Lead Research Associate / Manager

Sneha Mandhan (she/her) works at the intersections of planning, urban design, architecture, design research, and community engagement. She collaborates on city building and engagement projects with Monumental Projects, People Design Co-operative, and the Department of Words and Deeds. She teaches graduate courses in urban design at the Daniels Faculty and holds a Master in City Planning from MIT, and an undergraduate degree in architecture from NIT, Bhopal.
Her work focuses on unearthing and incorporating culture into the planning and design of cities. She received her PhD in Planning at the University of Toronto, where her dissertation discover and share the stories of banquet halls as important sites of cultural celebration for the South Asian diaspora in the Greater Toronto Area.

Orly Sacke is currently pursuing her MLA at the University of Toronto, where she also completed her Bachelor of Arts in Architecture. Her undergraduate thesis explored large-scale water filtration on the coast of Rabat, Morocco as a means to achieving ecological resilience and placemaking within the anthropogenic and indeterminate context of a changing climate. She is interested in landscape architecture as a culturally specific tool to augment the relationship between the hydrological functionality and experiential potential of a site.

Benjamin Dunn holds a BA double major in Anthropology and Psychology from UBC and is currently pursuing his MLA at UofT.  His research, design, and community work have focused on solving problems related to food, water, and energy security in cold climate environments. Dunn has presented his research at conferences across Canada, with projects spanning the fields of cultural evolution, positive psychology, visual anthropology, and sociolinguistics. His design experience comes from positions at Verge Permaculture, Hoffman Hayes, and SpruceLab as well as independent consulting.

Jack Mok holds a BA in Landscape Studies from the University of Hong Kong, where his undergraduate thesis examined regional planning strategies to respond to high-speed development in Luang Prabang, Laos. He has previously held research roles with Rural Urban Framework and the Division of Landscape Architecture at HKU, and has worked professionally as a landscape designer on projects across Hong Kong, Hainan, and Ontario. Jack is currently pursuing an MLA at the University of Toronto, where he explores the roles of local parks in creating cultural meaning and sense of home.

Ambika Pharma has contributed towards research on climate adaption in urban landscapes, coastal resilience, and land reclamation. Her current work explores the role of big infrastructure projects and logistical landscapes in efforts towards climate resiliency. Ambika holds a degree in Environmental Design from OCAD University and a Masters in Landscape Architecture from the University of Toronto, receiving the Heather M. Reisman Gold Medal for excellence in design. Ambika is currently a designer at Reed Hilderbrand in Cambridge, MA.

Alex gradated from the Master of Landscape Architecture program at the Daniels Faculty and has previously completed an honours Bachelor of Arts degree in Human Urban Geography and Planning from the University of Toronto. Alex’s research interests are primarily focused on the intersection of urban green and open space and social capital, imagining new ways to improve urban metabolism and resiliency through landscape interventions. Her previous experience includes work with Park People and 880 Cities as an urban researcher on projects such as the Canadian City Parks Report and Toronto's King Street Pilot Project.

Ecem Sungur was a Lester B. Pearson scholar at the University of Toronto and the lead digital designer of the CLR. She is currently a UX/UI Designer  based in Vancouver, B.C. She is passionate about elevating digital products to mutual profitability through multifaceted design, adaptive strategy, and versatile skills.