Integrated Land Planning Students Present Projects

The first class of Fanshawe's Bachelor of Applied Arts in Integrated Land Planning Technologies (ILP) program will be graduating in November. ILP and Biotechnology were the first two applied degree programs to be granted to Fanshawe by the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. Students presented final capstone projects this past week to Fanshawe staff as well as their families and guests.

Projects took months to complete: "The students have spent the entire summer semester working to prepare these projects that encapsulate core disciplines of the program," explains program coordinator Martin Healy. "Their work is a combination of landscape architecture, urban and regional planning, geographic information systems, CAD and graphic design - these projects would compare to an undergrad thesis."

Students presented their findings three ways: as a written academic paper, as posters displayed in a gallery and as oral presentations. Projects were based on real circumstances, for example "Measuring of Urban Sprawl," "Urban Design Principles" and "Great Streets." (In photo at right: ILP student Michael Wilson discusses his project "Measuring Urban Sprawl" with Durk Vandervoort, Urban Planner for the County of Middlesex.)

Of particular interest was the "Off-Campus Student Housing Guidelines" project undertaken by Aaron Deactis and Michael Dren. College Gate Walk was used as a case study and recommendations were made to minimize the problems that occur every September as new students move in. Suggestions included open-concept planning, instituting residence advisors and more involvement from schools, the community, city, building management and the police.

As was displayed throughout the presentations, the four-year program - which includes four co-op opportunities - teaches students all aspects of the industry: "At a micro level, students can plan and design residential gardens," explains Healy. "At a macro level they can design city parks and subdivisions."

What kinds of jobs will the graduates get? "They'll most likely veer in different career directions - landscape architecture and design, urban and regional planning or geographic information systems. This is our first crop of graduates so we're excited to see what they do."