By David MacMillan, MES Candidate
2013 OPPI Conference
The Ontario Professional Planners Institute (OPPI) conference is a biennial event that brings together practitioners, academics and students involved with urban and regional planning, real estate development, public works and many other sectors. Attendees will include municipal and provincial representatives, consulting firms and universities, all of whom will be connecting and sharing information on emerging themes, novel methods and best practices in their respective fields.
The 2013 conference will be held in London, Ontario on September 18th and 19th and will focus on three key themes: Healthy & Sustainable Community Design, Community Engagement and Making it Work. One of the highlights of the event is the Planning Knowledge Exchange (PKE), where refreshment breaks and networking events are held to incite dialogue and debate around these themes.
My poster presentation is titled “A case study in community energy planning: Planning for the expansion of a campus district energy network” and it is grouped under the theme of Healthy & Sustainable Community Design. It will be on display for the duration that the PKE is open and I will be presenting the poster to interested attendees during breaks and networking sessions.
The poster is a visual summary of my Master’s research project and it outlines the context for district energy (DE) in Ontario’s municipalities, the opportunity to expand the Keele Campus DE network, the analytical approach I took in assessing this opportunity and lessons learned thus far. My hope is that attendees – especially those engaged in community energy planning (CEP) or DE studies in their municipalities – gain some insight into how an integrated planning framework can advance DE opportunities in Ontario. Likewise, I hope to benefit from the expertise of the diverse audience and inform my own research moving forward.
OPPI Conference - Handout
2013 OPPI Conference - Poster Layout
