Brent Toderian

Brent Toderian is an international consultant on advanced urbanism with TODERIAN UrbanWORKS, Vancouver’s former Director of City Planning, and the President of the Council for Canadian Urbanism. Follow him on Twitter @BrentToderian

Member for
18 years 2 months

Contributed 69 posts

Full Bio

Brent is President of TODERIAN UrbanWORKS in Vancouver, Canada, and has over 24 years experience in advanced and innovative urbanism, city-planning and urban design. He advises cities & innovative developments all over the world, from Ottawa to Oslo, from Sydney to Medellin, from Auckland to Helsinki.

Brent left the role of Chief Planner for Vancouver in 2012 after 6 years, with accomplishments that included 2010 Winter Olympics-related planning and design; the internationally regarded EcoDensity Initiative; the Greenest City Initiative; new skyline-shaping and public view corridor strategies; innovative active transport/public use of streets approaches; the Cambie Corridor Plan and other next-generation TOD actions; the transformative Laneway Housing Initiative; and many other ground-breaking initiatives. He led all visioning, planning, and urban design for Vancouver during a challenging era of significant change, and earned an international reputation as a successful city-maker. He also oversaw all architectural and design approvals, where he brought in new approaches for green design and architectural diversity.

Brent is also past Manager of Centre City Planning + Design in Calgary Canada, where he pioneered innovative approaches to visioning, design and architectural review, and created/led the award-winning Centre City Plan.

His career started as an award-winning planning and design consultant based in Ontario Canada, with projects from Toronto to Yellowknife.

A passionate practitioner + advocate for creative city-building, Brent is the founding & current President of the Council for Canadian Urbanism (CanU); a regular columnist on CBC Radio on "city-making"; an Advisory Board member of ULI BC; a contributing blogger with Planetizen, Huffington Post & SPACING; and an active leader in many global organizations related to cities. He is a sought-after international speaker, writer, teacher and collaborator on issues of advanced urbanism.

He can be reached at [email protected], on twitter @BrentToderian, and on-line at www.toderianurbanworks.com.

A New Year's Eve Call to Action for Urbanists

We've known for decades the better ways to do things, for greater urban health, sustainability, resiliency, vibrancy and economic success. So this year, let's resolve to have the will and skill to get past the short-term politics, the rhetoric, the market momentum, and the financial self-interest that has kept our better solutions from being realized.

Enough with Bikes vs Cars – It’s about Better Cities!

A few weeks back, I watched with concern Toronto having a rhetoric-heavy debate about removing the relatively new bike-lane on Jarvis Street. Last minute efforts to save the bike-lane <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/cityhallpolitics/article/1265847--jarvis-bike-lanes-to-be-removed-after-last-ditch-council-effort-to-save-them-fails" target="_blank">were ultimately unsuccessful</a>, although as small consolation, Council chose not to use bike-lane infrastructure funds to remove it – a previous intention that had been seen as adding budgeting insult to active mobility injury.

Families WILL Choose to Live Downtown, If We Design for Kids!

What will it take to keep families in cities?

Olympic Lessons for Host Cities and the Movement

As Olympics excitement grows in the first week of the London 2012 Games, we in Vancouver watch with great interest, and occasional feelings of deja-vu. Last week in Atlantic Cities, <a href="http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2012/07/what-vancouver-gained-hosting-olympics/2695/" target="_blank">I wrote about</a> Vancouver’s 2010 Olympics experience with Olympic jitters and the host city funk, and the ability of the Games to change cities through the “power of the collective experience.” <div style="text-align: center"> <img src="/files/u31521/city.jpg" width="400" height="225" /> </div>

Powerful Place-Making Meets Cowboy Culture

Returning home to Vancouver last week after taking in some of the 100th Anniversary world-famous Calgary Stampede, I find myself thinking about the relationship between city-defining events and place-making. I also couldn’t help remembering an unusual moment in my career that relates to the Stampede. In 2006 when I was 36, after 4 rounds of interviews, I found myself in a closed-door session with Vancouver's City Council. I was being recommended to Council to become the new Director of City Planning, replacing former Co-Directors Larry Beasley and Dr. Ann McAfee. Council was meeting me for the first time, before going in-camera to officially decide on my hiring.