and use of small area data for decision making.

Active in his local community, Michel founded Creative Neighbourhoods, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing good planning and design to Ottawa´s old west end and led a process to establish the Wellington Street West Business Improvement Area.

A man with a vision—clean, green, publicly accessible Hamilton Harbour by 2015—John Hall has inspired Hamilton and Halton Region political and community leaders to redouble their efforts to remediate the harbour and make this vision a reality.

As co-ordinator of the Hamilton Harbour Remedial Action Plan (RAP), John Hall works tirelessly for the rehabilitation of the harbour and its watershed. The Hamilton Harbour RAP is a community-based project to improve water quality and habitat in Hamilton Harbour, its watershed and Cootes Paradise Marsh. Setting out the process for "de-listing" Hamilton Harbour as an "area of concern" under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, its objectives are to improve the biological health of the harbour ecosystem and increase public access to the waterfront.

An innate leader, mentor and motivator, John is never without a thoughtful comment or helpful insight to steer a project or discussion in the appropriate direction. Well versed in the policies and responsibilities of four levels of government, he fosters cooperation among dozens of planners, engineers and scientists and facilitates a meaningful collaboration among governments and the community. John excels at bringing the right people together and focusing their efforts on a shared goal, despite organizational or philosophical differences.

Innovator, leader, trendsetter are just a few of the adjectives used to describe Sari and her approach to community and sustainability planning and community engagement. While planning and public health have traditionally been viewed as distinct disciplines, Sari recognizes the common ground between these fields – their complementary objectives for achieving, healthy, strong and sustainable communities.

Sari received a Bachelors of Arts from the University of Toronto and a Masters of Urban and Regional Planning from Queen´s University, where she focused on Human Services planning. She began her planning career in the public sector in 2001, first as an intern with York Region Human Services, then as a contract policy planner for Peel Region, and a land use planner for the York Region District School Board. Sari moved to the private sector in 2004 serving as a planner at Hardy Stevenson and Associates Limited, and then joining Dillon Consulting Limited in 2007, where she is currently an associate.

Sari´s broad based experience has given her the opportunity to reflect upon the role of planning in promoting healthy communities. She is a strong advocate of applying a social and health equity lens to support planning decisions.

Through Sari´s leadership and vision Dillon Consulting recently completed various projects to support the Ministry of Health Promotion and Sport´s Healthy Communities Framework. Teams of professionals from a variety of disciplines collaborated on achieving tangible improvements in individual and community well-being.

Robert Voigt, MCIP, RPP – planner, sculptor, blogger – is connected. An innovator with online tools, Robert has three animated videos to his credit and 15 years of varied professional planning experience. He is recognized in numerous online forums frequented by planners throughout Canada and the U.S.

Robert´s first animated video highlighted difficulties associated with communication and public engagement for the planning profession – http://bit.ly/hYnWH1 – which received over 15,000 views in its first month. At the end of 2010 he created two ground-breaking paper-craft animated videos – http://bit.ly/hRSmWk – to improve communication related to Collingwood´s active transportation initiative. Even before coming to Collingwood, Robert was recognized as a leader in the development of online tools for municipal planning in Washington State and across the U.S. www.planetizen.com/node/30715.

Passionate about urban design, Robert developed Collingwood´s Urban Design Manual, replete with “first ever” innovations. These include first in North America to define natural playground requirements for neighbourhood parks; first urban design regulations in Ontario to be adopted as standards for both subdivisions and site plans; first municipality in the region to use a social media based stakeholder engagement process; and first municipal design manual to include shared space home zone (or woonerf) standards in Canada. As a result, timelines for development reviews were drastically reduced; designs were significantly improved, more human scaled and context appropriate; and projects better integrate active transportation infrastructure.

Check out CivicBlogger – www.civicblogger.blogspot.com – and join the conversations about planning, civic engagement and municipal organizational development.