Planning for the Future: Reflections from Audy Noor, Student Volunteer at ACTION 2025

From July 8-10, 2025, CIP and OPPI hosted ACTION 2025, the largest national planning conference in Canadian history, in Toronto. The conference would not have been a success without the support of our student volunteers.

In this Q&A, we catch up with Audy Noor, an Urban and Regional Planning student at Toronto Metropolitan University, who shares highlights from the conference, lessons learned, and advice for fellow planning students.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and why you decided to study planning?

Hi there! My name is Audy Noor, and I am an incoming second-year undergraduate student at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) studying Urban and Regional Planning. I decided to pursue planning because I felt that it would be the most fulfilling career path for me to embrace two of my greatest passions growing up: nature and the built environment. In grade seven, a school project on blending nature with cities—green roofs, urban farms, and environmentally-friendly design—transformed my childhood interests into a vision for creating sustainable urban futures. Now, as a planning student, I’m channelling those early passions into a commitment to creating greener, more inclusive spaces with a special interest in brownfield development, adaptive reuse, and decolonizing built environments.

What motivated you to volunteer at ACTION 2025?

I was fortunate to have been able to attend the Ontario Professional Planners Institute (OPPI) conference in September 2024, which was my first-ever urban planning conference. As a first-year undergraduate student, it was such a valuable experience to immerse myself in the conference’s activities—from attending an inspiring keynote presentation by city-building expert Brent Toderian to hosting a booth on behalf of Urban Minds, where we promoted the youth engagement services that we have to offer the planning profession.

As I pursue my dream of becoming an urban planner, I intend to continue to hone my networking skills and establish connections within the industry early on in my career. As such, volunteering for the CIP/OPPI national conference seemed like a great opportunity to achieve my networking goals and take the next step in advancing my professional development.

Was there a moment or session at the conference that really stood out to you?

All of the keynote presentations were highlights of the conference for me, but Chief Perry Bellegarde’s keynote speech in particular left a lasting impression on me. I’m currently interested in learning how planning can advance reconciliation with Indigenous communities, as well as how our built environments and our traditional planning practices can be decolonized. As such, it was eye-opening to hear about Chief Bellegarde’s lived experiences as an influential leader in advocating for the rights of First Nations as well as his insights into how planners can better support Indigenous peoples. At one point during his keynote, Chief Bellegarde said, “You can only go as fast as the people.” To me, this really emphasized how planning must be community-oriented and that planning can only have the greatest impact if everyone involved has a clear understanding of the ultimate vision and how we can collaboratively bring this vision to life.

What was your biggest takeaway from the conference?

My biggest takeaway from the conference is that the future of planning is collaborative. I learned the importance of approaching planning with an eagerness to collaborate and a deeper commitment to empathize with the lived experiences of the communities that we work with, because only then will the planning profession make a lasting, positive impact. Teresa Goldstein said it best during the keynote panel discussion on the second day of the conference: “We’re a profession that brokers relationships.” To me, this highlights how the planning profession is multi-disciplinary and essential to convening different parties to build better communities together. As I continue to pursue my undergraduate studies in planning, I intend to develop a more collaborative and community-oriented mindset as I work on planning projects at school to better equip myself to become a more effective urban planner.

How has volunteering at the conference influenced your career goals?

Volunteering at the conference has reaffirmed my commitment to finding other ways to contribute to the planning profession outside of school or work. Supporting the behind-the-scenes of such a significant planning conference enables me to further my professional development as a planning student. There is so much value in being able to gain experience in supporting the operations behind a national conference, accessing unique networking opportunities with planning professionals, and connecting with like-minded students who are equally passionate about the future of city-building. I’m eager to find more ways to attend or support similar planning events in the future to continue to advance my career development.

Do you have any advice for other planning students considering volunteering at future conferences?

Go for it! You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Unique networking opportunities, memorable experiences from working collaboratively with other volunteers, and a discount on your conference ticket—it’s a win-win-win!

Make sure to arrive at the conference with a fully charged social battery and a full night’s worth of sleep. It’s a jam-packed day of networking and supporting a wide range of event programming, so you’ll need to be well-rested to ensure that you can bring your 100% to the event and get the most out of your experience while you’re there!

I also highly recommend becoming friends with fellow student volunteers since it’s so much more enjoyable to do things together as a group, whether that be networking with professionals during the evening receptions or figuring out how to scan the badges of hundreds of attendees during a keynote presentation. Either way, you’re bound to create fond memories while doing so!

Is there anything else you’d like to share with CIP members?

I currently volunteer with Urban Minds—a Toronto-based non-profit organization dedicated to youth engagement in city-building across Ontario. One of the sessions that Urban Minds hosted came out of an idea that I had pitched to the team back in December 2024, and it was so fulfilling to see it come to life during the conference. Thank you to everyone who attended Flip The Script: Design Charrette with Youth as Experts, and shoutout to the Urban Minds team members and youth facilitators who supported the session!

I also want to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to CIP and OPPI for providing me with this valuable opportunity to contribute to the conference as a volunteer and reflect on key highlights through this blog post! I’m very grateful to feel supported in my planning journey and to have access to meaningful opportunities to advance my professional development early on in my career.

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