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Host Allison Rosland and IDEA Executive Director Sean Sedgwick sit down with Edmonton's mayor Andrew Knack for a discussion about his vision for the city, what inspires him and his perspectives on infill. Biography: Andrew Knack was elected in October 2025 as the 37th Mayor of Edmonton.  Born in Edmonton and raised west of the city in Spruce Grove, Andrew returned to Edmonton to attend the University of Alberta, where he obtained a Bachelor of Commerce in 2002. Inspired by local advocacy through his roles on the Meadowlark and Jasper Park Community League boards, Knack ran for Councillor for Ward Nakota Isga (formerly Ward 1) and was elected in 2013. He served three terms as a Councillor and is best known for his work to secure improved transit and amenities for west end neighbourhoods. Knack has also served on the Alberta Municipalities Executive Committee and as Council’s representative on the Accessibility Advisory Committee, the City of Edmonton Youth Council, the Edmonton Transit System Advisory Board, and the Edmonton Public Library Board. In this term, Mayor Knack’s focus is on affordability, safety, economic development, and strengthening the support needed to build a stronger Edmonton together.

In this episode of In Development, our hosts chat with Don Iveson, a former city councillor, mayor and current housing & sustainability expert.  They discuss the historical context of Edmonton's infill policy environment, challenges we continue to face and how a better future will require collaboration between all orders of government. Don's deep knowledge of municipal politics and breadth of experience make for an informative, fascinating listen. Biography: Don Iveson served four terms at Edmonton City Hall, initially as Councillor representing the southwest corner of the City. Prior to elected office, he worked in University campus media and then post-secondary education policy. Don served as Edmonton’s 35th Mayor from 2013 to 2021 with a guiding leadership principle to make things better for the next generation. This long-term view is now embedded in through Edmonton’s City Plan and Energy Transition Strategy. After his time on Council, Don Iveson founded Civic Good, a public policy advisory practice working on climate resilience, housing affordability, and attentive governance with clients ranging from startups to governments. His primary engagement is with Co-operators as Executive Advisor with the Resilience Acceleration Lab. Don continues to live in Edmonton, though he works with organizations across Canada, through his work as Chairperson of the Canada Housing and Mortgage Corporation. He writes occasionally about his work and about Canadian public policy over on the Civic Good Substack.

In this episode, Eleanor Mohammed and Peter Spearey join our host Stephen to discuss the Edmonton Design Awards, great examples of urban design and its importance to building great public spaces. Learn about the jury process, philosophy and goals of Edmonton Design Week and how our guests see it evolving over time.  Biographies: Peter SpeareyPeter is an award-winning landscape architect and urban designer with over twenty-five years experience exploring how thoughtful design can shape engaging, authentic and sustainable places. Peter’s practice merges placemaking and sustainable urbanism through a creative and collaborative approach to design. Peter has worked in both the private and public sector on a wide range of community planning, landscape architecture, urban design and environmental graphic design assignments across Western and Northern Canada. Since 2016, Peter has served as Lead Urban Designer for the City of Edmonton. In this role, Peter has been responsible for delivering the City’s urban design program, including the development of urban design policy and strategy, providing reviews of development applications and City infrastructure projects, overseeing the Edmonton Design Committee, and planning and hosting the biennial Edmonton Urban Design Awards. At the end of November, Peter will be leaving the City of Edmonton to take on the position of Chief Urban Designer for the City of Calgary. Eleanor Mohammed Eleanor Mohammed, RPP, FCIP, EP, MTCP, is a globally recognized Urban Planner with over twodecades of leadership in the public, private, and non-profit sectors. A Partner at DIALOG, sheadvances transformative solutions in urban governance and land use planning. Currently theChair of the UN-Habitat Professionals Forum and a Board Director at Canada’s National CapitalCommission, she drives local and global initiatives in sustainable city-building and climateresilience. A former President of the Commonwealth Association of Planners and the CanadianInstitute of Planners, she has spearheaded diverse projects from sustainable developmentadvocacy to professional capacity building and multilateral international engagement. She wasrecognized on the Royal Town Planning Institute’s (U.K.) International Women of Influence listand is a passionate professional who is a sought-after keynote at international events. Eleanorholds a Master of Arts with Distinction in Town and Country Planning from the University of theWest of England (U.K.) and an Honours Bachelor

Register for the IDEA Symposium: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/1571928493439?aff=oddtdtcreator Register for the Celebration of Planning: https://www.albertaplanners.com/civicrm/event/info?id=750&reset=1 In this episode, our hosts chat with Neal LaMontagne, professional planner & academic about his perspectives on planning and pedagogy. Learn about the differences between various Canadian planning programs, the development of a planning school in Edmonton and what skills Neal sees as key to planning excellence in the future. Neal's Biography: Neal LaMontagne is a practicing city planner with a decade and a half of experience in the public and private sectors in California and B.C. Previously the Manager of Long Range and Community Planning for the City of North Vancouver, he seeks to shape the urban environment in a just, sustainable and collaborative manner through policy, regulation and community dialogue. Past experience includes work as a senior planner for the City of Vancouver on civic sustainability, transportation and housing issues, as a consultant on comprehensive city and local area plans, zoning codes, design guidelines, and urban design strategies in the U.S. and Canada, and as an adjunct professor at the NewSchool of Architecture and Design, San Diego State University and the University of California San Diego. Neal received his master's in urban planning from McGill University and is currently completing a PhD in urban planning at the University of California Los Angeles. His academic interests include urban design policy and regulatory frameworks, the political economy of the built environment, complexity and adaptive urbanism, urban design history and planning practice.

With Stephen on vacation, Allison hosts this week's episode with IDEA's Executive Director Sean. The hosts chat with IDEA board member Jay Sanderson of Backroads Reclamation about the hidden goldmine of usable wood in structures poised for demolition. We learn about the complexity of building a cost-effective supply chain and removing friction from more sustainable construction practices.  Jay's Biography:  Jay Sanderson is the founder of Backroads Reclamation and a leader in developing circular infrastructure for Canada’s built environment. With over 20 years of experience in heavy transport, logistics, and materials handling—Jay brings a systems-driven, operations-first lens to solving complex waste and recovery challenges. In 2020, as COVID slowed industrial projects and shifted priorities across the country, Jay turned to hands-on work to stay active—dismantling a family barn that was slated to be burned.What began as a practical project quickly became a professional turning point, as he realized Canada is demolishing thousands of buildings each year—filled with recoverable old-growth lumber and materials—without any scalable system to preserve and re-use them. Jay founded Backroads to change that. His company is developing the missing business infrastructure to make reclaimed lumber viable at scale: from grading standards and certified deconstruction crews to processing systems and market-aligned supply chains. His goal is to make reuse predictable, profitable, and integrated into the way cities grow.

In this episode, Jacob Dawang of Grow Together YEG chats with our hosts about how the data of infill development tells a different story than one might expect about Edmonton's recent growth. Learn about how restrictive zoning practices have shaped cities in North America and some ideas of how we can create a better path forward.  Biography:  Jacob Dawang is a data scientist at Capital One Canada, where he leads the acquisitions risk model team. He has previously built open-source and inner-source Python libraries to support data scientists and has research experience at Statistics Canada. Originally from Montreal, Jacob has lived in several Canadian cities through his studies at the University of Waterloo, where he earned a Bachelor of Mathematics in statistics with a minor in economic theory. Now based in Edmonton, he is an active housing advocate with Grow Together Edmonton and previously with More Neighbours Toronto. Outside of work, Jacob enjoys rock climbing, cycling, and baking bread.

In this episode of In Development, our hosts chat with Councillor Sarah Hamilton who reflects on her two terms in Council, shares insights about regulatory change management and explores what other cities can teach us about Edmonton.  Councillor Hamilton's Biography:  Sarah Hamilton is proud to be City Councillor for Edmonton’s Ward sipiwiyiniwak. She currently sits as the City of Edmonton representative on the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Board of Directors, and serves on both the Community & Public Safety and City Manager & City Auditor Performance Evaluation committees. She is in her second term on Edmonton City Council, having served as the representative for Ward 5 from 2017-2021. Sarah grew up in west Edmonton and graduated from the University of Alberta. She went on to receive a Master of Arts Degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago before returning home to Edmonton. Prior to becoming a City Councillor, Sarah worked as an adjunct professor of media and communications, a freelance journalist, and the owner and operator of a communications and public relations firm working with several non-profit businesses throughout Edmonton. She has also held various public service-oriented roles in provincial and municipal government. Sarah spent much of her life active in her community through volunteer work. Prior to her election, she volunteered with the World Partnership Walk, the Lessard Community League and Latitude 53.  In her downtime, Sarah enjoys spending her time with family and friends, including her partner Nick and son August.  She is an avid consumer of local arts and culture and remains a die-hard Chicago Cubs fan. She enjoys hiking, cycling and paddling through Edmonton’s River Valley and discovering the many hidden corners of the city. Sarah is passionate about Edmonton and its potential to grow, thrive, and influence. She considers Edmonton one of the most forward-thinking cities in Canada — with some of the best prospects for continued and sustainable growth — and continues to make that known.

In this episode, our hosts chat with Mauricio Ochoa; Vice President of IDEA and CEO of FCX Developments. Mauricio shares a behind the scenes look into his industry beginnings and explains why he is so passionate about infill. You'll learn about how he connects with neighbours and manages relationships during the development process and hear insights about the importance of genuinely caring for your community.  As the President of FCX Developments, Mauricio's passion and ideas are deeply rooted in his work. His role allows him to engage directly with the community and stay connected with their evolving needs and aspirations. FCX Developments is actively building affordable missing middle housing in mature neighborhoods of Edmonton, Alberta. Mauricio firmly believes that addressing the housing needs of diverse individuals and families is crucial for creating inclusive and vibrant communities. By focusing on affordable missing middle housing, he ensures that individuals from various income levels have access to quality homes within established neighbourhoods.

In this episode of In Development, we explore how public and active transportation interact with infill development (and vice versa!) Our guests Daniel Witte and Shannon Lohner bring important insights from their work with Edmonton Transit Riders and Paths for People, respectively. Get ready to learn about everything from how transportation modalities are financed in Edmonton to how they're implemented in policy in this information-packed episode.  Shannon Lohner is the former Chair of Paths for People, a local non-profit focused on making Edmonton a safer place to walk, roll, and cycle. Paths for People focuses on community engagement and programming, and advocating to Edmonton's municipal government for improvements to local active transportation infrastructure. Shannon currently works at the University of Alberta, where she will also begin her studies as an MSc in Urban and Regional Planning in Fall 2025.  Daniel Witte has been the Chair of Edmonton Transit Riders since the organization’s inception in May 2024. Having recently completed a degree in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Alberta, he is interested in how public transportation can be used as a city building tool and make Edmonton a more equitable and vibrant place. In his time with Edmonton Transit Riders the organization has been involved in a push to improve the Canadian Public Transit Fund, maintain funding for Alberta’s low income transit passes, and most recently a campaign to improve transit priority measures on 101st Street. Daniel loves being out in his community, volunteering, and meeting all the people invested in making Edmonton a more livable and friendly city.

In this episode, our hosts chat with Lisa Drury from the City of Edmonton about the new Priority Growth Area (PGA) rezoning project. We dive into how the project came about, the selection process for areas being rezoned and how the public was engaged during its development. This episode provides a great opportunity to learn the nuances of the proposal before it goes to public hearing on May 20th, 2025.  More information & the ability to leave comments or request a chat with a planner can be found on the City’s website here:  edmonton.ca/PriorityGrowthAreaRezoning Lisa Drury is a Senior Planner at the City of Edmonton with over ten years of municipal experience. After graduating with a Master of Science in Planning at the University of Toronto, Lisa worked in several municipalities in Alberta and Ontario. She began her career working in long range policy planning and transitioned to working in current planning prior to coming to the City of Edmonton. She enjoys exploring the City, playing sports, learning new skills and getting involved in her community.

In this episode, we reconnect with Alkarim Devani to talk about how Edmonton and Calgary are faring when it comes to pushing for a better policy and regulatory environment with regard to infill development. We learn more about mddl, an expert organization in middle housing whose mission is to build capacity from top to bottom for "missing middle" and reduce barriers to delivering this kind of development. We glean insights from Alkarim on how to tell the positive story of infill and work across communities to push for better. Alkarim Devani is co-founder of RNDSQR, where his passion for design and innovation drives his vision of redefining what it means to be a developer. Alkarim’s work building RNDSQR has garnered national and international recognition and is a frequent guest lecturer at The University of California, Berkeley, and The University of Calgary. In addition, Alkarim is a dedicated and active member of the community and development industry. He regularly contributes his time to numerous volunteer organizations as well as several industry-led boards and communities including D.Talks and Calgary Housing Company. Alkarim’s work has gained a multitude of media attention and frequently been the recipient of The Canadian Architecture Awards, MUDA Awards, American Architecture Prize, and the BILD Awards. Alkarim transitions into the next stage of his career with mddl to use his in-depth experience with middle housing to help scale the delivery of housing across Canada.

In this episode, we dive into what goes into operating that great local coffee shop that often features prominently in many visions of local redevelopment. Antonio Gomez and Peter West both operate coffee shops in Edmonton, but also have backgrounds in design and planning respectively. We chat about how community connects within coffee shops and how design and planning intersects with successful local commercial spaces across Edmonton. Antonio Gomez, born and raised in Mexico, is a seasoned designer and entrepreneur. He completed his university studies at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) branch in Michoacan, living and working in his home country until 2011. In that year, Antonio immigrated to Canada where he a few years later established Space Squared, a design studio specializing in residential design, where he currently serves as the head designer. In addition to his work at Space Squared, Antonio is a proud co-creator, designer, and co-owner of Boxcar, a coffee shop located in the Calder community in northern Edmonton. The coffee shop occupies a small residential building, which was also designed by Antonio, reflecting his integrated approach to design and community. Peter West is a former urban planner turned entrepreneur and is the owner of Coffee Bureau with his wife Cristiane. After years spent serving coffee in Edmonton and Toronto, Peter felt compelled to create a small but impactful cafe in an effort to marry a desire for better urbanism and a better coffee shop experience downtown. Today Peter and Cris operate a location on Jasper Avenue as well as a new shop on 123 Street and 102 Avenue.

Join us for a special year-end episode of In Development as we reflect on 2024 and look ahead to 2025. In this engaging and competitive episode, our new podcast host Stephen challenges our existing hosts to a heart-pounding elimination challenge to find out which one of them will remain in the new year. Topics include... Edmonton’s new Zoning BylawThe Housing Accelerator FundDistrict Plans and Priority Growth AreasThe Infill Infrastructure FundMore!Don’t miss this festive, informative, and entertaining look at the year that was. Happy holidays from the In-Development team! We’ll see you in 2025!

This episode features two passionate Edmontonians, Jay Downton and Erin Murray-Green, who are involved with River Valley Company and River Valley Hospitality. These ventures focus on creating community-oriented amenities in Edmonton’s river valley, including the beloved Little Brick Café and Umpreheville Block. Jay and his team are helping to build a more vibrant and accessible river valley experience through redeveloping commercial sites into unique destinations. Jay Downton is a passionate Edmontonian and entrepreneur dedicated to enhancing the Edmonton community. He is the Co-Founder and CEO of The Nation Network, a global sports media network, and serves as the President of Oodle Noodle, a staple in the Edmonton food scene. Jay’s deep connection to Edmonton and its iconic river valley inspired him to co-found River Valley Company and River Valley Hospitality. Erin Murray-Green is a design enthusiast and a maker at heart. She started her design career in the realm of industrial design and furniture making, then pivoted to architecture and tackling creative challenges at a greater scale. As an architect, she has a meticulous approach to design that is grounded in a solid understanding of site context, community and desired outcomes.

This episode’s guests visit us virtually from Calgary for a discussion all about building missing middle housing across Alberta. Studio North’s Matt Kennedy discusses building missing middle housing in the mountains and translates lessons learned from this context to apply across the province. Matt shares more about the Astor project in Banff, which exemplifies how to balance design excellence with affordability and meet the needs of a local community. Check out the Aster project here: https://www.studionorth.ca/banff-aster-affordable-housing See the sneak peak of the Aster documentary: The Aster Banff - Affordable Housing Project - Documentary Trailer Matthew's career began with a passion for craftsmanship, starting as an apprentice finishing carpenter during his high school years. He honed his skills and pursued higher education at Dalhousie University, where he earned a Master's in Architecture. Matthew sees how architecture influences human experiences. His focus goes beyond aesthetics; he aims to design spaces that bring delight, beauty utility to enhance daily life. Presently, Matthew is intent on merging construction knowledge with architectural innovation to produce efficient, affordable, and beautifully crafted buildings. His goal is to create environments that positively impact the lives of the individuals and families who inhabit them, underscoring the profound effect of architecture on our well-being.