In 2000 Anne McIlroy MCIP founded the Urban Design Working Group within the Ontario Professional Planning Institute’s membership and acted as its Chair for a decade. In this role she brought together a diverse network of planners as well as other aligned professionals who organized a series of outreach and advocacy programs aimed at promoting the importance of high quality urban design in the planning of Canadian communities. 
 
Anne is recognized as a unique expert representing the planning profession and has subsequently been invited to sit on multiple Design Review Panels. 
 
Mid-­‐Rise Urbanism: Ms. McIlroy has championed mid-­‐rise urbanism as an alternative form of urban development beginning with the Avenues and Mid-­‐Rise Buildings Study and guidelines for the City of Toronto. This work has been lauded nationally and Anne has gone on to advise other Canadian cities including Halifax and Calgary. This work was honoured with a 2012 National Urban Design Award of Merit and a 2011 Toronto Urban Design Award of Excellence.
 
Campus Planning: Anne’s professional work as a planner of University and College Campuses across Canada has had a transformational impact on the quality of Canadian campuses. Her concern with the quality of the student experience has resulted in a wholesale transformation of how campus plans are prepared. She has gone onto lead Campus Plans for 15 institutions across Canada including Newfoundland, PEI, New Brunswick, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
 
Waterfront Planning: Anne is recognized internationally as an expert in waterfront planning. Her projects have won 3 Top Honor Awards from Washington DC based Waterfront Centre and she has served as an international juror for their annual awards program. 
 
Teaching and Mentoring Planners: Anne’s professional work has been complemented through her role as an instructor at York University’s School of Planning. Since 2010, she created and has taught the Introduction to Urban Design course. She has served as a guest lecturer at the University of Toronto, Queen’s University, the University of Waterloo and Carleton University.