About us

The Planning and Design Centre is based on the proposition that people should know what is happening in their community and have a hand in shaping their own future. Conceived in 2003, the Planning and Design Centre is a non-profit organization that is committed to improving planning and design in Halifax through three key focus areas:

1. Access to information is of primary importance. To increase awareness and improve the quality of design, information about projects and plans needs to be current, in one place and highly visible.

2. An ongoing forum for public discussion and exhibitions is key to raising expectations, overcoming established polarized views, establishing a design culture and shaping our own future.

3. Developing high-quality, sustainable infrastructure requires leadership, innovation and an advocate.

Our Mission is to connect planning to people and people to planning.The Centre is based on the proposition that people should know what is happening in their community and have a hand in shaping their own future.

Planning and design matter. Tomorrow is not a simple projection of our yesterdays. The future is only limited by the reach of our imagination. Creating plans that move us forward and projects, programs and public spaces that inspire us, requires new commitment and fresh ideas and working together across traditional divides.

The Planning and Design Centre serves as a community forum, a laboratory, a think-tank and an advocate for creative change. It’s dedicated to making planning and design more accessible, collaborative and effective. It will affect how we plan, but more importantly the Plans that we make and the Community we build. Its purpose is to empower citizens, inform policy and through demonstration projects, allow us to imagine new possibilities within our collective reach.