According to Canadian Business’ 2016 Best Jobs ranking the future of Urban Planners in Canada is very bright. Urban Planners have secured second position in the Canadian job rankings. This might be a bit unbelievable for the urban planners living in other countries of the world which continue to face numerous problems and at times even find it possible to explain their profession to others. This is not the case with Canada anymore.
Habon Ali who is a 29 year old associate of a Toronto based firm. Ali says that the goals was to create a community-building strategy for Waterloo to capitalize on the transit corridor by leveraging the giant investment to attract new retail, high-density development and other amenities. Ali, who graduated from the University of Toronto’s planning school in 2012, was involved in the public engagement aspect of the project—organizing open houses, finding straightforward ways to communicate complex planning jargon and soliciting input. “It was a cool transit project to be involved with because it was about getting the public involved,” she says.
The new generation of Urban Planers are exploring and grabbing the the opportunities presented by the rising demand for the services. Property development market will ensure that the demand for urban planners remains high and extensive development take place. Both private and government departments are engaged in development process which makes it a win win situation for planners. This is so because urban planners are not only engaged in the government sector but also works in private sectors, NGOs an various consultancies and architectural firms. The need for planners will increase as the population increases because more and more people will be living in urban areas and will require new infrastructure.
Urban Planners in Canada bagged a median salary of $85,010 and witnessed wage growth of 15% over last 5 years. This came with a sharp 30% rise in the jobs. This positive trend for urban planners is expected to continue for many more years linked to the development of various urban areas. and development in property market of cities like Toronto and Vancouver.
The reason? While engineering and architecture firms tend to be exposed to development downturns, most private planning companies do a lot of business with municipalities and their agencies. Given the billions in stimulus dollars that will be spent in coming years on infrastructure projects, demand for planners is likely to grow in lockstep with the flow of federal and provincial dollars to social housing, transit, public spaces and recreational amenities. “Most of my clients are public sector,” says Fix. “There’s always a need for planning work.”
Read Full story here: How booming cities made urban planning Canada’s hottest job
Published on Thursday, April 21, 2016 in Canadian Business
