Urban Planner and Engagement Specialist

**ABOUT HAPPY CITIES**

Happy Cities is an urban planning, design, and engagement consulting firm. We are proud to be a certified B Corp and Living Wage employer.

Our journey began with a question: If we understand the effect that urban design has on people’s feelings and behaviour, can we make cities happier? This question drove more than a decade of research, culminating in our founder Charles Montgomery’s bestselling book, _Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design_.

Happy Cities grew into a planning, design, and research firm that works with clients around the world to create happier, healthier, more inclusive communities. Our approach to urban wellbeing recognizes that people have wide-ranging lived experiences. Community engagement is a core component of all of our projects, and we work hard to reach and hear from the diverse voices in the communities we serve. Our engagement approaches offer fun, educational, inclusive, and meaningful ways for people to give input in city planning processes. We believe that engagement should provide value for participants and not just extract information from them. We also know that equitable engagement requires continual efforts to reach people of all backgrounds.

We invite you to join us in our mission to help redefine public engagement and make it more inclusive and more fun.

**ABOUT YOU**

**Essential**
- University degree in urban planning, communications, or a related field.
- A minimum of four years of employment in a public engagement, urban planning, or communications role, ideally including experience related to community planning, urban design, transportation planning, or real estate development.
- Ability to prepare clear, concise written and graphic reports.
- Ability to accurately analyze quantitative and qualitative data, and report on key themes using the necessary graphics.
- Experience and familiarity with urban planning principles.
- Strong understanding of equity and inclusion principles.
- Experience in organizing events and managing relevant logistics.
- Ability to work both independently and collaboratively with project teams and clients.
- Experience working with various levels of government, Indigenous communities, public/institutional agencies, non-profit organizations, tenants, and equity-denied groups.
- Strong verbal and written communication, presentation, facilitation, and interpersonal skills.
- Strong organizational and time management skills.
- Graphic design skills, including familiarity with Adobe InDesign and Illustrator.

**Preferred**
- Member of IAP2 (International Association of Public Participation), or equivalent training in engagement-specific courses.
- Membership (or eligibility membership) with the Canadian Institute of Planners.
- A people-person with a desire to connect with people and communities.
- Bilingual or fluent in a language other than English.

**WHAT YOU WOULD BE DOING AT HAPPY CITIES**
- Leading engagement processes for a wide range of planning and development projects.
- Envisioning and creating meaningful public, internal, and key actor engagement processes, including preparing engagement strategies and communications plans.
- Listening to and learning from community groups to design engagement processes that meet their needs.
- Identifying optimal ways to generate value for participants through compelling engagement approaches, tailored to specific contexts.
- Planning, coordinating, scheduling, and organizing engagement events and activities.
- Facilitating in-person and virtual engagement activities, including one-on-one interviews, focus groups, workshops, open houses, special events, and consultation.
- Analyzing qualitative and quantitative data from engagement processes, including survey results.
- Writing professional engagement summary reports and draft recommendations based on what was heard.
- Creating graphics and report layouts, and working closely with the graphic design team to prepare creative and interesting engagement materials and deliverables.
- Taking initiative in developing business opportunities, including preparing proposals.
- Building meaningful relationships with people and organizations in the communities where we work.
- Having a valid B.C. Driver’s License is beneficial but not required.

**HOW WE WORK AT HAPPY CITIES**

The proposed salary range for this position is $70,000 to $80,000, depending on expertise and skill. Further, employees are eligible for the following benefits:

- Supportive and inclusive workplace
- Extended health benefits, including vision and dental
- Parental leave policy
- Flexible schedule and remote work policy
- Professional development stipend
- Profit share bonus pay

**INTERESTED?**
- Resume showing your recent employment and a complete list of projects you’ve worked on. Please indicate your role on these projects (lead, co-lead, support, advisor, etc.)
- A cover letter of maximum two pages. Please don’t repeat your r