Planning to play

"Play," the yearly School of Planning conference takes place March 18 and 19.

“You don’t stop playing because you grow up; you grow up because you stop playing.”

That quote, from a Parkour video, stuck with planning student Stephanie Chai as she and her classmates put together the final touches on this year’s School of Planning conference, taking place this Thursday and Friday. Its theme: “Play.”

“The idea that inspired the theme is that a city to play in is a city to stay in,” she explains, saying that “play” from a planning perspective can encompass everything from green space and playgrounds to bars and clubs.  “How can we bring fun into the urban experience so that people are inspired to stay?”

The conference, which has been running for over 20 years now, is a free community event organized by students in the Masters of Planning program as part of their coursework. Its purpose is to bring together planning students, faculty, professionals, community groups and interested citizens to discuss and debate current topics in planning in community design.

The keynote presentation, taking place Thursday morning, will be made by Michael Gordon, senior Central Area planner for the City of Vancouver who oversees planning for the downtown peninsula – and who skateboards to work daily. His speech is titled “Let’s Plan: Imagining the Playful City.”

Other sessions throughout the two days include discussions about recreation spaces, Parkour, community engagement and more. And on Friday, the winner of the second-annual Mayor’s Award for Excellent and Innovation in Planning will be announced.

For the students that plan the event, it’s an opportunity to work with the public and engage with the community within in their field of study. “It’s a great chance to come to a better sense of the material we’re looking at in our courses,” says Aida Salehiomran, another master’s student on the planning committee.