Table of Contents 
 
 

About The Webinar 2 

About The Moderator 3 

Dr. Pamela Robinson MCIP, RPP 3 
Biography 3 

About The Panelists 4 

Masooma Ali 4 
Biography 4 
Research 4 
Danielle Lenarcic Biss 5 
Biography 5 
Research 5 
Santessa Henriques 6 
Biography 6 
Research 6 
Hayley Oleksiak 7 
Biography 7 
Research 7 

 
 
 
 
 
 

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About The Webinar 

 
What do innovation clusters, open data, smart technology in parks and open spaces and 
contactless payments all have in common? These issues all present challenges for 
practicing urban planners. Join us for a lunch-time discussion on these topics informed by 
the final graduate research projects completed at the School of Urban and Regional 
Planning at Ryerson University. 
 
In this session, moderated by Dr. Pamela Robinson MCIP RPP, Director and Professor at 
SURP, Masooma Ali, Danielle Lenarcic Biss, Santessa Henriques, and Hayley Oleksiak will 
also share their research findings and offer insights for what’s next for planners. Then we’ll 
have time for a Q&A. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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About The Moderator 

Dr. Pamela Robinson MCIP, RPP 
Twitter:​ @pjrplan 
Website: ​https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Pamela_Robinson7 
LinkedIn: h​ ttps://www.linkedin.com/in/pamela-robinson-9681ab12/ 

Biography 
Dr. Pamela Robinson MCIP RPP is a Professor at and Director of the School of Urban and 
Regional Planning at Ryerson. Her research and practice have focused on complex, 
emergent challenges that Canadian communities face. Pamela began with a focus on cities 
and climate change and now focuses more recently on how Canadian local governments 
use data and technology to mediate their relationships with citizens. 
 
As part of the SSHRC funded GEOTHINK.CA research team Pamela worked actively with 
Canadian local governments and civil society partners on the role of open data in municipal 
planning practice. Now with SSHRC funding she is Principal Investigator of two grants 
asking: who is planning the Canadian smart city? Robinson edited of Urban Sustainability: 
Reconnecting Space and Place (University of Toronto Press, 2013) and Teaching as 
Scholarship: Preparing Students for Professional Practice in Community Services (WLU 
Press, 2016). Since 2010, Pamela is a columnist for Spacing Magazine where she writes 
about equity, technology and civic engagement in Canadian cities. Robinson is a member of 
Waterfront Toronto’s Digital Strategy Advisory Panel, an Advisor on the Toronto Public 
Library’s Innovation Council and a member of the Multi-Stakeholder Forum for the 
Government of Canada’s Open Government Partnership work. 
 
 
 
 
 

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About The Panelists 

Masooma Ali 
Twitter:​ @masooma__ali 
Website:​ ​www.masoomaali.com 
Linkedin: h​ ttps://www.linkedin.com/in/masooma-ali/ 

Biography  
Masooma is a city builder with a background in policy and planning and experience with 
design. With research focused on transit equity and smart technologies, she is an advocate 
of inclusion and spatial equity in planning and community development in Toronto. She 
holds a Masters of Planning Degree from Ryerson’s School of Urban and Regional Planning 
and an Honours Bachelor of Arts Degree in City Studies, Public Policy and Urban 
Governance from the University of Toronto. Over the past year, Masooma has worked in 
both the public and private sectors with Hemson Consulting and NYC’s Department of City 
Planning. 

Research 
Smart Payment Systems, Digital Divide and Transit Inequity: A Study of the Toronto 
Transit Commission’s Implementation of the Presto System 
 
Through data and spatial analysis, the move towards smart payment systems on public 
transportation is explored with a specific focus on the digital divide, transit equity and 
spatial inequity to understand the larger effects on planning issues in the City of Toronto. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Danielle Lenarcic Biss 

Twitter:​ ​@lenarcicbiss 
LinkedIn: h ​ ttps://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellelenarcicbiss/ 

Biography 
Danielle is skilled in research, stakeholder engagement, land use planning, and 
placemaking/placekeeping. For the past year, she has led public consultation on the 
redevelopment of Etobicoke's Cloverdale Mall. Danielle is now a planner at Gladki Planning 
Associates, a boutique consulting firm in Toronto, with previous professional experience in 
research, policy, and project management. She holds a Master of Planning from Ryerson 
University and a Bachelor of Arts with Honours from Mount Allison University. 

Research 
Making Public Spaces Smarter 
 
This SSHRC-funded research explores Canadian communities' plans for using digital and 
smart technologies in the public realm. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Santessa Henriques 
Twitter: ​@SantessaTO 
LinkedIn:​ h
​ ttps://www.linkedin.com/in/santessa/ 

Biography  
Santessa is a planner, youth advocate and map lover. 
 
As the Urban Planning and Research Analyst at Ratio.City, she is exploring new ways to 
communicate and visualize complex development-related information. Santessa is 
fascinated by the role of data in our urban planning systems and she has recently 
completed her Masters of Planning studies from Ryerson University’s School of Urban and 
Regional Planning, with research focused on land development data availability. 
 
As the Program Manager at Urban Minds, Santessa overlooked the youth executive’s 
annual events and initiatives. Through this support, youth in the GTA have had 
opportunities to express their ideas, concerns and viewpoints. She hopes to challenge our 
city-building leaders and organizations to be more inclusive of youth voices. 

Research 
Portals for Planners: Current State of Open Land Development Data in Canada 
 
This research explores the current role of open data portals in providing land development 
data in five large urban centres in Canada, assessing the issue of availability. A set of 10 
land development datasets, from an urban planning perspective, was investigated, as well 
as a case study analysis on the respective municipalities' open data history and initiatives. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Hayley Oleksiak 
Website: ​hayleyto.ca 
Linkedin:​ ​https://www.linkedin.com/in/hayleyoleksiak/ 
Email: ​hayleytayoleksiak@gmail.com 

Biography 
Hayley is an urban planner with prior professional experiences in both the private and 
public sector. Throughout her undergraduate and graduate degree programs she has 
engaged with a variety of different industries including public policy administration, fintech 
innovation, commercial real estate, and urban planning. It is through these professional 
experiences and her academic work that she has developed a cross-disciplinary and 
cross-sector approach to her urban planning projects. Hayley is passionate about 
understanding the implementation of urban planning policies and processes as well as 
innovation clusters, community sustainability, and real estate development.  
 
While at Ryerson University Hayley has tested her skills through urban planning case 
competitions. In 2019 Hayley and her teammates won the OPPI case competition through 
their mixed-use student housing strategies for a site at York University.  
 
Hayley is currently volunteering as a housing research fellow for New Story where she is 
working to develop a decision matrix evaluation model for a variety of different housing 
construction strategies. 

Research 
Planning for Innovation:​ ​Understanding and Analyzing the Application of Fiscal, 
Regional, and Land Use Planning in the Development of Innovation Clusters 
 
This research explores the existing innovation clustering ecosystem in Canada and seeks to 
further enhance the system through a proposed set of tools, strategies, and evaluation 
methodologies. The work focuses on fiscal tools, the regionally-focused Canadian super 
cluster initiative, and municipal-level land use planning strategies.  
 

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