I didn’t quite know what to expect when I began Langara’s Applied Planning program. Only a year home from living in the UK, I was keen to get on a fresh path. I knew for a while that community planning was the topic I wanted to specialize in. Writing about it is fun, but I knew there could be a way to mesh it with my career.
What followed was a whirlwind year of night school on top of a full-time job. Countless cold dinners eaten during 10-minute breaks next to the vending machine. A lot less sleep than the body needs. Learning new softwares and topics I never thought I’d enjoy or be good at. And some amazing friendships that I cherish deeply.
While choosing a topic for my major project, I reflected that one of my biggest takeaways is the importance of engagement in the planning process. We talked about engagement in almost every class, but I realized that we didn’t drill into how it is facilitated in real life.
I used my major project to improve my understanding of what good facilitation looks like for community planning, and I am glad to say I learned a lot. My research included interviews with planners, an all-day course, lots of reading, and learning how to use a new graphic design software from scratch.
During my education, several planners mentioned the importance of communication. Having worked as a communications professional for years, closing the gap between effective communications and effective community planning is an intriguing challenge I want to tackle. Coincidentally as I began working on my project, communication was a keynote topic at the 2026 PIBC conference, delivered by urban communicator extraordinaire Uytae Lee.
Ultimately when it comes to facilitation in planning, the journey is completely unique for each learner. A facilitator’s style and skills can only be defined through practice, but hopefully my handbook is a good reference point.
You can find the handbook below and on my portfolio, alongside a recording of my final presentation that I captured while practicing at home. I’m pleased to share this with my community, and hope it finds planners and facilitators alike.
Feel free to reach out to me any time if you have any feedback or want to talk.
I included over 20 best practices in my report, so I will share a couple that stood out:
Body language and position
The way we position and move our bodies communicates a lot to others. For example, sitting in the corner, slouching, and crossing your arms may convey you are disinterested or upset. Be thoughtful of how you move and where you are positioned.
Facilitators can move around the room when appropriate, try to stay at peoples’ eye level to help them feel comfortable, and try to position everyone in circles to create a more equal footing. You don’t want people to feel surveilled. Appropriate body language and position may depend on the community or people you are facilitating – another reason to know your audience.
Facilitators should also consider how they are dressed. When choosing an outfit, consider whether it will come off as intimidating or authoritative when it doesn’t need to be.
One interviewee often facilitates engagement with university students. They find that students seem more comfortable when they, the facilitator, is moving around and holding a coffee cup. It made conversations less formal-seeming, and students were more likely to open up.
Make room for different styles of learning, thinking, and communicating
Not everyone thinks or communicates the same way, and people come from different levels of education, understanding, and ability. Facilitators can provide choices for how to participate, and even ask how people want to participate.
One interviewee was facilitating an engagement session where attendees were asked to write their ideas on sticky notes and put them on a wall. The facilitator noticed that one person was not writing anything down, so they approached the individual with their own stack of sticky notes and kindly asked if they wanted to transcribe their thoughts for them. This was welcomed, and the person was able to fully participate.
Download the handbook
The PDF in it’s originally published format includes alternative text, specified reading order, and other accessibility considerations.
No Generative AI was used for writing the handbook, but was used in a couple instances for research.
marina miller 
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