Created in 1873 by Canada’s third Governor General Lord Dufferin, the Governor General’s Gold Medal is an award given out annually to students who achieve the highest level of academic scholarship for their cohort at their institution. Jo is the second from Waterloo’s Faculty of Environment to have ever received the award (the last being in 1988).
Jo’s Master’s research at Waterloo under the supervision of Dr. Carrie Mitchell explored the process and politics of planning for urban resilience. With its roots in social-ecological systems research, the growing popularity of “resilience thinking” in planning and policy has been met with criticism, with many arguing that the framework fails to centre justice, inequality, and lived experiences of oppression. Jo’s research tested these claims and highlighted several ways that planners can advance procedural justice in urban experiments and resilience-building efforts.
The University of British Columbia
Vancouver campus
