Honours & Awards Jury
Awards given out by the Canadian Institute of Planners recognize planning excellence across Canada. They highlight extraordinary planning achievements by communities, organizations, and individuals at every career stage. They encompass both historical and the cutting edge of modernity.
The jury adheres to the Nominations Guidelines for Fellows, Honorary Members, and the Emerging Planner Award and selects nominees based solely on outstanding professional accomplishments and nationally significant contributions to Canadian planning.
Meet the Jury
A senior Canadian city planner, urban designer, teacher, and author, Larry Beasley, is the Founding Principal of Beasley & Associates, a retired Chief Planner for Vancouver, and Professor at UBC. Working around the world, highlights include Abu Dhabi, Moscow, Dallas, Scandinavia, Australia, and across Canada. His three books are “Vancouverism”, “Ecodesign for Cities and Suburbs”, and “Canadians Planning in Abu Dhabi”.
Dr. Leela Viswanathan, RPP, FCIP, is an accomplished and innovative educator, mentor, researcher, and planner, and is the founder of Viswali Consulting. She builds on nearly 30 years of experience in fostering equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in academic, government, and not-for-profit sectors. As a forward-thinking strategist, Leela is happiest when co-creating knowledge and developing strategies to solve problems for social impact.
Michael Hooper is an Associate Professor of Community and Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia. He previously taught urban planning at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design and worked for the UN in East Africa and New York. He is a registered professional planner in Canada, the UK and the US.
Samantha Murphy is an independent professional planner, focused primarily on municipal planning, policy, and governance in PEI and Atlantic Canada. Samantha’s experience includes municipal and provincial planning and, since 2020, private consulting. Samantha recently joined with long-term colleagues to form a planning collective, the We6 Planning Group. Much of Sam’s recent work has been focused on climate resilient communities and housing.