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September 21 and 22
2 days, 2 disciplines, 2 ways to participate – defining our professional roles and uniting to build more equitable, accessible and inspired communities.
#2GETHER2022
Prior to the pandemic, many municipalities were flirting with the idea of going digital for planning approvals while others had made the transition. When civic offices closed in March 2020, planning departments were forced to get creative with application processing. Municipalities pivoted to online public consultation and engagement. Ten years of innovation happened in 10 months. Two years later, it is now time to regroup and assess whether you are achieving all the benefits of digital planning or if a broken paper process just went electronic. The push for digital planning is here. The Affordable Housing Task force recommended consistent municipal e-permitting. The Provincial Government has been funding work to look at obtaining efficiencies in the planning process. There are new vendors entering the market every week. For those working in a paper file-based office or a patchwork of electronic work arounds, the task seems daunting. Even those with legacy systems are questioning their next steps. This session will provide a high-level overview of lessons learned, what to think about as you embark on moving to e-permitting. It will also challenge some of the conventional thinking around how planners do their work. Are there things that are part of our everyday work that are no longer required given the amount of information that planners can access at their fingertips? Are there requirements that are no longer necessary in the age of digital security? The speakers will draw on international and provincial wide experience in digital planning to provide participants an overview of the possibilities in achieving efficient and effective planning processes.