Now is the time to study urban planning says program director, Pamela Robinson
105 Bond-ing is a unique four-week program launched by the School of Urban and Regional Planning (URP) at Ryerson in partnership with Urban Minds (external link) . “105 Bond is our school address. 105-Bonding is an early welcome, or pre-orientation if you will,” said program director and professor Pamela Robinson. Students come to our planning school from three main streams: highschool, mid-career, or other programs. They are likely all feeling some stress at the moment. “In these difficult times, we wanted to extend an early welcome to those students who have chosen us and to let them know we’re working on making their first year really great.”
“I couldn’t think of a better time to study planning,” Robinson says. “During real-life challenges, planners, and the solutions we offer, are really put to the test. Students can see, in real-time the impact of our plans, and often how we need to make changes or improve our work. In our school, we prioritize working with communities. ”
“With the pandemic, there has been a lot of talk about a gap year. For students considering a gap year, it is important to ask yourselves: where are you going to go? And why not learn as much as you can in whatever field you want to study. We offer a great foundation in the first year of our program after which students can branch-off and begin to specialize, so, I say don’t wait. We are all hands on deck, and for planners, this is an important time to start your education .”
This new program that URP has launched is fun and engaging. 61 students enrolled, including five student government reps. All of them got to meet three of their first-year professors in a fun quiz show format. The program begins with a secret guide to the campus and professors answering all the questions we can put to them.
Week two asks participants ‘what kind of planner are you?’ It includes activities to find and meet people in the class who have similar planning interests. “Planners come in all shapes, sizes, and interests, and we want to help people connect. And because of the challenges due to COVID-19 we want to do everything we can to help this become the most cohesive class we’ve ever had,” says Robinson.
Week three focuses on career hacks for planners. It includes activities from drawing challenges and visual communication to how students can connect and how to network. “Planners often work in large teams on complex problems so learning how to network–and now network online–is very important to help move ideas and careers forward. We want to help students with that right from the start,” she says.
The final week involves a design challenge. “We have a great building, at 105 Bond St., but you can’t see that it is a planning building from the entrance, so we’ve incorporated a design challenge to make the entrance more inviting. That challenge will have students making a mark on the university even before they start. We really want this to be a catalyst to get students involved and to see that community is at the heart of what we do as a planning school. There will be more to come in the fall but we want students to know they are already part of our SURP community.