Jo Fitzgibbons is a PhD student in CHANS Lab at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES) at the University of British Columbia (UBC). With a background in urban planning, geography and international development, her work focuses on issues of inclusion and participation in co-creative processes surrounding sustainability and community resilience.
During her undergraduate studies at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, NS, Jo gained experience facilitating community-based research both locally and abroad, on topics ranging from water quality to local economic development. These experiences sparked an interest in representative politics and justice in participatory processes, which she explored further in her Honours and Masters theses. In 2019, Jo completed a Master of Environmental Studies degree in Planning at the University of Waterloo. She was awarded the Governor General’s Gold Medal for her research, which examined issues of justice and inclusion in the processes of planning for urban resilience.
Jo’s PhD research at UBC is funded by a SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship in Honour of Nelson Mandela. Through her research, she seeks to understand the potential for urban rewilding efforts to contribute to transformative change and social-ecological resilience. This work will build on previous work on participation and inclusion in planning by attending to questions of collaboration, justice, and multi-stakeholder governance.
Follow Jo on ResearchGate and Google Scholar.
J O F I T Z G I B B O N S 