Visual Arts Publications
Picturing the Professionalization of Planning in Canada, 1901-1927
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2008
Volume
33
Issue
2
Journal
Journal of the Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada
First Page
21
URL with Digital Object Identifier
http://hdl.handle.net/10222/65361
Last Page
32
Abstract
This article looks at how city
planners distinguished themselves from
the broader
urban reform movement,
women’s groups in particular, in early
twentieth-century Canada. In doing so,
it considers how and why the planning
profession developed. It examines the
activities of the Town Planning Institute
of Canada (TPIC) and argues that the planners
constituted their professional status in
relation to the ideal of the “City Practical.”
I maintain that the TPIC used an image of
this new urban ideal, which was based on
the principles of economic efficiency and
scientific management, in their quest for
professional recognition. By comparing the
TPIC with the national volunteer organization
of women, the National Council
of Women of Canada (NCWC), I show
how the planning profession relied on a
masculinized visual discourse to define
specialized fields of professional expertise
that only they were qualified to work
on. This contrasted with the practices of
the NCWC, who legitimized their reform
activities through the discourse of domestic
economy.
Citation of this paper:
Complete info is here:
https://dalspace.library.dal.ca/handle/10222/65361?show=full
Notes
Article published in JSSAC.