The Planning Program at the University of Toronto is pleased to announce the next series of workshops in its new professional development program, 'Leading Change in Cities: Skills for Planners'. The program is geared to practicing planners seeking to upgrade or develop skills in specialized fields of planning, while also developing the skills in leadership and management necessary to make change happen.

In this inaugural year, the University of Toronto Planning Program in partnership with the Ontario Professional Planners Institute is offering courses around the theme of 'healthy community, sustainable community', in keeping with OPPI's current policy initiative.

The next series of workshops are as follows:

April 27 & 28, 2009 - Urban Design and Planning for Green Development (Chris Hardwicke, Paul Hess, Matt Humphries and Regan Smith

May 7 & 8, 2009 - Modeling Impacts of Climate Change on Cities (William Gough, Neil Comer, Adam Fenech)

They are now accepting registrations and note the early bird registration dates and rates for additional savings.

Please click here for more information.

Urban Design and Planning for Green Development

Tuesday, April 28 & Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Rm. 2098 Sidney Smith Hall, 100 St. George Street, Toronto

The workshop will provide participants with a broad overview of sustainability issues as they related to planning and development. It will then focus on the current state of the industry in terms of existing certifications and programs developed to help create and celebrate sustainable urban planning. The second day will focus on practical information to consider in developing a sustainability plan, first with a discussion of lessons learned from the various

presenters and then with an overview of necessary (next) steps for successful implementation.

Register by April 17, 2009.

Note: Standard daily rate is $350 and Early Bird Rate of $300 is effective until March 27, 2009.

Modeling Impacts of Climate Change on Cities

Thursday, May 7 & Friday, May 8, 2009

Rm. 617, Sidney Smith Hall, 100 St. George Street, Toronto

This two-day session will provide hands-on training in the use of Canadian Climate Change Scenarios Network (CCCSN.CA) website. The website can be accessed by planners and other seeking to develop climate change scenarios for their jurisdictions. Participants will learn how to access and interpret both observed and model data available on the CCCSN site. Instruction will be geared to novices and will involve both demonstration and interactive participation on University of Toronto networked computers.

The session will inform attendees about how climate change scenario information can be displayed, downloaded, validated and interpreted using the tools of

the CCCSN. Instructional material will be provided at the session.

The two-day session includes hands-on training on:

• An overview of climate modeling.
• How to search for, identify and download freely available climate data for your local area of interest.
• How to organize and manage downloaded climate data for analysis and interpretation using indices of climate change.
• What global climate model output is available on the CCCSN website (www.cccsn.ca), and how to navigate and use the website
• How to use global climate models that have 'realistic' projections of future climate change.
• How to select which of the global climate models used in the intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 4th Assessment Report and their various scenarios of future climate change could be used for climate change impact studies in your area.
• How to conduct climate model verification against historical observations of climate to "verify" which global climate model(s) might provide the best representation of future projections for your local area of interest.

Register by April 30, 2009.

Note: Standard daily rate is $350 and Early Bird Rate of $300 is effective until April 23, 2009.)

For more information on the Professional Development Program and courses, please email, phone 416-946-0269 or visit their website.

Please click here for the Event Flyer and Registration Information [PDF].