How does the design of the built environment affect community safety, belonging, and inclusion? Why are public spaces increasingly designed with features considered to be ‘defensive’ or ‘hostile’? How are communities responding to exclusionary, defensive, and/or hostile built environments?

Public spaces are ideally places for all, designed to create community, offer places for meaningful interaction, and expose us to people we may not have the opportunity to get to know. Public spaces are places where we can learn to be a greater society and better to one another. Together, we will discuss ways that we create built environments and how to create public spaces that are accessible to all.

Learning Objectives:

1. Learn how the built environment affects community safety, belonging, and inclusion
   
2. Learn about defensive or hostile design
   
3. Gain understanding of the approaches that allow for greater inclusion in the design of public spaces
   
4. Determine how to create public spaces that are accessible to all
   

Speakers: Khatereh (Khat) Baharikhoob
Senior Urban Designer, DIALOG

Khatereh (who also goes by Khat) is a passionate urban designer who strives to make the world a better place to live, work and play. Khat’s background is in architecture and urban design. In the past ten years of her career, she has been actively involved in numerous award-winning urban design and master planning projects at a variety of scales both locally and internationally. Khatereh is an associate member of Ontario Association of Landscape Architects (OALA) and Canadian Association of Landscape Architects (CSLA). She currently serves as a member of Board of Directors of CPTED Canada, bringing a multi-layered design lens to complex issues related to health and safety of Canadian built environments. Khat also volunteers at multiple OALA committees including DEI Task Force which was formed in 2020 to develop a framework for fostering diversity, equity and inclusion in our Canadian landscapes. Currently employed at DIALOG, Khat endeavours to improve community wellbeing in all aspects of her work. In her view, it is a critical time to be an urbanist and a very special moment to plan for a more resilient future.

Michael McClelland
Principal, ERA Architects

A registered architect and founding Principal of ERA Architects, Michael McClelland OAA, AAA, FRAIC, CAHP has specialized in heritage conservation, heritage planning, and urban design for over 30 years. Having begun his career in municipal government, most notably for the Toronto Historical Board, Michael continues to work with a wide range of public and private stakeholders to build culture through thoughtful, values-based heritage planning and design. Michael is a frequent contributor to the discourse surrounding architecture and landscape in Canada, and has edited a number of books on urban conservation including East West - a Guide to where people live in Downtown Toronto; Concrete Toronto – a guidebook to concrete architecture from the fifties to the seventies; The Ward – the Life and Loss of Toronto’s first Immigrant Neighbourhood, and The Ward Uncovered – the Archaeology of Everyday Life.

Jamilla Mohamud
Urban Strategies Inc.

Jamilla is an Urban Planner at Urban Strategies Inc. and a multi-disciplinary researcher with experience working on a range of issues including urban health equity, housing affordability and gendered rights to the city. Her professional work strives to leverage land use policies to benefit historically disadvantaged communities to create more equitable and just cities.Jamilla holds a Master of Environmental Studies in Planning from York University, a Bachelor of Science from Ryerson University. In 2020, Jamilla was a recipient of the Canadian Institute of Planners' (CIP) Award for Academic Excellence. Currently, Jamilla volunteers with Ontario Professional Planners Institute's (OPPI) Anti-Black Racism in Planning Task Force and is an active member of the Black Planners and Urbanist Association (BPUA).

Jenny Hiseler

Jenny Hiseler has been a built environment accessibility professional for close to ten years and has a wide understanding of access in physical and digital spaces. She is an organizer with #a11yTO, Accessibility Toronto, and is a certified professional in accessible built environments with the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP – CPABE Level 2). She is currently completing a graduate certificate in Accessible Media Production.

Moderator:

 Cara Chellew
@defensiveTO

Cara Chellew (MES) is a public space researcher, writer, and founder of DefensiveTO, a multi-media project that documents defensive/hostile urbanism in Toronto and beyond. Her work has been published in Azure, the Canadian Journal of Urban Research, Spacing and the Ontario Planning Journal. Cara also lectures on Inclusive Design at Sheridan College, is a Steering Committee member for the Toronto Public Space Committee and is the founder of the Defensive Urbanism Research Network. By uncovering exclusive design strategies, Cara hopes to inspire people to create more inclusive public spaces.