Taryn Plater RPP Candidate | MCRP, MM, BMus
As a planner with a highly multidisciplinary background (engineering, marketing, fundraising, and opera performance), I bring a unique breadth of perspective to my work. My approach to urban planning and design centres physical and cultural context, with the goal of supporting communities that are vibrant, sustainable, and equitable. I have a particular interest in the intersection of neighbourhood planning, heritage, and social planning.
I am grateful for the opportunity to create and learn on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
Urban
design
With projects ranging from international design competitions to municipal urban design policy, I continue to explore how our physical environment shapes our actions, identity, and sense of community, and to consider the kind of role planning should play in influencing these relationships.
Urban design guidelines
Contribution: Project management, guideline drafting and review, document design
This comprehensive update to Coquitlam’s Form and Character DPA guidelines was undertaken in coordination with a larger Official Community Plan review. The new document reduces neighbourhood-specific design standards, captures new small-scale multiplex projects, and incorporates emerging urban design topics such as sustainability and CPTED
This is a place to be together
Contribution: Concept development, map and call-out drawings
A proposed public space installation that creates a space for togetherness and individual reflection on our stewardship of the earth. The concept invited visitors of all ages to engage with the land and one another through a series of multi-functional wooden frames following an original seven-verse poem, read in any direction.
Paueru Gai: A new vision
Contribution: Sketches, design concept, layout, copy creation
Taking the history of the area as its foundation, this design imagines possible futures for the many communities that have called this Vancouver neighbourhood home. From community-led public art to flexible programmable public space, Paueru Gai’s new vision should be directed by the community, not inflicted upon it.
Paueru Gai: Preliminary concept
Reimagining Vancouver's Railtown as a neighbourhood that supports existing and new residents with public spaces, community amenities, and socially-focused creative industry. This concept was a precursor to the New Vision design proposal.
Rebuilding Mariupol
Accessibility and Inclusivity Award + Second Place Award – Planuyemo Razom International Competition
Contribution: Project management, sketches, collage renderings, 2D maps, design concept, layout
A planning and design proposal for the rebuilding of Mariupol's Prymorskyi (seaside) district, considering the historical significance and sensorial experience of spaces while planning for resilience, defence, and safety.
Reframing LeBreton
Honourable Mention: Most thought-provoking – National Capital Design Competition
Contribution: Sketches, design concept, layout, copy creation
A feminist approach to community greenspace that prioritizes stewardship, exploration, and joy. With a focus on child-oriented design, we create a nurturing space that interrogates our relationship to landscape and our understanding of what is beautiful.
Reclaim the Waterfront
Honourable Mention: Most thought-provoking – National Capital Design Competition
Contribution: Sketches, design concept, layout, copy creation
A redesign of the Sussex Drive Corridor in Ottawa focused on public access and historical transparency. The bold approach proposed tearing down barriers in the form of walls, roads, and outdated ideologies.
Planning
policy
For municipalities and non-profits, my work has included city-wide and neighbourhood land use planning, heritage policy, child care policy, was well as researching informing housing advocacy.
Official Community Plan review
Contribution: Policy review and tracking, visual summaries, document design
Streamlining Coquitlam’s OCP, with the aim of creating a more cohesive and navigable document.
Homelessness & climate change
A project with UGM and Sustainability Scholars exploring the links between climate change and homelessness in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside community to inform future advocacy for policy interventions.
Enforcing tenant rights
Acknowledging current gaps in enforcing Tenant Relocation and Protection Policies, this project provides a catalogue of tools to help BC municipalities implement effective and realistic enforcement mechanisms.
Creative
projects
As a musician and producer, I bring people together to tell stories. This selection of collaborations and self-produced works offers a window into my creative process and the diverse artists and communities that inform my work.
Opera Unbound
Creating unique artistic experiences grounded in collaboration across genres and mediums. We partner with BC-based artists to develop and present new collaborations, from workshops and house concerts to full-scale premieres.
“Opera for good” in Squamish
Themed concerts that serve the community by bringing accessible professional opera to Squamish, while raising funds for rotating community organizations. This series builds on years of partnership between St. John the Divine, emerging opera artists, arts advocates, and Squamish community groups.
Soundwalk
A community-created audio guide. Using recordings ‘donated’ by members of Vancouver’s Sunset neighbourhood, this project created a place-based reflection of Vancouver's Memorial South Park, inviting listeners to explore the park with fresh eyes (and ears).
Opera in the public realm
Free pop-up and outdoor concert programming from South Vancouver to the Downtown Eastside, making live opera publicly accessible.
Pamyatayesh
A story of forgetting and remembering.
Through theatre, film, and Ukrainian art song, this original creative work seeks to explore what it means to remember and pass on a cultural identity that has been torn from its physical place.
Thin walls
Experiments in opera and jazz, exploring the intersections between musical traditions with collaborators from a range of musical backgrounds.
ASL opera
Deaf theatre mets improvisatory opera in Through the Window. Exploring themes of expectation, religion, and communication, this ASL theatre piece by Landon Krentz was interpreted for hearing audience members with improvised singing.