Magic Moment: An important ‘magic’ moment for me was being invited to participate with Toronto Community Housing, Alexandra Park and Atkinson Co-Op residents in a celebration to kick-start construction of the new Alexandra Park community. This moment personally represented several years of working in close consultation with the community and stakeholders to develop a master plan that will deliver quality housing, a central park and a new community centre as part of a dynamic district in the city.

Key Influence: When I was making a transition in my career from Social Work to City Design, I read David Harvey’s book ‘Spaces of Capital’, which speaks to the relationship between geography, politics, power and space. I was lucky enough to be taught by him at LSE and in fact, devoted by thesis to exploring homelessness from the lens of another one of his books – ‘Spaces of Hope’. The tenets of this learning inform my work today – which is focused on Housing and Mobility – two critical aspects that are central to planning and designing for intensification.

Next Big Challenge As An Industry: In the context of working within one of the most rapidly growing regions in North America – most of it anticipated through immigration – we need to be proactive and responsive to provide choice in where people live, how they move around and how we will do so as good stewards of our planet. Problem solving these big topics through design can absolutely be impactful.

On Championing Others… We have a diverse team of planners, designers and architects at SvN. One focus of my work is to sustain an environment where we celebrate personal strengths and expand professional capacity. Our approach starts with people. We talk to people, we listen to people, we connect to people and we create design solutions for people.

One word that captures you: Candid