Cities & Environment Unit has been awarded a prestigious 2008 Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP) Award for Planning Excellence in the category of Rural/Small Town Planning for its work on Comprehensive Community-Based Plans with four First Nation communities in Saskatchewan. Along with CEU, Flying Dust First Nation, George Gordon First Nation, Shoal Lake Cree Nation, Kahkewistahaw First Nation and INAC share in this award.
The submission titled Four Plans: One Way Forward was recognized by CIP for its innovation, demonstration of professional excellence and positive impact on the planning profession. This is the fourth CIP Award for Cities & Environment Unit. The four recognized Comprehensive Community-Based Plans are part of the first phase of a larger pilot initiative within Saskatchewan to develop Comprehensive Community-Based Plans with First Nation communities.
The pilot initiative represents a bold commitment to rethinking community development in First Nations and responding to urgent issues and needs in communities. The approach taken toward the development of the Plans is rooted in Cities & Environment Unit’s award winning First Nations Community Planning Model.
Based in the Faculty of Architecture and Planning at Dalhousie University, Cities & Environment Unit is a not-for-profit community planning action and applied research group. They assist urban and rural communities assess their challenges and opportunities and develop strategies to address them.
In operation since 1993, the CEU is under the direction of Professor Frank Palermo and currently has seven full-time planners.
Besides the award for the Cities & Environment Unit, Dalhousie was well represented at the Canadian Institute of Planners Conference in Winnipeg. Jill Grant, Dalhousie professor and director of the School of Planning, received a Plan Canada Recognition Award for the book, A Reader in Canadian Planning. She was also elected a fellow of the institute.
Nilgun Erkoc, a master of planning student at Dalhousie, won the Thomas Adam Scholarship for his project, Surfing the Cyber City: Web-Enabled Planning for Halifax Regional Municipality. And, Amie Baker was recognized by the CIP executive council for her service as national student representative.
LINKS: Cities and Environment Unit | School of Planning, Faculty of Architecture and Planning