On Nov 22nd, our program held its annual Celebration of Planning Event. It was a tremendous success raising over $24,000 towards scholarships for the Planning program while at the same time bringing together more than 160 planners, developers, municipal and provincially elected officials, students, community group representatives and others for a night to celebrate our program.
The event included a Pecha Kutcha format where speakers raised their big idea(s) for planning - Mayor Don Iveson discussed the vision of Edmonton's Blatchford Development, Paula Simons argued for improved regulations and funding to protect Edmonton's limited stock of heritage buildings, Brad Ferguson pushed a two word brand - Edmonton, Canada - as a brand for the Edmonton Region, and Simon O'Byrne noted that Edmonton should be much more creative with lighting in our winter months and that we needed to make better use of our river valley. All of the presentations were outstanding.