Research
The School of Planning encourages a wide range of research among faculty and students, and research clusters are continually evolving in response to new challenges and opportunities. Many faculty share research interests and collaborate on projects, always involving students — as research assistants, with work term placements, or advising on independent student projects. Some faculty members also maintain professional consulting practices in the Halifax Region.
Please visit the Student Research Projects page to see examples of thesis, independent project, and studio project work.
We have several research centres at the School of Planning: DalTrac, headed by Ahsan Habib, Mikiko Terashima’s Planning for Equity, Accessibility and Community Health (PEACH) Research Unit, and the Climate and Local Energy Action Network (CLEAN) Lab, led by Chad Walker. Students often work as Research Assistants on a range of projects. For more information on RA positions, see our Funding page.
Faculty members conduct research in:
- Climate change in coastal communities in Atlantic Canada, climate change adaptation (Patricia Manuel, Eric Rapaport, Chad Walker)
- Comprehensive community‐based planning and design (Lisa Berglund)
- Housing policy and choices among key demographics (Ren Thomas)
- Sustainable transportation (Ahsan Habib, Ren Thomas, Chad Walker)
- Advanced transportation modeling, remote data capture of transportation activity, demand prediction (Ahsan Habib)
- Transportation policy and planning processes (Ren Thomas)
- Transit-oriented development (Ahsan Habib, Ren Thomas)
- Use of GIS in decision-making and visualization (Eric Rapaport, Mikiko Terashima)
- Accessibility and access to health services (Mikiko Terashima)
- Environmental diagnostics: built environment and health, environmental justice (Mikiko Terashima, Lisa Berglund, Chad Walker)
- Policy evaluation, plan evaluation (Ren Thomas)
- Climate action, low-carbon tansitions, renewable energy; Truth and Reconciliation, green hydrogen, sustainable development, and research methods (Chad Walker)
Find out more about their projects on their faculty pages.