314 Architecture 2 Building
t 204.474.7051
f 204.474.7532
jwight@cc.umanitoba.ca
skype: ianwightskype
Education
M.A. (Hons) 1971, University of Aberdeen, Scotland
M.Sc. 1973, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta
Ph.D. 1986, University of Aberdeen, Scotland
Dip. Human Ecology 2009, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland
Memberships and Affiliations
Canadian Institute of Planners (and Manitoba Professional Planners Institute)
Council for Canadian Urbanism (CanU) (Board Member)
Integral Institute
Next Step Integral
Ginger Group Collaborative
Scientific and Medical Network (SMN) (UK)
A Canadian of Scottish descent, Ian joined the Department in 1994, after almost 20 years of professional planning practice, mainly in Alberta and BC, in the fields of regional planning, municipal affairs, and islands planning/governance. Tenured and promoted in 2001 Ian served as CP Head from 2003 to 2008. He currently resides near Victoria BC and commutes to Winnipeg during the university term.
Ian is a long-time member of the Canadian Institute of Planners, including service on the Editorial Board of Plan Canada and on the Program Committee of several National Conferences. He is a founding board member of the Council for Canadian Urbanism, an inaugural member of the Integral Institute, and a member of two main 'communities of practice' - the Ginger Group Collaborative and Next Step Integral.
Involved in professional planning for 35 years, as both a practitioner and educator, Ian always aims to try to position himself at the leading-edge, wary of the status quo, and with an eye for the post-conventional. He promotes planning as placemaking (as wellbeing by design), and regional planning as common-place-making on a grand scale. Current action research is focused on 'evolving professionalism - beyond the status quo', with an interest in the implications of an integral perspective - prospecting an integral form of planning that would transcend and include the best of pre-modern, modern and post-modern planning. Building on the social technologies of presencing and meshworking, this includes workshops on praxis-making and ethos-making – meshing the personal, the professional and the spiritual.
Current Research
- Evolving Professionalism Beyond the Status Quo: Contemplating the Education of the Agents of the Next Enlightenment – Praxis, Ethos, Poiesis
- In Pursuit of a Place We Can All Call Home: Comparative city-region planning and governance (especially in Western Canada provincial capital city-regions)
- Placemaking and Wellbeing – Integrating Perspectives for Planning and Design
Teaching Interests
- Professional Planning Theory/Practice, Professional-Self-Design and Civic Professionalism (professional planning practice)
- Mediating the Urban, the Rural and the Regional (regional studio)
- Urban Development and City Planning (urban development)
- Integral Theory/Practice (application to planning and design) (e.g. applied integral ecology elective)
Recent Activities (2011)
Enacting Ethics Education as Ethos-Making: Meshing the Personal, the Professional and the Spiritual (WPSC 2011 paper presentation)
‘Journaling for Professional Self-Development’ and ‘Service-Learning, Community Outreach and Civic Professionalism’ (UTS Workshops)
From Ethics to Ethos (ethos-making workshops for students and professionals)
The Making/s of Professionals: Praxis, Ethos and Poiesis ( Fac. Arch. Food for Thought)
‘Valuing Planning: An Ethos in the Making?’ and ‘Planning by Design in Community: Making Great Places?’ (Plan Canada articles)
‘Place, Placemaking and Planning: An Integral Perspective with Wellbeing in (Body) Mind (and Spirit)’ (forthcoming book chapter)
‘In Pursuit of Regional Governance for the Manitoba Capital Region: Making a Place We Can All Call Home’ (draft public policy discussion paper)