I really enjoyed talking with Laura about her passion for cities and walking. I first met Laura around 2010 at a Jane’s Walk, which Laura brought to Regina and organised even after she moved away from the city. Laura’s Regina Urban Ecology blog and related activities, which ran from 2009-2015, documented really interesting discussions and actions in Regina and elsewhere about making cities better.

After talking with Laura in her parent’s backyard, we went for a walk in Argyle Park, the Regina neighbourhood she grew up in. Though I was born and raised in Regina and have lived here for decades, Argyle Park is not a part of the city I know at all, and it was fascinating to see how this neighbourhood, which was developed in the 1970s and lies just to the north of the city’s Ring Road, had designated pedestrian cut-throughs linking many streets, meaning pedestrians had shorter, traffic-free routes to move through the neighbourhood.

Laura is an urban planner and lifelong pedestrian. She holds both a Master of Science and a Masters in Urban Planning from McGill University and has worked for municipalities and private firms in both Canada and the US. Laura is currently the Manager of the City Revitalization Branch at the City of Regina. Prior to joining the City of Regina, Laura worked for the City of Toronto as part of their City Planning Strategic Initiatives unit, the Pedestrian Projects team, and was a member of the 2014-15 Toronto Urban Fellows program. She was the head organizer of the Regina Jane’s Walk festival for 10 years and continues to believe that the best way to explore and understand the city is on foot.