Past, Present, Future: Who gets to write urbanism’s next chapter?

Gil (Guillermo) Penalosa is passionate about creating cities for all people; vibrant cities and healthy communities for everyone regardless of age and social, economic, or ethnic background.

Gil is the founder and chair of the internationally recognized Canadian non-profit organization 8 80 Cities. He is also first Ambassador of World Urban Parks, President of G_Penalosa & Associates and recently he created Our Third Act, older: healthier & happier. He has worked in over 350 different cities in all continents.

Before immigrating to Canada, Gil was Commissioner in Bogota. He holds an MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, where he was selected as one of the “100 Most Inspirational Alumni” in the school’s history. Gil received a Doctorate Honoris Causa from the Faculty of Urban Planning at the prominent University in Sweden, SLU. Last year Gil was listed in Planetizen’s Top 100 Most Influential Urbanists and recently received in Australia the World Urban Parks Annual Distinguished Individual Award.

Tamika L. Butler is a national expert and speaker on issues related to building environment, equity, anti-racism, diversity and inclusion, organizational behaviour, and change management. 

Most recently, she was the Director of Planning, California and the Director of Equity and Inclusion at Toole Design. Previously, Tamika served as the Executive Director of the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust, a non-profit organization that addresses social and racial equity, and wellness, by building parks and gardens in park-poor communities across Greater Los Angeles.

Proudly Franco-Albertan, Chúk’s passion lies in the interactions between culture, health and the environment. Outside of this work with Future Ancestors Services, he is the co-founder of The Poison and The Apple and is completing his Ph.D. in Medical Geography after completing a master’s degree from the School of Public Health at the University of Montréal.

Chúk is your typical urbanite, in love with technology and fashion, all the while retaining a connection with nature and integrating green and blue spaces into his every day. His vision is to reconnect humanity with nature in a way that accommodates modernity, sparking that green revolution without decimation of the present.

Zahra is a public interest designer and strategist focused on shifting power to people who are typically underrepresented in institutions and systems. Her work has focused on deep, community-led approaches to policy, infrastructure, and service design. She is the CEO of Monumental, supporting vital institutions in their efforts around an equitable recovery, amplifying BIPOC leadership, and launching creative, socially-driven initiatives.

Prior to this role, she built and led Doblin Canada (Deloitte’s Human-Centred Design practice), focusing on engaging diverse sets of stakeholders to use human-centred design to address complex organizational and industry challenges. In her early career, Zahra led one of Canada’s first social design studios, working with communities to co-design towards better social outcomes and leading some of Canada’s most ambitious participatory infrastructure and policy programs. Zahra has taught at OCADU, MoMA, and is currently an Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto. She is the Vice-Chair of the Canadian Urban Institute and the Board Chair for Park People.