Jessica Chen
Jessica Chen is a Canadian city planning professional currently based in Montréal Quebec. Her career focus has been social inclusion and urban strategies that encourage pluralistic understanding of the cities. Jessica holds a Master Degree in City Planning from the University of Pennsylvania and started her professional career in the public sector, first in Philadelphia, United States, then in Vancouver Canada. Her 12-year planning career at the City of Vancouver focused on regeneration of historic inner-city neighbourhoods tackling issues of gentrification, heritage conservation, affordable housing and social equity and inclusivity. She relocated to Montreal in 2013 and founded her consulting practice Wabi Sabi Planning Lab. Her work through Wabi Sabi Planning Lab often researches and advocates for community-owned equity, especially community housing and cultural heritage assets, to help shape a more resilient urban landscape and inclusive city economy. As an immigrant from Taiwan, uprooting and rerooting many times in her life and calling multiple cities home, her work has often been driven by her interest in people and the way they set root and form their sense of belonging in places.
Wabi Sabi Planning Lab
Wabi Sabi Planning Lab, a consulting practice founded by Jessica Chen in 2013, brings extensive experience in community engagement, particularly with non-profit community organizations and social enterprises. Its experience also includes managing larger scale projects with complex urban issues and diverse stakeholder groups, as well as providing policy analysis for the public agencies or community organizations to support and inform decision making.
The philosophy behind Wabi Sabi Planning Lab is to embrace the beauty of things unconventional, and the focus of its practice is to experiment new ways of dialogues and planning practices that encourage pluralistic understanding of cities and engage the diverse city builders in defining a collective vision with impactful actions. The boutique nature of the practice forms the basis for dynamic collaboration with other practitioners based on the common pursuit of research in inclusive housing design, cultural heritage management and equitable urban development . Wabi Sabi Planning Lab is currently based in both Vancouver and Montreal, bringing in the unique blend of perspectives from both cities.
Before Wabi Sabi …
Before Wabi Sabi Planning Lab, Jessica Chen was as an urban planner with the City of Vancouver (1999-2011) working with the city’s historic inner city neighbourhoods commonly known as the Downtown Eastside. As the city’s senior planner for the Downtown Eastside, Jessica oversaw long-range community planning, policy development and implementation of inclusive community projects. Her main involvement during her tenure include: a 5-year project to implement a social development approach to crime prevention (NCPC Community Development Project), Four-Pillar Drug Policy, Vancouver Agreement, Chinatown Vision and Community Plan, Carrall Street Greenway Design and Implementation, Great Beginnings Program for Vancouver’s historic neighbourhoods, DTES Arts and Culture Strategic Framework, Hastings Street Vacant Storefront Program, and Historic Area Height Review. The following is a list of her public reports to Vancouver City Council during her tenure:
2002 Chinatown Vision https://council.vancouver.ca/020723/rr2.htm
2005 Chinatown Community Plan https://vancouver.ca/docs/planning/chinatown-2005-council-report.pdf
2005 Carrall Street Greenway Concept Design https://council.vancouver.ca/20050428/pe8.pdf
2006 Chinatown Community Plan Progress Report https://vancouver.ca/docs/planning/chinatown-progress-report.pdf
2007 Carrall Street Greenway Detailed Design https://carrall.files.wordpress.com/2006/07/pe3.pdf
2008 Society Buildings Rehabilitation Strategy (no longer available on-line. Pdf copy available upon request)
2008 Vancouver Agreement Economic Revitalization Plan Status Report
2009 Society Buildings Planning Grant Program Phase II https://council.vancouver.ca/20090721/documents/a11.pdf
2009 Hastings Street Renaissance Project https://council.vancouver.ca/20091117/documents/rr2.pdf
2010 Historic Area Height Review: Conclusions and Recommendations https://council.vancouver.ca/20100119/documents/rr2a.pdf