2021 Graduate Planning Award Recipients

Alexandra Simpson

Alexandra is currently completing her MScPl where she is fascinated by the processes through which cities continuously grow and evolve. Her interests are vast but focus on real estate development, alternative housing models, and innovative approaches to land use planning. These have influenced her planning thesis on non-profit housing development which explores the processes through which non-market housing is financed, developed, and managed; and how to build capacity within the sector through an ecosystems approach. Through this work, Alexandra hopes to identify strategies that can strengthen the non-profit housing sector in Toronto and see more units of deeply affordable housing on the ground.

Katelyn Ling

Katelyn is a second-year MScPl student in the Depart of Geography and Planning at the University of Toronto. She has a degree in Global Resource Systems and diploma in Applied Planning. Her current research interests include equitable and multi-sectoral collaborative planning approaches and decolonized urban food systems. Katelyn's planning thesis, supervised by Mike Ekers, aims to unpack equitable processes in planning for food and medicine spaces in the city of Vancouver.

S. Fahima Begum

Fahima is a second year MSc in Planning student from Hamilton, Ontario. She has a BA in Political Science, a Bachelor in Social Work, and three years’ work experience in individual counselling in domestic violence and developmental services. Fahima’s research interests focus on access to the built environment. This includes access to green spaces for low-income neighbourhoods in her environmental planning courses, access to services for independent refugee youth in her research assistant position, and access to the city for undocumented residents in her CIP. Fahima hopes to use her past experiences and current knowledge to ensure increased opportunities and equitable distribution of resources for all members of the community.

Syeda Bushra Binte Amin

Syeda Bushra Binte Amin is a second-year MScPl student in the Department of Geography and Planning at the University of Toronto. She is interested in community planning and city management. She is also interested in how planning tools alleviate or create barriers for communities. Currently, she is focusing her research on exploring community governance options for non-profit organizations in managing a capital asset. Before joining the program, Syeda worked as an urban planner in the capital development authority in Bangladesh.

Lakshmi Soundarapandian

Lakshmi is a first year MScPl student exploring equity-driven real estate development and urban design. Through opportunities to live and study in cities across the world, Lakshmi became passionate about investigating how cities can learn from each other and function more sustainably. Now, Lakshmi has centered her learning in understanding land use, spatial analysis, and urban design in relation to diasporas, cultural placemaking, and community engagement. She hopes to work in urban and real estate development to create built environments that reflect local and global values. Lakshmi is currently a Research Assistant for Dr. Lindsay Stephens, investigating solutions for challenges in accessibility and accommodations faced by students in healthcare fields. She additionally serves as a Planning Alumni Committee Representative in GGAPSS. Lakshmi is also an Indian Classical dancer and the Co-Founder and President of a Vancouver-based non-profit for dance, Aṣṣa Alliance.

Travis Van Wyck

Travis is a MScPl student interested in the intersections between planning, economic development, and cultural production in urban nighttime economies. His research looks at the relationship between contemporary nighttime governance practices and the social, economic, and political characteristics of subcultural scenes and spaces. More specifically, Travis is examining the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) placemaking practices in Toronto’s resurgent underground rave scene to consider potential avenues for establishing equitable artistic, cultural, and nighttime policies without instrumentalizing, displacing, or marginalizing alternative cultures, scenes, and spaces.

Priscilla Ankomah-Hackman

Priscilla’s research explores the experiences of Black planning students and professional planners in Canada with major emphasis of anti-Black racism and mental health services. She is passionate about creating conducive and liveable spaces for racialized groups to thrive while contributing to the socio-economic development of urban spaces. She worked with the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly and Effutu Municipal Assembly Physical Planning Department as a Researcher/Urban Planner. In Canada, she worked with Hearts and Stroke Foundation and Habitat for Humanity. She volunteers as the Programs Manager for a non-profit environmental think tank in Ghana, Institute of Nature and Environmental Conservation, INEC.

Chiyi Tam

Chiyi (MScPl, Class of 2021) is an urban planner and community organizer raised in Vancouver, on unceded Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, xʷməθkʷəy̓əm and Səl̓ílwətaʔ lands and waters; in the translation between places and culture.

She is currently the manager of the Kensington Market Community Land Trust. She also co-development a new Chinatown Neighbourhood Land Trust with Friends of Chinatown Toronto. Her research and work explore alternative enterprise and governance models which use community ownership as an anti-displacement strategy for racial & economic justice in Toronto’s Chinatowns.

She frequently consults with groups regarding social enterprise legislation, governance and cooperative strategies. She aims to reciprocate knowledge into community.

Priscilla Ankomah-Hackman

Priscilla’s research explores the experiences of Black planning students and professional planners in Canada with major emphasis of anti-Black racism and mental health services. She is passionate about creating conducive and liveable spaces for racialized groups to thrive while contributing to the socio-economic development of urban spaces. She worked with the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly and Effutu Municipal Assembly Physical Planning Department as a Researcher/Urban Planner. In Canada, she worked with Hearts and Stroke Foundation and Habitat for Humanity. She volunteers as the Programs Manager for a non-profit environmental think tank in Ghana, Institute of Nature and Environmental Conservation, INEC.

Demetra Barbacuta

Demetra is completing her second year in the MScPl program. Influenced by her undergraduate degree in Health Sciences, she entered the program with an interest in integrating public health into planning practices. While this interest has persisted and underlies everything she does, her interests have also expanded to include the role of streets, streets as public space, and sustainable modes of transportation. Her planning thesis will be dedicated to analyzing the equitable distribution of slow streets in Toronto and Los Angeles. She also works as a research assistant, exploring pandemic responses implemented in North American cities.

Nida Mirza

Nida Mirza is a second-year Master of Science in Planning (MScPl) student. She completed her undergrad at UofT in political science, history and the study of religion. After working in the public sector at the federal level, she became interested in local-level politics drawing her to planning. Her research interests include the intersections of faith and planning, Indigenous/settler relations, equitable housing and climate resiliency. She hopes to contribute to the work of social justice-oriented planning informed by anti-racist, anti-imperialist, and equity-based placemaking. Her planning thesis is currently exploring the alternative planning practices of faith-based organizations in the neoliberal city.

Emily Power

Emily Power is a student in the Master of Science in Planning program. Her master’s thesis looks at tenant dispossession and landlord accumulation under COVID-19 in Toronto, by tracking the expansion of financialized landlord holdings and analyzing rates of rent arrears and evictions. Emily is a graduate student fellow with the U of T Mobility Lab, doing research on transit-induced gentrification and displacement resulting from Hamilton’s light rail transit project. She is also a research assistant with the Affordable Housing Challenge Project, led by Dr. Susannah Bunce and Dr. Alan Walks. Under the supervision of Dr. Walks, she is doing research on Canadian public sector pension fund investments in rental housing. Emily is active in tenant organizing in Hamilton where she lives.

Alexandra Lambropoulos

Alexandra is in her first year pursuing a Masters of Science in Planning. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto in Human Geography (major), Urban Studies (major) and GIS (minor). Alexandra is interested in researching urban planning strategies and policies that develop strong communities and solutions for the cities of tomorrow, especially where they intersect with arts, community economic development, resilience, and technology. She is also very interested in urban planning in African cities, which she explores through her monthly podcast Urban Limitrophe and as a researcher at The Reach Alliance.

Jane O'Brien Davis

Jane is a MScPl student in the Department of Geography and Planning. Her interests lie in heritage planning, cultural planning, and public histories. Jane's research looks at counter-monuments and alternative commemorations of space and place. She is interested in how grassroots organizing in Canadian cities engages with built heritage in a settler colonial context.

Priscilla Ankomah-Hackman

Priscilla’s research explores the experiences of Black planning students and professional planners in Canada with major emphasis of anti-Black racism and mental health services. She is passionate about creating conducive and liveable spaces for racialized groups to thrive while contributing to the socio-economic development of urban spaces. She worked with the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly and Effutu Municipal Assembly Physical Planning Department as a Researcher/Urban Planner. In Canada, she worked with Hearts and Stroke Foundation and Habitat for Humanity. She volunteers as the Programs Manager for a non-profit environmental think tank in Ghana, Institute of Nature and Environmental Conservation, INEC.

Brooke Fleming

Brooke is passionate about sustainable and equitable city building. She strives to understand how to develop communities in which everyone can thrive. The background she acquired through her undergraduate degree and previous post graduate studies have created a strong foundation in understanding people and how they interact with their environments. Her most recent experience in municipal planning exposed her to the influence of politics and policy in the planning process. As such, her major research paper focuses on creating dementia inclusive communities through land use strategies and design targeting municipal policy recommendations.

Bethany Wong

Bethany Wong is a second year MScPl student at the University of Toronto's Department of Geography and Planning. Bethany completed their undergraduate degree at McGill University in Sustainability, Science, and Society. In their work, Bethany is interested in advocating for affordable housing, community-led planning, and planning through a decolonial and anti-racist lens. Their planning thesis will explore how queer, trans and racialized youth access safe and affordable housing in Toronto. Using their research, Bethany hopes to produce a zine for community circulation, creating a resource for queer youth seeking housing and an archive of Toronto’s queer history. Outside of class, Bethany enjoys DJing, exploring Toronto’s neighbourhoods, and riding the TTC.

Demetra Barbacuta

Demetra is completing her second year in the MScPl program. Influenced by her undergraduate degree in Health Sciences, she entered the program with an interest in integrating public health into planning practices. While this interest has persisted and underlies everything she does, her interests have also expanded to include the role of streets, streets as public space, and sustainable modes of transportation. Her planning thesis will be dedicated to analyzing the equitable distribution of slow streets in Toronto and Los Angeles. She also works as a research assistant, exploring pandemic responses implemented in North American cities.

Serena Sonnenberg

Serena’s area of interest is equity of mobility and access within the built environment. She has researched community access to bicycles as a commuting tool at the City of Austin, supported safe-routes-to-school research at the Susan and Michael Dell Center for Healthy Living, studied the logistics of carrier cycles and suburban active mobility networks at Our Greenway Conservancy, researched accessibility in multi-use trails with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, and supported research on COVID-19 street reallocations with Professor Paul Hess. Her own research relates to Indigenous placekeeping and the relationship between culture, community health, and the built environment.

Alexandra Haag

Alexandra is a transportation planner and civil engineer. Her research interests involve investigating the complex relationships between transportation and urban form, mobility justice, and how relations of power shape (and are shaped by) mobility and place.

Emily Huang

Emily is a 2nd year Master of Science in Planning student. Her work explores land use planning, park development, and community engagement. Her current research examines green open space systems of Toronto and Shanghai. She draws primarily on qualitative research methods including empirical analysis of changes to green open spaces. Emily is also a student of the Collaborative Specialization in Contemporary East and Southeast Asian Studies at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.

Siobhan Kelly

Siobhan Kelly is a second-year student in the Master of Science in Planning program. Interested in the unintended outcomes of policy and regulation, Siobhan’s graduate research explores the role, impacts, and limitations of angular planes in regulating transitions between different scales of development. With her research, Siobhan hopes to motivate planners and urban designers to question the status quo, including conventions in planning practice. In addition to her studies, Siobhan works as a Research Assistant with the Department of Geography & Planning, contributing to faculty research that examines how customers with disabilities use and experience accessible taxis in Toronto. Siobhan also serves as a student representative on the Ontario Professional Planners Institute’s Student Liaison Committee.

Jorge Quesada Davies

Jorge is a graduating MSc Urban Planning student whose research interests focus on sustainable mobility, public space, and urban form. While working in the policy sector with the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, Emerging Technologies Office, Jorge developed an interest in New Mobility planning and sustainable urban form. In his graduate research, Jorge is currently investigating the land use opportunities related to Mobility-as-a-Service and other New Mobility modes in the GTHA and Metro Vancouver.

Rameez Sadafal

Rameez Sadafal is a second-year MScPl student specializing in environmental planning. Rameez's research focuses on utilizing Ontario’s planning process to protect and restore natural heritage systems and their respective biodiversity. This includes identifying the value that nature provides to the environment through essential ecosystem services such flood prevention, carbon sequestration, and climate regulation. Currently, Rameez is writing his planning thesis on the various land-use planning strategies employed along the Niagara Escarpment Biosphere Reserve.

Brooke Fleming

Brooke is passionate about sustainable and equitable city building. She strives to understand how to develop communities in which everyone can thrive. The background she acquired through her undergraduate degree and previous post graduate studies have created a strong foundation in understanding people and how they interact with their environments. Her most recent experience in municipal planning exposed her to the influence of politics and policy in the planning process. As such, her major research paper focuses on creating dementia inclusive communities through land use strategies and design targeting municipal policy recommendations.

Michael (Chun Fu) Liu

Michael Liu is a second-year Urban Planning student interested in a variety of urban planning issues. He is interested in growing urban nature and ensuring sufficient urban space to accommodate a growing population. He wants to learn and explore how urban areas can be planned to ensure vegetation and people can co-exist to achieve a more environmentally sustainable future. His personal interest is taking walks and pictures, and he always walks around to look for interesting things to capture in the city.

Madeline Barnes Planer

Madeline is a MscPl student currently researching community derived heritage practices. Her writing focuses on the redevelopment of Toronto's Gay Village, and how 2SLGBTQIA+ can be better incorporated into planning processes. She believes that clear understanding of the social significance of this contested space through the eyes of those who interact with and value it, will better place both developing bodies and advocates for The Village’s importance, when approaching future developments critically and with community interest in mind. Madeline’s work draws on queer theory, as well as precedents for alternative methods of community engagement.

Yu-Chen Chuang

Yu-Chen Chuang is a 1st student in the MScPl program at the University of Toronto. Before coming to Canada, she was trained in Anthropology at National Taiwan University and worked on the history of Indigenous land dispossession, as well as issues of Indigenous urban migration in Taiwan. Her broad research interest is to identify the legacy of colonialism and technocracy in environmental management and explore the possibilities for just sustainabilities. Currently, her research seeks to understand the relationship between climate adaptation policies and the ongoing processes of colonialism in Taiwan. Her research keywords include climate adaptation, vulnerabilities, post-disaster planning, expertise and colonialism.

Brian Eng

Brian is a Master of Science in Planning student interested in social planning, land-use planning and urban design. His years of living abroad and decades of experience as a secondary department chair, teacher and guidance counsellor in various public and private schools in Canada, China, Costa Rica, Taiwan and Thailand has informed his research interests about the importance of personal narratives and community-based planning in shaping equitable and socially just planning practices. He is interested in exploring how the inclusion of racialized youth from underserved communities and public schools can foster placemaking and more inclusive design of public spaces. He also wants to investigate how public policies and community-based planning approaches can mitigate the negative impact of gentrification in Chinatowns in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. Broader planning interests developed vis-à-vis the courses in the program include: planning policy and initiatives in the Global South, tactical planning, heritage conservation, queerying planning, and multicultural and anti-colonial planning.

Marjan Fadaei

Marjan is a first year graduate student in the Master of Science in Planning program at the University of Toronto. She completed her bachelor’s degree in Urban Planning and Design. She practiced as an Urban Designer before joining the graduate school during which she worked on various urban projects across the range of scales. Her research interests include inclusive planning for enhanced mobility in cities, particularly for children with disability, and the role of neighborhoods and streets to promote Children’s play.

Haron Qudoosi

Haron is an urban planning student who is passionate about all things Toronto. His main interests include critical urbanism, citizenship, local democracy and political economy. Haron has degrees in political science and takes influence from that field of study in his current academic pursuits.

Sami Ferwati

Sami is in his first year in the Masters of Science in Planning program. Before attending the University of Toronto Sami attended McMaster University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Geography. He is also a part of the Graduate Geography and Planning Student Society (GGAPSS), where he serves as the VP of Space. Sami's primary research interests in planning surround housing, economic development, urban design, and how people interact with their urban environment.

Lauren Foote

Lauren Foote (she/her) is a first-year graduate student in the MScPl program and she is in the environmental concentration. She currently serves both as the 2021-22 VP Internal for GGAPSS and as a board member on the Toronto Transportation Commission’s Advisory Committee for Transportation. Lauren combines her love of environmental conservation and her passion for disability justice and transportation in both her professional and academic life. Currently, she interns as an Operations and Service Planner for Metrolinx, is a Teaching Assistant for an undergraduate environmental course called Biogeography, is an Invigilator for Persons with Disabilities at UofT’s Accessibility Services Centre, and she researches strategies to incorporate environmental justice requirements into planning and policy for children with disabilities at Holland Bloorview Research Institute.

Joycelyn Guan

Joycelyn Guan (they/them) is in their first year in the MScPl program situated in the Department of Geography and Planning at the University of Toronto. After taking an undergraduate course in Critical Disability Studies, they became interested in understanding the social construction of disability and its relationship to space. They are interested in co-building accessible spaces and communities with a specific focus and attention to neurodiversity and disability justice. Joycelyn’s research interest is in the co-creation of accessible communities and space (vis-à-vis transportation, language, etc) and the redistribution of resources through community economic development.

In Chan (Ian) Hwang

Ian (he/him) is a first-generation immigrant coming from Seoul, Korea and a first-year MScPl student specializing in transportation planning. He is interested in public transit, transit-oriented development, sports infrastructure, and suburban development. Prior to joining the MScPl program, Ian worked with Toronto city councillors as an administrative assistant and partnered with the City of Toronto as part of the School of Cities’ Multidisciplinary Urban Capstone Program to develop strategies aimed at activating nightlife outside of the downtown core. He has a BA in Urban Studies and Human Geography at the University of Toronto.

Alexandra Lambropoulos

Alexandra is in her first year pursuing a Masters of Science in Planning. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto in Human Geography (major), Urban Studies (major) and GIS (minor). Alexandra is interested in researching urban planning strategies and policies that develop strong communities and solutions for the cities of tomorrow, especially where they intersect with arts, community economic development, resilience, and technology. She is also very interested in urban planning in African cities, which she explores through her monthly podcast Urban Limitrophe and as a researcher at The Reach Alliance.

Sarah MacKinnon

Sarah is a first-year MScPl student, pursing the Environmental Planning concentration. Prior to entering the MScPl program, Sarah earned a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Geography from Queen’s University, in addition to completing certificates in GIS and Urban Planning Studies. Her research interests include climate change adaptation planning and building resilient cities in the face of urban natural hazards. More specifically, she intends on researching the ways Canadian cities are planning for climate change-induced urban flooding and its impacts on infrastructure and vulnerable populations.

Naziha Nasrin

Naziha is currently a first year MscPl student in the department of Geography and Planning. She is passionate about social policy, advocacy and community development. She is currently researching on the development of mosques and zoning-by laws in the GTA to advocate for the needs of the Muslim community through inclusive community engagement and zoning by-laws.

Jane O'Brien Davis

Jane is a MScPl student in the Department of Geography and Planning. Her interests lie in heritage planning, cultural planning, and public histories. Jane's research looks at counter-monuments and alternative commemorations of space and place. She is interested in how grassroots organizing in Canadian cities engages with built heritage in a settler colonial context.

Lakshmi Soundarapandian

Lakshmi is a first year MScPl student exploring equity-driven real estate development and urban design. Through opportunities to live and study in cities across the world, Lakshmi became passionate about investigating how cities can learn from each other and function more sustainably. Now, Lakshmi has centered her learning in understanding land use, spatial analysis, and urban design in relation to diasporas, cultural placemaking, and community engagement. She hopes to work in urban and real estate development to create built environments that reflect local and global values. Lakshmi is currently a Research Assistant for Dr. Lindsay Stephens, investigating solutions for challenges in accessibility and accommodations faced by students in healthcare fields. She additionally serves as a Planning Alumni Committee Representative in GGAPSS. Lakshmi is also an Indian Classical dancer and the Co-Founder and President of a Vancouver-based non-profit for dance, Aṣṣa Alliance.

Travis Van Wyck

Travis is a MScPl student interested in the intersections between planning, economic development, and cultural production in urban nighttime economies. His research looks at the relationship between contemporary nighttime governance practices and the social, economic, and political characteristics of subcultural scenes and spaces. More specifically, Travis is examining the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) placemaking practices in Toronto’s resurgent underground rave scene to consider potential avenues for establishing equitable artistic, cultural, and nighttime policies without instrumentalizing, displacing, or marginalizing alternative cultures, scenes, and spaces.

Celia Wandio

Celia is a first year MScPl graduate student. Her research and professional interests are informed by her prior work experiences in the non-profit housing sector. Celia is interested in traditional non-profit and public housing as well as alternative community-based models of affordable housing provision, including community land trusts and manufactured home resident-owned communities. She is also interested in government policies related to the private rental sector, and particularly their impact on affordability and security of tenure for low-income tenants.

Christa Yeung

Christa is a Master of Science in Planning student with research interests in public space, design justice, race and gender equity, and abolition.

Alycia Doering

Alycia Doering is completing her Master of Science in Planning with a focus on social policy and urban design. Her place-based work emphasizes the connections between culture, community, race, and affordable space from an intersectional social justice lens. She is driven to investigate social policy and community-based mechanisms that can support places which embrace a sense of place, identity, and belonging. More specifically, Alycia’s final research project, titled Future Diasporas, aims to celebrate and amplify the stories of racialized diasporic artists as they reconcile with their past, negotiate the present amid unaffordable urban landscapes, and make space for just and flourishing futures. She is grateful to be supported by exceptional team members in developing projects on public washrooms, winter placemaking, and reimagining music venues– all projects that take a future forward direction.

Brooke Fleming

Brooke is passionate about sustainable and equitable city building. She strives to understand how to develop communities in which everyone can thrive. The background she acquired through her undergraduate degree and previous post graduate studies have created a strong foundation in understanding people and how they interact with their environments. Her most recent experience in municipal planning exposed her to the influence of politics and policy in the planning process. As such, her major research paper focuses on creating dementia inclusive communities through land use strategies and design targeting municipal policy recommendations.

Sara Eng

Sara is a second-year student in the MScPL program at the University of Toronto. She is interested in how urban design and land use policies impact the sustainability of communities. Sara has taken a specific interest in the role that transportation has in providing mobility options and structuring new neighbourhoods. Sara’s planning thesis evaluates how successful Transit-Oriented Development has been at increasing active transportation and producing a variety of housing options. She hopes this research will provide insight on how to shape vibrant and equitable communities across the country.

Michael (Chun Fu) Liu

Michael Liu is a second-year Urban Planning student interested in a variety of urban planning issues. He is interested in growing urban nature and ensuring sufficient urban space to accommodate a growing population. He wants to learn and explore how urban areas can be planned to ensure vegetation and people can co-exist to achieve a more environmentally sustainable future. His personal interest is taking walks and pictures, and he always walks around to look for interesting things to capture in the city.

Sara Wasim

Sara is a second-year Master of Science in Planning (MScPl) student researching strategies for effective mega-infrastructure delivery in Canada. Sara is currently part of the Social Purpose Real Estate team at the Infrastructure Institute, where she is working on the SPRE training modules. One of the things that draws Sara to the field of planning is its interdisciplinary nature, which allows her to explore a wide range of her interests in transportation and infrastructure, affordable housing, and sustainability.

Syeda Bushra Binte Amin

Syeda Bushra Binte Amin is a second-year MScPl student in the Department of Geography and Planning at the University of Toronto. She is interested in community planning and city management. She is also interested in how planning tools alleviate or create barriers for communities. Currently, she is focusing her research on exploring community governance options for non-profit organizations in managing a capital asset. Before joining the program, Syeda worked as an urban planner in the capital development authority in Bangladesh.

Nida Mirza

Nida Mirza is a second-year Master of Science in Planning (MScPl) student. She completed her undergrad at UofT in political science, history and the study of religion. After working in the public sector at the federal level, she became interested in local-level politics drawing her to planning. Her research interests include the intersections of faith and planning, Indigenous/settler relations, equitable housing and climate resiliency. She hopes to contribute to the work of social justice-oriented planning informed by anti-racist, anti-imperialist, and equity-based placemaking. Her planning thesis is currently exploring the alternative planning practices of faith-based organizations in the neoliberal city.