Michael Gordon

Michael Gordon (M.Sc. M.C.I.P.) is Senior Central Area Planner for the City of Vancouver overseeing planning in the downtown peninsula. He has been an Adjunct Professor teaching Housing Policy at the University of British Columbia for eight years. He has also served on several Boards of Directors including Neighbourhoods USA, a national networking organization of community-based groups and the Ontario Public Interest Research Group. From 2004 – 2007, Michael represented British Columbia planners on the Governing Council for the Canadian Institute of Planners. Recently, he was also Vice-President of the Planning Institute of British Columbia. He was Programme Chair for the 2006 World Planners Congress in Vancouver and the BC Land Summit held in Whistler, BC in May 2009.

He has written extensively on urban design and planning, demographics and housing and is currently collaborating on a book on urban subcultures in North American communities. Cultural issues are of interest to him with his involvement on the Board of Directors for the Helen Pitt Gallery. Currently, he continues to be on the Board of Directors of the Vancouver Skateboard Coalition. He has collaborated with others on the production of three documentaries. Currently, he has completed an article with Matt Bourke on the demographics of families with children in high density neighbourhoods in Vancouver and an article on planning for Live Entertainment, with Mark Pickersgill. He has been invited to speak and advise on urban issues in Berlin, New York, Seattle, Philadelphia, Portland, Memphis, Fort Worth, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Los Angeles. He has also received a number of awards for achievements in planning and his volunteer contributions to city planning and community groups.