Please join us for an inspiring webinar with Michelle Rowland, Artsci'16, an Urban Planner whose atypical path—from Religious Studies and Global Development at ¹ú²ú91ÓÈÎ︣ÀûÔÚÏß¹Û¿´â€™s to city planning in London, England—shows that careers don’t have to be linear.
Michelle will share insights from her work shaping sustainable, inclusive, and resilient cities across Canada and the UK. From planning for multi-modal transportation and age-friendly communities to envisioning the future of offices and urban spaces, Michelle’s experience spans the intersection of policy, innovation, and sustainability.
Whether you’re passionate about urban development, curious about global planning, or exploring how to build a meaningful career that evolves over time, this session will offer valuable lessons on embracing change, thinking long-term, and designing for a sustainable future.
Michelle Rowland, Artsci'16; Michelle is an Urban Planner with a BA in Religious Studies and Global Development from ¹ú²ú91ÓÈÎ︣ÀûÔÚÏß¹Û¿´â€™s University and a Masters of Planning from Toronto Metropolitan University. With extensive experience in development and policy planning in both public and private sectors, Michelle's work aims to reimagine the built environment by managing complex, long-range planning strategies. Transforming cities to be more inclusive and resilient is Michelle’s passion.
In Ontario, Michelle has worked on long-term strategic planning that cross-sects all aspects of urban life — this includes the future of multi-modal transportation in the Greater Golden Horseshoe area up to 2050, a long-term vision of industrial lands in Hamilton and new policy frameworks supporting all ages and abilities in new developments in Markham.
Michelle is currently a Planning Policy Officer working on the Local Plan for the City of London Corporation in England. Michelle’s policy expertise includes offices, active transportation, freight movement, and infrastructure. Michelle engages with stakeholders, researches best practices, analyses spatial trends in GIS and writes planning policy on the future of offices in the economic hub of the United Kingdom. Michelle works with the UK’s Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government testing new automation processes to improve the process of plan making and with Transport for London to plan for the delivery of bicycle parking. As a policy planner, Michelle collaborates with development management planners, transport planners, urban designers, accessibility planners, archaeologists, lawyers, data scientists and communications professionals.
