成人大片

9 min. read

Two core courses in the School of Urban and Regional Planning (SURP) have been redesigned to centre the historical and contemporary experiences of Black communities with planning in Canada.

Abigail Moriah and Simone Weir, of the collaborated with SURP Professor Magdalena Ugarte to redesign and teach the courses, with the support of  Bethel Zecharias, a student in the school. 

Delivered for the first time this fall, the newly redesigned PLG 720: Advanced Planning Studio II and PLG 532: Field Research Project II explore the diversity of ways in which Black individuals, organizations and communities are leading efforts across the country. 

They also begin to unpack the harm that planning practice and policy has had on Black neighbourhoods, a history which has not been adequately represented or addressed in planning education.

Take Africville, for example. . Despite being home to hundreds of individuals and families who paid taxes for city services, the City of Halifax did not provide Africville with basic amenities, such as sewage, access to clean water and garbage disposal. Throughout the 1960s, the city forcibly relocated all residents to make way for industry and infrastructure in the area, and in 1970 the settlement was demolished. 

Or, consider Hogan鈥檚 Alley. Hogan鈥檚 Alley was the unofficial name for Park Lane in Vancouver鈥檚 Strathcona neighbourhood and . Fifty years ago, the community was displaced to make way for the construction of the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts; another example of urban renewal-induced displacement.

In Toronto, Little Jamaica has gained attention recently given the impact of transit investment, coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic, on affordability; and the subsequent  closure of Black businesses. (See: ).

鈥淭he harm that planning has done can be exhibited in terms of Black communities being segregated,鈥� explains Moriah. 鈥淧hysical and geographic separation and spatial inequities, in terms of access to services and benefits that other communities that are (mostly) non-Black would be provided with.鈥�

Black communities across Canada -- in both urban and rural contexts, historically and in the present -- have resisted these forces of displacement and disenfranchisement, as well as actively contributing to city and community building. However, their impact and leadership have not been captured in planning education.

鈥淎ll of us participated in planning education at the master鈥檚 level or undergraduate level 鈥� so had that experience of being in school, and seeing that Black histories and perspectives were missing,鈥� says Moriah, referring to the experiences of her Black planning colleagues. 

鈥淧lanning education has, and continues to be, quite dominated by white narratives,鈥� says Ugarte. In the field, 鈥渢here is an underrepresentation of Black planners in particular, but also of other racialized communities.鈥�

Urban planning students now have the opportunity to not only learn about the work of Black-led organizations in Toronto, Vancouver, and Halifax, but also to document and record their efforts through community-based research and video production. 

鈥淥ne of our purposes in this co-redesign was to expand the definition of planning beyond the profession,鈥� says Ugarte. 鈥淭here are Black-led organizations made up of planners, which are doing great work. But there are also many community-based organizations that perhaps mainstream planning would not conventionally think about in planning terms, but who are actually contributing to city-building, to community-building, to place-making.鈥�

To that end, students in PLG 720: Advanced Planning Studio II worked to capture and foreground the work of  and , two organizations based in Toronto, through research and the production of mini-documentaries.

The course followed the innovative studio format, a hallmark of the SURP curriculum, which enables students to engage in experiential learning by providing deliverables for client organizations that respond to their needs and goals. In this case, the deliverables consist of mini-documentaries that not only amplify the work of the client organizations but also add to our collective understanding of Black experiences with planning in Canada.

A Different Booklist Cultural Centre is a non-profit hub in the Bathurst-Bloor area in Toronto dedicated to the intellectual and cultural experience of people of African and Caribbean ancestry. The Bathurst-Bloor area 鈥� also known as Blackhurst 鈥�  has been 鈥渁n important centre for Black-owned businesses and the Black community historically and today,鈥� says Ugarte.

Black Futures Now TO is a collective of young Black community-builders that is working to address the need for Black spaces in Toronto. Their latest project, , brings Black non-binary youth and women from across Toronto together to create a community map that highlights the city鈥檚 lesser known Black histories.

鈥淏lack Futures Now TO is led by a young Black planner, Adwoa Afful, who created this organization as a way to connect with Black youth who are women and non-binary 鈥� to map out the spaces that are important to them in the city,鈥� says Moriah. Through mapping and story-telling, the project enables Black youth to 鈥渕ark their place in places where they鈥檙e often excluded and places where they鈥檙e often not welcome,鈥� she continues. The organization is 鈥渞eally working to counteract the erasure of Black spaces in the city,鈥� says Ugarte.

Students in PLG 532: Field Research Project II learned more about the work and impact of in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia and in Vancouver through a virtual field trip experience. Students engaged in community-based research and created mini-documentaries on their work. 

Akoma Holdings Inc. consists of 300+ acres of property in Dartmouth that includes residential facilities and a community centre. The organization, originally an orphanage for children, is in the early stages of a redevelopment project that aims to create multi-generational housing and potentially a senior long-term care facility. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a really interesting case of social programming and land use development,鈥� says Ugarte.

Hogan鈥檚 Alley Society has been working with the City of Vancouver to redevelop the former Hogan鈥檚 Alley site, a Black neighbourhood which was displaced by the construction of viaducts fifty years ago. Some of their goals and initiatives include 鈥渃reating a land trust, providing affordable assisted-housing for Black and Indigenous individuals, but also reasserting the Black presence and in a way Black resurgence in an area that was historically Black,鈥� says Ugarte.

鈥淎ll of these organizations 鈥� some of them directly engaging with planning departments, but some of them working more on the front of placemaking and community building 鈥� are leading really powerful urban planning work,鈥� explains Ugarte.

The organizations 鈥渞epresent different identities within the Black diaspora,鈥� explains Weir, and the courses unpack the 鈥渄iversity of Black communities in Canada,鈥� says Ugarte. 

The three collaborators were happy to see how student understanding of the course material progressed throughout the semester.

鈥淚t was really neat to see their learning trajectory,鈥� says Moriah. 鈥淔rom the beginning to hear what was new to them, in terms of things that they didn鈥檛 know about planning鈥檚 history, and then to move on to see the role they took in terms of telling the story and the narrative they wanted to build in collaboration with the organization.鈥�

鈥淚 am 100% positive they have learned a lot about the ways in which planning has disadvantaged Black communities,鈥� says Weir. 

For Moriah, the community engagement element is an important learning outcome for students. 鈥淥ften the way in which planning is engaged, either it鈥檚 exclusionary or it鈥檚 actually harmful, whether intentional or not,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 hope that through this experience, students can see some really tangible ways in which they can engage with communities and work on planning-related issues in ways that are beneficial to communities, particularly from a Black-centred lens.鈥� 

For the organizations, on the other hand, 鈥渋t鈥檚 seeing a perspective of the work that they do from someone else鈥檚 eyes,鈥� says Weir. When the team hosted a screening of the mini-documentaries, 鈥淚 know that Akoma learned quite a bit about what鈥檚 happening in Hogan鈥檚 Alley, and vice-versa,鈥� she continues. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e at two opposite ends of the country but there are so many commonalities about their experiences. So it was educational for the organizations, for us, as well as for the students.鈥�

For the university, the team hopes the courses can play a role in 鈥渢ransforming the planning curriculum, even if it鈥檚 small baby steps,鈥� says Ugarte. 鈥淚t鈥檚 making sure that educational institutions, which have been so problematic and continue to be in so many ways, actively create spaces where change can happen.鈥� 

鈥淚t鈥檚 really about filling that gap in knowledge and pedagogy,鈥� says Moriah. 鈥淲hat planning practice looks like that is Black-led, that is Black-informed, that is responding to particular issues faced by Black communities.鈥�

For the profession of planning, the collaborators hope to introduce new competencies related to engagement with Black and racialized communities. 鈥淎bigail and Simone from early on have been super clear, that 鈥� we should be striving to advance new skills that might not yet be  part of the formal list of let鈥檚 say the Canadian Institute of Planners鈥� or the Ontario Professional Planners Institute鈥檚 planning competencies,鈥� says Ugarte.

Looking forward, Moriah hopes that planners will work with the 鈥渁ssets and knowledge that exist in the community,鈥� she says. 鈥淎 lot of the conversations around thinking about Black experiences have been around countering harm being done -- that is certainly one side to the story -- the other side is agency: Black agency and self-determination of what the future might look like.鈥�

Funding

The course redesign was made possible in part through the Faculty of Community Services Anti-Black Racism (ABR) Curriculum Development Fund, a Teaching and Learning Grant, and an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program Grant.

Another team of SURP faculty members received support from the FCS Anti-Black Racism Curriculum Development Fund for Building an Inclusive Studio Curriculum Together: Centring Black Urbanism in a Systematic Review and Reimagining of the Planning Studio Curriculum.

SURP Anti-Systemic Discrimination and Racism Working Group

The SURP Anti-Systemic Discrimination and Racism Working Group was established in September, 2020 to explore ways to embed anti-racism in the school鈥檚 curriculum, student recruitment and experience, hiring practices, and service and community engagement.

*Images used in the mini-documentaries were provided by the community partner organizations for this purpose, produced by the students themselves, or used under the Copyright Act Fair Dealing exception.