What Should Our New Generation of Urban Planners Learn About Parks, Recreation and Leisure? (April 9, 2024)
...Help me plant some knowledge! (pun intended)
It is spring. It is time to plant parks knowledge into a new crop of urban planners and space makers before we turn them out into the wild. This fall I will reprise my role as a sessional lecturer at the University of Alberta Canadian Institute of Planners accredited Urban Planning Program. The topic of course is parks planning where I weave together how parks planning and park service operationalization are inextricably linked. You can’t do one series of tasks without understanding the other. It is a fourth year and graduate level course.
I need your help! I would love to hear about any contemporary parks topics you are challenged by, have an itch you can’t scratch, kinda thing. What do you want them to know about parks, recreation and leisure as an integral part of sustainable city development. What is challenging you most? It could be a new or evolving needs, funding challenges, equity issues, planning with indigenous peoples , climate change, social disorder, homelessness and homeless camps in parks, public engagement, working with groups, mountain biking and ecological protection, winter cities, etc. If you have something for me, give me a little history/background, if not a media clip. I would also be happy to shine some light on some work or initiatives you are doing.
I am also leading a bike tour of the North Saskatchewan River Valley this summer as part of the program for the Canadian Institute of Planners National Planning Conference “Connection 2024,” July 9-11, Edmonton Alberta. Come one, come all. My goal is to tell the story of our river valley park system from a planning and parks perspective. Is there a specific river valley parks issue you are concerned about, want to discuss, etc., or simply love about our river valley? I hope to visit sites of both contestation and celebration.
So many issues, where to start.
Hi Robert! Laura Smith from Park People. I am now the senior project manager for our Canadian City Parks Report and we'd be thrilled to share it with your class. 2024's edition will be focused on de-siloing the parks sector and finding meaningful collaborations and is set to launch first week of November! From what we hear at Park People, one of the biggest challenges for Park Planners is the diverse pressures now being placed on Parks staff as we come to better understand the multitude of benefits city parks provide. With exciting new opportunities for parks to be seen as more than leisure spaces along with unprecedented times, comes with intense pressures for parks staff to be responding to all of the issues Beverly noted (and more!!!). This year's CCPR will focus on how parks staff can collaborate with more municipal departments, other levels of government, NGOs, etc. to address the increasing scope of their work while also reducing the burden on parks departments.