User:Kadence Oliver/Jay Pitter

Jay Pitter is a Canadian author and placemaker based in Toronto, Canada. Pitter has led major projects across North America in social equity, community engagement, and healing fraught sites. While she has worked with many municipalities and urban planners, her mission has been to mitigate these issues in architecture. Pitter is 52 years old and has spent most of her adult career in the urban design and cultural sector, now the Principal of Jay Pitter Placemaking. Jay Pitter continues to advocate for urban communities issues through future projects and published work.

Outside of Toronto, she has established a large number of academic classes, including "planning certificate course with the University of Detroit’s Mercy School of Architecture, a women in city-building course with the University of Toronto and an Engaging Black People and Power course spurred by the murder of George Floyd”

Achievements
The design intent for Pitter's Practice is to have a unified, well defined, safe spaces for communities in which she provides design thinking tools to these communities. This intent has lead to Pitter receiving numerous awards and accolades. These include the following:

Awards and Accolades

 * Margolese National Design for Living Prize Shortlisted (2021)
 * Dean’s Teaching Award, Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change, York University (2021)
 * 10 of the Top Moments from CityLab (2021)
 * John Bousfield Distinguished Visitor in Planning, University of Toronto (19/20)
 * Knight Foundation Public Space Fellows Award Finalist (2019)
 * Creating a Healthy City for All Design Award (2018)
 * Most Influential Urbanists Nominee (2017)
 * Subdivided: City-Building in an Age of Hyper-Diversity, Anthology, Speaker’s Book Award Finalist (2016)
 * Governor General Leadership Alumnus

Early Life
At the young age of four, Jay Pitter immigrated to Canada from St.Catherines, Jamaica with her sister to reunite with her mother Pamela Brown. Leaving her father behind whom is a designer, builder, and owner of a construction company. Pitter’s witness her mother struggle through poverty in her early years and then went on to become a registered nurse. The first decade of Pitter’s life after migration was spent in Scarborough, Ontario where she and her mother lived in low-income government housing. This was located in a small community named Little Jamaica. Pitter will later reference the social and spatial challenges of her early years in which became the foundation that later inspired Pitter into her placemaking field with the help of her second grade teacher.

Later, Pitter worked with challenged youth, unhoused youth and volunteer initiatives. In her early twenties she became the youngest arts funder for the Ontario Arts Council and was given a $10 million budget while leading the council's diversity committee. Leaving the council, she went onto work as a senior communications specialists and contributed to the cultural sector and her work in capital development projects. During this time she pursued her post secondary education and completed a masters of environmental studies to deepen place-based narrative. With a large portfolio built, Pitter began her practice with a few others and has continued to grow in projects and accomplishments.

Career
As a Canadian author and placemaker based in Toronto, Canada. Pitter has led major projects across North America in social equity, community engagement, and healing sites.

Honest Ed
Honest Ed was the first redevelopment urban project that launched Jay Pitter's career. Pitter got hired by a real estate corporation called Westbank. Together, they embarked on a placemaking design concept for the Mirvish Village community, located on Bloor and Bathurst street in Toronto, Ontario. The project created an opportunity for community engagement to come into play. With questions and research, they used artifacts to help locals to figure out what they wanted in the district. The design overviews a sustainable approach with a welcoming aspect of a vibrant, interactive community. Jay Pitter took the direction to design impactfully and demonstrate a substantial representation. The project considers a large cultural site that the city neglects for its true potential. She illustrates her placemaking skills to establish heritage consultation from the community. With Pitter's approach, she valued the redevelopment plan for people to live in a comfortable location that redefines spatial entitlement and meaningful engagement.

Little Jamaica Project
Located in a small part of Toronto, Ontario is a community called "little Jamaica". “The term “Little Jamaica” was used to describe a cluster of Caribbean businesses on Bathurst Street between College and Dupont streets.” It is home to almost a hundred years of black presence in retail, community care, etc. Due to the lack of municipal investments into the community it has resulted in a poor built environment. Jay Pitter is working with the city of Toronto to create the province's first ever cultural district in Little Jamaica. This project is currently underway and has thus far included site visits and discussions with community members and small business owners. Pitter's mission with the city of Toronto is to develop a plan that protects the communities identity, support black owned businesses, and guide future growth and transit, among a list of other goals.

This site is made important for its cultural connection and upbringing to Pitter. Pitter uses community involvement approaches in her projects, including Little Jamaica, to better understand the people that live in theses spaces and that will be affected by the future built environment. Working closely with the public and municipalities to bridge a gap between the two sectors and giving community members design tools that can help communicate their desire for their communities.



Granville Bridge Connector Project
Jay Pitter and the City of Vancouver, initiated the redevelopment plan surnamed the Granville Bridge Project. The area is located in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Granville site is highly known for its recreational and local district, inviting many social groups to attend the festivities and interact with peers. From community engagement and workshops, Pitter releases a bold insight into the meaning of social equity in design. She states the importance of equitable placemaking, helping residents to think about the cultural and social identity within the space. Jay Pitter initiates a Mobility Equity workshop to help form an understanding of representing dignified social spaces. Her workshop helped questioned the district's opinions regarding safety and security measures, understanding urban innovation and its effects on the community. The Granville Bridge Project showcases an improved accessibility plan for all social and multi-cultural groups, proposing a metropolitan illustration to form the transportation network to work fluently for the community.

Subdivided: City-Building in an Age of Hyper-Density
Subdivided: City Building in An Age of Hyper-Diversity was a book published in 2016. With John Lorinc and other collaborators, the book discusses the topic of multiculturalism in Canadian communities and the challenges people face regarding various outcomes of urban design. This publication created a platform for many to decrypt social issues and analyze points to appropriate urban planning in cities. Pitter displayed infinite perspectives that brought awareness to social inequity in community housing. Her book validates the effectiveness of assortment and the defining pillars of urban design identity. By articulating the role of diversity in communities, remarks questions the participation of the government and their so-called involvement in urban planning. Collaborating with people outside the design field presents an opportunity to understand the primary pillars of placemaking. According to Jay Pitter, engagement strategies, professional advocacy, publication and safety are comprehensive fundamentals of designing social housing and evaluating the intention of placemaking.

Black Public Joy and Where We Live
Jay Pitter is releasing a new upcoming book called Black Public Joy and Where We Live, soon to be published by McClelland & Stewart, Penguin Random House Canada.