2024 TMU Gold Medal and Board of Governors Student Leadership Award winner is launching her career in urban planning

This year, urban and regional planning student Jodie Laborde graduated with double honours! On top of achieving a TMU Gold Medal Award for the Faculty of Community Services, Laborde was additionally decorated with the Board of Governors Student Leadership Award.

Both awards recognize outstanding academic achievements and contributions to the life of the university, professional community and/or community at large. The latter award — one of the university’s most prestigious — distinguishes one individual from among all gold medalists for outstanding leadership and participation in co-curricular and extracurricular activities.

Throughout her undergraduate studies, Laborde developed a passion for centering urban planning around a racial perspective. She pursued experiences that grew her understanding of and commitment to Black planning. Now, hard on the heels of graduating, she has moved to Vancouver to launch her planning career at an Indigenous-led not-for-profit consultancy firm specializing in affordable housing development.

Laborde recently shared thoughts on her achievements and time at TMU’s School of Urban and Regional Planning.

What does receiving both prestigious awards mean to you?

It's a great honour! I think it's a true testament to what my parents always instilled in me: “your passion will always speak for itself”. When I initially changed programs from civil engineering to urban planning, I felt very discouraged because I wasn’t pursuing one of the big three professions (engineer, doctor or lawyer), and by age 18, I didn’t already have my life “figured out”.

Ironically, however, since urban planning work often has many twists and turns, it taught me to go with the flow and realize that while there are things I can control, there’s a lot more that I can’t. I learned to be “comfortable with being uncomfortable” and to do the best with and enjoy wherever I’m at. I eventually found a deep love for the work I do. So, being recognized now for my efforts confirms to my younger self that even though I didn’t know what the next four years would look like, I was exactly where I needed to be.

What are your best memories and takeaways from TMU?

Meeting such wonderful friends who were absolute powerhouses when it came to projects in our studio classes. I also feel very proud of all the work I accomplished, but I'm most proud of the soft skills I learned — being flexible and adaptable to change, learning conflict resolution skills, and knowing how to truly listen. Sometimes we get so caught up in having an answer or the answer that we don’t actually take the time to listen and digest what was said. Learning these skills has been critical for me not only as a planner but also as a person navigating the complexities of life.

Tell us about your commitment to addressing Anti-Black racism in urban planning.

During my undergrad, certain experiences helped me re-centre my understanding of planning from a racial perspective — and sparked my commitment to centering my future work around Black planning.

For example, during one very significant internship, I got to work alongside Jay Pitter, a highly coveted urban planner known for her work with equity-seeking communities. I gained a deeper understanding of how certain planning theories were historically employed and continue to persist in serving as a pretext for the displacement and banishment of Black communities from urban spaces.

There was also the Black Experiences with Planning in Canada project, which broadened my understanding of Western urban planning practices to encompass Afrocentrism, prioritize creating equitable planning processes, centre lived experiences, and protect and reinforce cultural identities. During this project, I also traveled to Halifax to conduct interviews and focus groups with the community of Beechville, one of the few remaining Black settlements in Halifax. Another one was with professor Nemoy Lewis investigating the impact of housing financialization on Black renters.   

How did your professors support your academic success?

Since urban planning isn't widely known, you usually enter it with an initial drive, or you discover it through other ways. It was invaluable to learn from professors who love what they do — particularly Nemoy Lewis, Magdalena Ugarte, Blair Scorgie, and Abigail Moriah. They helped me get to know the field, enabled me to pursue planning topics I was passionate about, and were integral to my success and experience at the school.

Now that I’m working, I appreciate how TMU’s urban planning school includes faculty members who also work directly in the field — in addition to their academic work. Because of their experience, they created an environment where I could ask difficult questions about the validity of certain theories or systems in real-world practice. They also helped me understand how planning is inherently political. Not all planning students get to experience this while still in school, and end up finding out later that planning complete communities is completely different in practice, and not as easy and utopian as it’s sometimes laid out in a textbook.

What are your future plans?

I just recently moved to Vancouver, BC, and I'm working at an Indigenous-led not-for-profit consultancy firm specializing in affordable housing development. I'm very passionate about housing and feel very fulfilled by my current work. I hope to get my Registered Professional Planners (RPP) designation in the next few years and am also considering pursuing a master's degree.