Leonie Sandercock

Leonie Sandercock (born 1949) is an urban planner and academic focusing on community planning and multiculturalism. Her work spans the interdisciplinary fields of urban studies, urban policy and planning and elucidates issues of difference, social justice and possibility. She has been teaching at the School of Community & Regional Planning at University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, since 2001.

Education and career Sandercock received an MFA (screenwriting) from University of California at Los Angeles (1989), a PhD, Australian National University (1974) and a BA (Hons), University of Adelaide (1970). She has served as a senior academic in Australia at Macquarie University, RMIT University and the University of Melbourne, as well as UCLA. Sandercock was married to John Friedmann.

Leonie was professor and head of graduate Urban Studies at Macquarie University in Sydney from 1981- 1986 before moving to Los Angeles, where she had two careers, one in screenwriting, the other teaching in the Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Planning at UCLA. After moving to Canada and working on a documentary with two First Nations in north central British Columbia, Leonie's interest has shifted to Indigenous/non-Indigenous relations in Canada and other settler societies.

Her research now focuses on working with First Nations through collaborative community planning, using the medium of film as a catalyst for dialogue on the possibilities of healing, reconciliation, and partnership. She recently completed a documentary (with Giovanni Attili) entitled "Finding Our Way." Her current project, in collaboration with the Council of the Haida Nation and the Nunavut Independent TV Network, is developing a feature film script about the Haida, in Haida language, through a community story harvesting process.

Other research interests include immigration, cultural diversity and integration; a more therapeutic model of planning; the importance of stories and storytelling in planning theory and practice; and the role of multimedia in planning.

Since 2010 Leonie has been working on a new curriculum, Indigenous Community Planning, within the master's degree in Planning at the School of Community & Regional Planning at UBC. This curriculum has been designed and is now being delivered in partnership with the Musqueam First Nation. In 2014 there are 12 students enrolled in the ICP program.