Saquib Ahsan

Saquib is a first-generation Bengali-Canadian (born in Bangladesh and raised in Toronto’s Regent Park) who will be starting his masters in Environmental and Urban Change this September (2020) at York University. His research interests include studying methods to designing and developing sustainable communities in post-colonial societies, the effects of environmental degradation on Indegionous land, and the politics of planning for low-income inner city BIPOC communities. He approaches planning issues through an intersectional lens concerned with mitigating socioe-conomic and political inequities experienced by those historically at the margins of civil society. In his own experience, Saquib has had a difficult experience networking and gaining the work experience needed to be included academically and advance professionally, and spent several years questioning the validity of his perspective and experiences. This including the lack of representation within the planning field, which is a reflection of several intersecting systemic issues, is what led Saquib to support the co-creation of MIIPOC as an initiative to bridge the gap between lived experiences and professional achievement.