Patrick Condon is a notable Canadian urban designer, planner, professor, and the author of several planning books in the field of sustainability and public engagement. He graduated from University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1980. His career has spanned four decades. A concern for cities and the well being of its residents unites his many efforts.
Early Work
At the age of 23 Condon worked as a community organizer in his hometown of Brockton, Massachusetts. There, he collaborated with residents in an impoverished neighbourhood, working with them to lobby for and build a series of neighbourhood improvements including a community built park, Off Street Park, providing a safe recreation area for local families.
Education
Inspired by that effort, Condon pursued professional education as a landscape architect, completing his undergraduate education, graduating summa cumme laude Bachelor of Science in 1978 and a Masters in Landscape Architecture in 1981, both degrees from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Professional work
He then worked as a city planner in Westfield Massachusetts, a medium-sized city in the Pioneer Valley region of Massachusetts, managing affordable housing programs, downtown restoration efforts, and planning policy changes. He stepped down from his position as Westfield's Director of Community Development in 1984, with the intention of joining academia.
Academic Positions
After a year of European travel, Condon took a tenure track position at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Department of Landscape Architecture. He was granted tenure at that University in 1990. In 1992 he moved to Canada, taking a position as Chair of the UBC Landscape Architecture Program University of British Columbia. In 1996 he assumed the UBC Chair in Landscape and Livable Environments, a position he still holds. He was promoted to full professor by UBC in 2006.
Scholarship
For the past 25 years, Condon has devoted his scholastic efforts to working with communities to create affordable and sustainable communities. At the core of his work is the premise that sustainable communities can be spawned only in an atmosphere of collaboration. Many stakeholders must combine efforts to solve sustainability problems, as the variables in such complex problems are too numerous for other methodologies to handle. Notable successes include City of Surrey East Clayton Sustainable Neighbourhood, now nearing completion. The project provided a new model for housing over 10,000 people in affordable and sustainable accommodations in a walkable, mixed use, affordable community. Condon has managed multiparty round table urban design and planning projects in more than 20 communities, many cataloged here: http://www.jtc.sala.ubc.ca/, many of them under the aegis of the UBC Design Centre for Sustainability, a sustainable community design thinktank that he founded in 1998 http://dcs-jtc-charrettes.sala.ubc.ca/
UBC Urban Design Program
Most recently Condon took the lead role in founding the UBC Urban Design , whose goal is to equip future urban designers with the knowledge and skills needed to meet the challenges of modern urban growth, now in its fifth year. The intensive 11-month curriculum focuses on enhancing the understanding of urban design at all scales—from the neighbourhood block to the regional. The post-professional course of study integrates design studios with courses in urban design historyand theory, economics, and public policy.
Politics
Condon has had a lifelong passion for political engagement. He has put his name before the Vancouver electorate for the position of Vancouver mayor.
Writings
He has worked for many years to advance sustainable urban design in Canada and elsewhere in the world. He has lectured widely, and is the author of several books, notably Design Charrettes for Sustainable Communities and Seven Rules for Sustainable Communities, both by Island Press. He has published a third book with them, titled Five Rules for Tomorrow's Cities; Design in an age of Urban Migration, Demographic Change, and a Disappearing Middle Class. He and his research partners have collaborated with the City of North Vancouver to produce the "100 Year Sustainability Vision" a plan to make North Vancouver a zero carbon community. Professor Condon and his partners have received awards from the Canadian Institute of Planners and the American Society of Landscape Architects for their work.
