Craig Thomas

Craig Thomas is manager of development planning with Parkland County, located west of Edmonton, AB. Thomas has worked in planning for more than 25 years. He has chaired the City of Edmonton subdivision and development appeal board and taught urban design classes at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. His research interests include phenomenology of place and creative class theory. Thomas understands land use planning as a dynamic and complex discipline that balances the rights of the landowners with the interests of the community. He believes, however, that the planning profession does not pay enough attention to the importance of "place." As such, people may not be connecting with places in the ways they should. He plans to further study this dynamic in his doctorate research. Thomas holds a Diploma in Urban and Regional Planning from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (1991), a Certificate in Applied Land Use Planning from the University of Alberta (2001), a Certificate in Urban Design from Simon Fraser University (2006), a Bachelor of Technology in Technology Management from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (2014) and a Master of Arts in Environment and Management from Royal Roads University (2017).