Current Events

The 2010 CAPS-ACEAU Conference in Guelph will feature an impressive line up of speakers from across Canada including planners, academics and provocative thinkers from related sectors. All are tasked with sharing their progressive ideas for the future of planning with students on the verge of becoming professionals themselves. Session themes include planning in First Nations, multiculturalism, climate change, healthy communities, sustainability and transportation, local food and agriculture, and international planning. This year’s opening key note speaker, Guillermo (Gil) Peñalosa is an international leader in creating great cities and communities through active public spaces. Gil is the former Commissioner of Parks, Sport and Recreation for the City of Bogotá, Colombia and the current Executive Director at Walk and Bike for Life. The conference’s closing keynote speaker is the award-winning professor, author, and film- maker, Dr. Leonie Sandercock. Leonie is a Professor in community and cross-cultural planning in the School of Community & Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia. She has published eleven books, including Towards Cosmopolis: Planning for Multicultural Cities; the edited collection Making the Invisible Visible: a multicultural history of planning and Cosmopolis 2: Mongrel Cities of the 21st Century. The conference will also air Leonie’s most recent documentary made in partnership with Giovanni Attili. The film, entitled Finding our Way: Healing Canada’s Apartheid, tells the story of two First Nations in north central British Columbia and their struggle for healing and revitalization.