Change starts here.

To imagine our own future.

To invent new public infrastructure.

To engage, be motivated and act as a community.

To reconceive of planning and planners as agents of change engaged in an open process that transcends departmental boundaries.

Planning practice and academia unite with the practical and popular, as SHIFT 2012 addresses the vibrant and exciting phenomenon taking place within our cities. This grassroots shift is evident as the roles of planners, community members and community leaders are being redefined in the face of increasing community-based collaboration, initiation, and experimentation, drastically altering the way we live, work, and view our surroundings. 

Running successfully for over 20 years by Dalhousie University’s School of Planning, our FREE annual student-run conference brings together a diverse group of planning and design practitioners, academics, students, and the community to examine and discuss exciting innovations in planning and design. Through discussions, charettes, and urban explorations of Halifax, Nova Scotia, SHIFT 2012 March 8-10 will explore the innovative grass-roots nature of contemporary planning and design, which is shifting the role of the planner/urbanist/citizen and recreating exciting new kinds of communities, by communities.