What are 1UP Connect Webinars?
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1UP Connect Webinars are a curated series of free, monthly Zoom workshops covering a variety of topics relating to urban planning, landscape design, and architecture. These webinars give participants an opportunity to engage with industry experts and like-minded peers while gaining a deeper understanding of city-building before pursuing a related career or post-secondary education.
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Webinar Recordings
Sept. 13th: Architects' Design Criteria for a Successful Space - Tyson Bolduc
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On September 13th we had our first 1UP Connect Webinar of the year, on the topic of “Architects' Design Criteria for a Successful Space” with Tyson Bolduc! Tyson shared and explained through some unique building shapes and designs, including Calgary’s YMCA, a Japanese matchstick game inspired design, and Apple Park! During the webinar, he explained how each of the designs were built, alongside key considerations surrounding materiality, shape, location, structures, and inspiration. We also had a Q&A with Tyson, where we posed questions surrounding career, architecture, and what we should do as high school students to start getting involved. After that, we separated into smaller groups and got assigned an architectural design per group. In these groups, we discussed the importance of colour usage, geometry, patterns, and purpose! We ended off the webinar with a trivia game (with a $10 gift card prize) and announced our $10 Spotify card Tag-A-Friend giveaway winner.
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Oct. 11th: Careers in City Building - Kristy Kilbourne
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On October 11th, 1UP held the second webinar on the topic of "Careers in City Building" with the help of the profound knowledge of Kristy Kilbourne. Kristy brings a variety of experience from roles in government, non-profit, and the private sector. As a registered professional planner in Ontario and a certified planner in the US, Kristy shares career advice and strategies to youth. Currently pursuing her PhD at the University of Waterloo, she also works as a planning consultant and part-time lecturer. With a strong passion for urban planning, Kristy founded Your Planning Career, an organization dedicated to guiding planners in their career development. Throughout the webinar, youth learned how other academic programs that seem unrelated have connections to planning. Kristy also shared current trends and emerging issues within the field, such as sustainability and creating smart cities.
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Nov. 8th: How to Effectively Conduct Community Engagement - Alex Smiciklas
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On November 8th, 2023, we hosted our third 1UP Connect Webinar, featuring guest speaker Alex Smiciklas, a senior project manager for community engagement at Bousfields Inc. With his background in both communications and urban planning, he guided us through ways to effectively conduct community engagement. Alex also discussed the necessary skills required for successful community engagement and explored various factors that need to be considered when developing a stakeholder engagement plan. During our Q&A session, Alex also shared insights on how youth can actively participate in community engagement. We then reconsolidated our learning through a fun activity where we were given a scenario and discussed the crucial considerations a city should incorporate into its engagement plan.
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Dec. 13th: Winter-friendly City Principles - Jayne Armstrong
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On December 13th, we held our fourth 1UP Connect Webinar, focusing on “Winter-Friendly City Principles” with Jayne Armstrong from 8 80 Cities. She and 8 80 Cities work towards igniting action and challenging the status quo to create healthier, more equitable, and sustainable cities for all. Bringing her expertise in Winter Cities, Jayne came in to provide ideas and tools for implementing winter placemaking with an equity-based approach, inspiring communities to adopt a winter perspective in their planning endeavours. Jayne goes over the benefits of winter placemaking and how it can brighten our winter experiences. After introducing creative and innovative ways to implement the four principles supporting winter public life, Jayne shares some notable past projects from 8 80 Cities that were successfully implemented in local communities.
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Jan. 10th: The Third Place: What it is and where to find it - Vinaya Mani
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On January 10th, 2024, we hosted our fifth 1UP Connect Webinar, featuring guest speaker Vinaya Mani, an urban designer at Perkins & Will. Vinaya explained what third places are, elaborating on how they are locations you spend outside of your home and work, like libraries, gyms, and cafes. She also explained why third places are so important, and considerations for what counts as a third place. With the rising popularity of technology as a form of communication, Vinaya also defined regulations for what counts as a third place and what doesn’t (hint: it has to do with an individual’s ability to customize their experience)! We had a fun interactive activity where we considered our hobbies and interests, claimed our favourite third place location on a map and discussed the multi-use nature of many third places. We concluded our webinar with an engaging recap trivia game to refresh our knowledge of everything we discussed.
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Feb. 7th: The Making of Urban Design Policies and Laws - Norm Van Eeden Petersman
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On February 7th, we hosted our sixth 1UP Connect Webinar, featuring our guest speaker Norm Van Eeden Petersman, who is the Director of Membership and Development at Strong Towns and the Member Advocate. Norm discussed how the rules and regulations have restricted the ability for cities to adapt and change through ongoing pressures, focusing specifically on the “missing middle.” Additionally, he mentioned how we can reclaim our own communities and spaces. This insightful discussion was followed by a Q&A, where participants engaged with Norm, delving deeper into the topics raised. To further enrich the experience, we had a fun interactive activity using Google Jamboard, allowing attendees to reflect on their own communities and how they have been shaped. This fostered a sense of connection and shared understanding among the participants.
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Mar. 13th: How to Design and Build Sustainable Places - Jessica Hutcheon
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On March 16th, we organized our seventh 1UP Connect Webinar, on the topic of How to Design and Build Sustainable Place. Our guest speaker, Jessica Hutcheon, who is a principal at Janet Rosenberg & Studio, emphasized the role of landscape architecture in promoting a more sustainable, equitable, and resilient future. During the discussion, we also touched upon the topic of carbon offsetting. Jessica shared her insights on the importance of sustainable landscape architecture, highlighting the benefits of tree canopy shading, such as its role in reducing the urban Heat Island effect, carbon sequestration, and its positive social-economic impacts. Jessica also talked about green roofs, solar reflective paving, soil cells for water infiltration, and the positive social benefits of urban green spaces. She stressed the need to minimize the carbon footprint of materials used in projects and focused on limiting global warming. This was followed by a Q&A and a Miro board activity, where we could reflect on the ideas of the participants on sustainability and footprint.
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Apr. 10th: The Impacts of New Planning Policies on Housing Supply and Affordability - Uytae Lee
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On April 10th, we held our eighth 1UP Connect Webinar on the concept of “Affordable Housing and Building Solutions” with the guidance of the founder of a creative studio and YouTube Channel, 'About Here,' Uytae Lee. Uytae led the exploration of the impacts of affordable housing policies and ways to address the housing crisis in Canada. As an expert in the field, Uytae shares many inputs, factors, and new perspectives on the housing crisis and provides potential solutions. Throughout the webinar, Uytae enlightened youth on the different contributions that affect housing affordability in Canada, such as the diminishing household size, immigration growth, increasing building complexity, and labour shortage. Uytae also shares what roles planners are tasked with and what they are capable of amidst this crisis.
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May 8th: Planning for Accessibility - Samantha Biglieri
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On May 8th, we held our 9th 1UP Connect Webinar featuring guest speaker Samantha Biglieri for the topic “Planning for Accessibility”. Samantha is an assistant professor in the school of Urban and Regional Planning at Toronto Metropolitan University and is the director of the Health, Access + Planning Lab. Samantha mentioned how most of the built environment in Canada is built for the “normal”, middle class able-bodied male, and such assumptions create physical barriers such as utility poles in the middle of sidewalks, crosswalks that suddenly end, and much more. These challenges are what planners aim to resolve, through academic research and public engagement in order to uphold fundamental human rights values. Samantha asked participants to watch videos featuring various accessibility barriers and asked participants to post sticky notes on what they learned during our interactive activity. This activity greatly boosted people’s understanding of the struggles of inaccessible spaces by putting them in different shoes, and allows the grasping of the complex intersection between the built environment, inclusivity, and quality of life.
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June 5th: Transportation Planning - Armi De Francia
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Armi De Francia, RPP, MCIP, is an award-winning active transportation planner and changemaker who strives to expand mobility options for youth and advance mobility equity. Her passion stems from growing up in Durham Region and Scarborough, where she faced barriers to opportunities and isolation due to limited transportation options. In our June 1UP Connect Webinar, youth learned about how to build a culture for active transportation - examples including pop-up booths, bikes tours, and bike rodeos. Participants practiced Asset Mapping, honouring what we have, and learning how we can connect it to the greater community. Armi shared her experiences and insights on current trends and emerging issues within the field, such as sustainability, mobility equity, and the integration of active transportation options to create more inclusive and accessible cities.
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