November 21, 2012
Pamela Robinson is an Associate Professor in the School of Urban and Regional Planning at Ryerson University; a Registered Professional Planner (RPP), and a member of the Canadian Institute of Planners (MCIP).
Prior to joining the faculty at Ryerson in 2005, Dr. Robinson was a lecturer in the Urban and Environmental Studies programs at Innis College, University of Toronto. In 2004 she received the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation Award for Teaching Excellence for her teaching in urban sustainability. In 1996 she received an Ontario Professional Planners Institute (OPPI) Award for Planning Excellence for her work on a public consultation strategy in Kingston, Ontario.
Dr. Robinson is a founding partner of Harper Longino Robinson, Community Planning and Development, a Kingston and Toronto-based urban planning firm, and she previously worked as a municipal planner. Currently, Dr. Robinson is a partner in Robinson & Gore Policy and Planning with Dr. Christopher Gore (Politics and Public Administration, Ryerson). Her most recent clients include the Caucus of Senior Policy Officials (C-SPO) Climate Change Working Group (CC-WG), Canadian provinces and territories; the World Bank, the Town of Markham; WATERFRONToronto, and the City of Toronto. Her professional practice and academic research explore the role of design, governance and civic engagement in advancing urban sustainability.
For the last 10 years, Dr. Robinson has been conducting research on Canadian municipal responses to climate change. This research is now being funded by SSHRC (2009 to 2012). With funding from Canada’s GEOIDE Network and Ontario Centres for Excellence, Dr. Robinson is also currently evaluating the potential of Web 2.0 tools to engage citizens in their understanding of environmental change.
In addition to her academic responsibilities, Dr. Robinson is the Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation and recently served as the Vice Chair of the Metrolinx Community Advisory Committee for the Electrification Study. She is also one of two North American representatives for UN-Habitat’s Research Advisory Service and a member of the Board of Directors of the George Cedric Metcalf Foundation.
Dr. Robinson is the author of numerous articles and book chapters on the Canadian municipal response to climate change, and is the “greenspace” columnist for Spacing Magazine. She is also the co-editor with Ann Dale and Bill Dushenko of an edited volume under review on urban sustainability.