School of Planning

MPlan Students

Alex W.D. Glista
Research topic: Scenario Planning for New Mobility (autonomous vehicles) in the Halifax Regional Municipality	Supervisor: Ahsan Habib
Bio: Alex has an undergraduate degree in Political Science and History from the University of Western Ontario. During the summers of his undergrad, Alex worked for the Government of Ontario, where the intersection of politics and planning intrigued him. At Dalhousie, Alex has focused his interest in urban planning on transportation, including public transit and autonomous vehicles, and how progress in these fields will impact development in cities for years to come.

Bryanna Ross
Research topic: Pilot Test of a Food Asset Assessment Toolkit	Supervisor: Mikiko Terashima
Bio: Bryanna came to the School of Planning with a Bachelor’s degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Guelph. After travelling abroad for a semester to Vienna, Austria, she became interested in the way people use the environment around them. She decided to pursue a Masters of Planning at Dalhousie after the completion of a thesis that focused on food insecurity of low-income households and how planning could improve their food access. Upon graduation, Bryanna wishes to create meaningful impacts on the local community and abroad.

Carter Beaupre-McPhee
Research topic: ACommercial/ Mixed Use Streetscape Typology Study	Supervisor: Frank Palermo
Bio: Carter Beaupre-McPhee is a student of Dalhousie University's Master of Planning program. A graduate of the Telfer School of Management's Honours Bachelor of Commerce program, Carter draws upon his experience in market research, community engagement, consulting, and report writing to tackle new projects within the planning industry. With particular interests in housing, economic development, and urban design, Carter relishes the variety offered by the planning profession.

Gareth Wasylynko
Research topic: Sustainable Energy Policy	Supervisor: Lisa Berglund
Bio: Gareth has moved from coast to beautiful coast to study at Dal. Growing up in Metro Vancouver and completing his bachelor degree at Simon Fraser University, he is now embracing the change of scenery with only the occasional burr and shiver. Gareth believes in planning as a tool for reconciling the constraints that urban development places on social and environmental systems, seeing it as a critical mechanism for the challenges the 21^st century will face in the urban arena.

Jennifer Getz
Research Topic: Tiny Homes in Bridgewater	Supervisor: Ren Thomas
Bio: Jennifer holds a degree in Geography and Public Administration from the University of Victoria. She first became aware of the impacts of city design on housing and the homeless through a Co-op placement with BC Housing, and after working briefly with the Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness following graduation. Driven by her interest in how our environment impacts health, she moved to the other coast to pursue a Master in Planning. As a planner, Jennifer is excited about learning what motivates our day-to-day decisions to bring about more environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable communities.

John Jardine
Research topic: Scenario Planning for Future Mobility with Changing Demographics in the Halifax Regional Municipality	Supervisor: Ahsan Habib
Bio: John completed his Honors in History and Minor in Philosophy from the University of Western Ontario. Upon graduating, he worked in the insurance industry as an insurance agent. He learned the importance of properly planning cities to deal with natural disasters and helping to reduce traffic collisions. This background along with his interest in the advent of autonomous vehicles, John hopes to create better communities for people to live and get around.

Justin Quigley
Research topic: Multicollinearity of SAMoSA measures at a community level	Supervisor: Mikiko Terashima
Bio: Justin comes to Dalhousie with a background in environmental research and community engagement. After his time working on safe routes to school programming in Winnipeg, Justin decided to pursue his master’s degree. Justin is passionate about urban design as they relate to health, equity, and sustainability, and aims to impact these topics through a role in public or advocacy planning.

Katherine Deturbide
Research topic: Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Design Guidelines	Supervisor: Ren Thomas
Bio: Before arriving at the school of planning, Katherine earned degrees in Biology (Honours) and Architecture. Her work experiences as a student range from conservation biology field research to digital architectural modeling and drafting. Katherine enjoyed both biology and architecture equally and decided to pursue planning to integrate her respect for the natural world with the design of the built environment. Katherine is a born-and-raised Haligonian who has always been interested in Halifax’s history and infrastructure. She is looking forward to seeing how the city will change and develop over time through the lens of a planner.

Kristen Bartmann
Research topic: Biophilia and the East Coast	Supervisor: Joseli Macedo
Bio: Kristen comes to Dalhousie from the University of Waterloo with an Honours BA in Psychology and a Minor in English. After completing her degree Kristen travelled in New Zealand for four months before returning home to work retail for a year and a half while trying to figure out her life. Kristen has always been fascinated by public spaces that are regularly used and enjoyed by the public, along with how spaces influence the behaviours and actions of people, and that fascination eventually lead her to planning.

Krysten Hogan
Research topic: Rethinking Streets: Determining how street design does or does not account for groups that are often marginalized from planning and urban design policy.	Supervisor: Lisa Berglund
Bio: Krysten graduated in 2016 from the University of Victoria with a double major in Geography and Environmental Studies. After spending much time abroad during and after her undergrad, she became more aware of planning as a profession. Krysten has always been passionate about social and environmental inequality issues and felt like planning was a practical way to address them. Specific aspects of planning Krysten is interested in include affordable housing, indigenization, mixed-use, universal design and complete communities.

Laura McCardle
Research topic: Nature Based Approaches to Coastal Adaption: Understanding Decision Maker Relationships in Nova Scotia
Bio: Before coming to the Dalhousie School of Planning, Laura earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Memorial University in Newfoundland. She majored in Political Science and minored in Geography. She also obtained a Certificate in Public Policy with a Specialization in Urban and Regional Policy. Originally from Prince Edward Island, Laura is interested in studying coastal erosion, flooding, and sea level rise. Through her research project and time at Dalhousie, she hopes to learn more about the interaction between the public policy and planning fields in combatting planning issues such as coastal adaptation.

Lauren Shaw
Research Topic: Commercial/mixed-use streetscape typology study	Supervisor: Frank Palermo
Bio: Lauren did her undergrad at the University of Victoria majoring in the urban development stream of Geography with a minor in Anthropology. Her interest in the built environment led her to work for the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region Research Institute where she was able to work on a variety of planning projects around Vancouver Island including parks planning, neighbourhood development, and Official Community Plans while also working as the editor and webmaster for the International Journal of Biosphere Reserves. Excited by the variety of work involved in the field of planning Lauren moved to the East Coast to attend Dalhousie for her Masters in Planning. After graduation Lauren is excited to work in the field and hopes to help communities adapt to the ever-changing world.

Liam King
Research topic: What’s in a name, place naming’s significance within planning and community identity.	Supervisor: Lisa Burgland
Bio: Liam came to Dalhousie schools of planning following the completion of a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Criminology from St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Liam has always had a passion for geography and cities, often being called a “Google Maps Enthusiast” by his peers. The passion Liam had for geography combined with the goal to improve the cities of New Brunswick, his home province through the planning process led him to Dalhousie. Currently along with the desire to improve his home, Liam hopes to pursue a career in land and real estate development.

Linden Maultsaid-Blair
Research topic: Modeling simple and complex tours made by Halifax transit users	Supervisor: Ahsan Habib
Bio: Linden has an undergraduate degree in Geography from the University of British Columbia. He has many planning interests, including public transit, housing policy, land use planning, and the municipal process. He came to Dalhousie to learn about these topics and about Atlantic Canada; he came to Halifax for the ocean views and North America’s oldest saltwater ferry service.

Lorin Komers
Research topic: Online shopping and shopping experience at a retail store: How should planners plan for next-generation retail development	Supervisor: Ahsan Habib
Bio: Lorin came to the school of planning with a degree in Human Geography and Urban Studies. After completing his degree Lorin went on to work in Vancouver’s hot real estate market, learning about land development, acquisitions, and the impacts of city planning on the private market. Fascinated by the impact planners had on the private market Lorin decided to go to Dalhousie to learn how to be a planner with the goal of having a positive impact on the built environment post-graduation.

Michael Hart
Research Topic: ‘Live-work-ability’ as an Indicator of Complete Communities	Supervisor: Mikiko Terashima
Bio: Michael came to the Dalhousie School of Planning with a Bachelors in Business Administration with extended studies in Sustainable Energy Applications from Lindsey Wilson College. After finishing his degree, Michael worked in the transportation logistics industry learning the skills of data and operations management. Due to his variety of interests and passions as well as his desire to dedicate his career to improving the places we call home, Michael decided to pursue the profession of planning. His areas of interest include transportation, complete communities, and sustainability.

Rhys Burnell
Research Topic: Critical Analysis of Planning Policies and Intervention Strategies to Support Halifax’s Music Industry.
Bio: In 2016, Rhys previously graduated from McGill University and obtained his Bachelors of Science in Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. During his undergraduate degree, Rhys also underwent a Field Study minor in Barbados, constructing a Natural Ventilation Augmented Cooling (NVAC) for the purpose of supplying fresh produce and a highly lifestyle amongst residents of Holetown, Barbados. Working for the City of Surrey for 9 months, Rhys then became interested in Planning and decided to pursue the Master of Planning program at Dalhousie University. His planning interests include active transportation, sustainability planning, Complete Street design, and community development.

Setara Zafar
Research Topic: Commercial/Mixed use streetscape typology study	Supervisor: Frank Palermo
Bio: Setara has a degree and Science, Technology and Society and studied architecture for a year. During her time at the University of Calgary her interest in architecture and the built environment led her to question the impacts of this environment on the larger community. Setara decided to go to the School of Planning at Dalhousie to better understand these impacts and to be part future development teams for growing cities around Canada. Setara is currently looking at how streets are designed and how to create them to have a positive impact on people.

Tanya Markovic
Research topic: Physical barriers of the public space: How planners can rethink streets to create new standards that will eliminate physical and mobile impairment.	Supervisor: Lisa Berglund
Bio: Tanya graduated with a High Honours Bachelor Degree of Interior Design at Sheridan College in Ontario. Her undergraduate thesis focused on improving the environmental state of her home town Hamilton, Ontario through designing an ecologically-based educational facility. After the completion of her degree, Tanya went on to work for an Interior Design company based in Toronto, designing and consulting senior living facilities throughout Canada and in China. With an interest in expanding her focus public accessibility, Tanya pursued a Master in Planning at Dalhousie University. Her main focus being on how buildings and communities can allow for equal and non-restricting experiences within a space.

Dalhousie University

School of Planning

MPlan Students