How do inclusion, diversity, equity and anti-racism relate to your work in the field of urban planning?

Inclusion, diversity, equity, and anti-racism (IDEA) are foundational to my work in urban planning because cities thrive when they reflect and serve the diverse populations that inhabit them. IDEA informs my personal research interests in community economic development because it focuses on building strong, resilient local economies that benefit all residents. Community economic development involves a range of activities aimed at improving the economic well-being and quality of life for a community by fostering local businesses, creating jobs, and ensuring that economic growth is inclusive and sustainable.

Urban planning is not just about designing physical spaces but also about creating environments where everyone, regardless of their background, can prosper.  A key way to achieve this is through knowledge mobilization and research, which partly inspired the creation of Untitled Planning and my podcast Urban Limitrophe. 

Untitled Planning is a social purpose organization dedicated to community wealth building through innovation, community economic development, and housing. Our approach integrates research and media to create accessible resources in urban geography and planning, stimulating discussion and driving systemic change. By leveraging action research projects and storytelling, we empower communities, foster sustainable growth, and promote equitable development.

This commitment also informs my podcast, Urban Limitrophe, which highlights diverse voices and theories in urban planning, rooted in Africa and the African diaspora. Through the podcast, I aim to change the narrative about African cities and people, showcasing where innovative and creative solutions to complex urban problems can come from.

How do you ensure diverse community voices are heard and incorporated into urban planning projects?

Ensuring that diverse community voices are heard and incorporated into urban planning projects is at the heart of my work. It can happen in a number of different ways, but two key ways I do this in my work are through community engagement and knowledge mobilization projects.

• Community Engagement: The most direct way to centre community voices in urban planning is through collaboration with aligned community organizations and by prioritizing direct engagement with community members to understand their needs, aspirations, and challenges. By engaging directly with the community, we are able to create a more inclusive and responsive plan that truly reflects the voices and needs of those it aims to serve. For instance, at Untitled Planning we’ve worked closely with the Black Entrepreneurship Alliance (BEA) on their feasibility study: Element Centre: Leveraging Innovation Infrastructure for Community Resilience. As part of that project we’ve conducted extensive community engagement to gather insights on the needs of marginalized entrepreneurs. This involved focus groups, interviews, and surveys. The data collected from these activities informed every aspect of the proposed innovation hub’s design, operations, and programming. 

• Knowledge Mobilization: A lot of my work whether as a Project Officer at the Infrastructure Institute, at Untitled Planning or as part of my podcast is around knowledge mobilization and amplifying diverse histories, experiences, and expertise to inform future research, plans, and strategies. Therefore, in my work exhibitions, storytelling, and multimedia projects play a big role in both making urban planning discussions accessible to a broader audience, and making this field more diverse overall. For example, at Untitled Planning we’re currently working on a podcast series with the Canadian Network of Community Land Trusts (CNCLT) exploring B3 (Black-owned, Black-led, and Black-serving) Community Land Trusts (CLTs) across Canada and the USA. By leveraging diverse formats and sharing stories such as these, we amplify diverse voices and perspectives, ensuring they are included in broader urban planning dialogues, and that future policies and investments consider their needs (even after a particular project or event has taken place).

What made you interested in narrating the documentary Nothing For Us, Without Us and what is it about?

The School of Cities docuseries ‘Nothing For Us, Without Us’ explores the ways that anti-Black racism is embedded in the policies and practices of urban development, renewal and gentrification. Using Hogan’s Alley in Vancouver, Africville in Halifax, and Little Jamaica in Toronto as examples, it argues that Black businesses, organizations and leadership are missing from the rooms where planning decisions are made, resulting in the unequal distribution of services and resources in urban areas. 

So, given my work with Urban Limitrophe, being asked to narrate the podcast was a natural fit. A core goal of the podcast is to fill gaps in understanding urbanism across Africa and the African diaspora. Through each episode I aim to encourage those within the city-building sector to highlight the organizations featured and include the voices, ideas, and perspectives of individuals often overlooked in this field while critically examining why they were left out in the first place. 

Nothing for us, without us | Anti-Black racism in Canadian city planning
[Full Documentary – click the link above or the image]

Can you tell us more about your podcast?

Launched in 2020, Urban Limitrophe is a bilingual, Toronto-based podcast exploring the various initiatives happening in cities across the African continent (and diaspora) to creatively solve problems, support their communities, create vibrant urban spaces, and build better cities overall. Ideas from the continent are often overlooked. This podcast seeks to bring to light the intersecting ideas and practices from urban planning, architecture, economics, arts and culture, geography, and politics that define our urban living, and uncover how to build resilient communities, economies, and ecologies.  Through my co-hosts and interviews with urban planners, designers, researchers, and more, each episode highlights guests working to change the future of their cities and tackle critical urban topics like food insecurity, skateboarding, and waste management.

The podcast was born from realizing how certain geographic regions and people are too often ignored in Western urbanist academic circles and in popular media. This became evident to me after completing my undergraduate degree in Urban Studies and Human Geography at the University of Toronto, where I noticed a lack of courses focused on African cities within my department.

By centring the podcast, Urban Limitrophe, around universal urban issues and solutions originating from the African continent, it provides both educational and public benefits. The podcast introduces more people to the often misunderstood and underrepresented sector of urban planning. It also aims to change the narrative about African cities and people, showcasing where innovative and creative solutions to complex urban problems can come from.

Since 2021, the podcast has been co-sponsored by the University of Toronto’s School of Cities and the Department of Geography and Planning. To learn more about the podcast, listen and/or watch the latest episodes, make sure to visit www.urbanlimitrophe.com