In this soulful and wide-ranging episode, Michelle sits down with Zahra Ebrahim to explore how design, care, and community come together in the work of systems transformation. Zahra is a designer, strategist, and orchestrator who has dedicated her career to centering equity and public imagination in the built environment. As co-founder of Monumental Projects, she leads initiatives that shift power, reframe participation, and challenge the status quo of urban development.

Together, they discuss everything from design as a form of joy and grief, to the evolution of Zahra's identity as a "weaver" across disciplines, to new frontiers in acknowledging the rights of the more-than-human world. This episode is a rich meditation on how we can show up more fully, lead with care, and reimagine what cities (and citizenship) can be.

What We Talk About:

• How Zahra’s early feelings of not "fitting" shaped her interdisciplinary approach
• The tension between completion and emergence in design and facilitation
• Creating care cultures within projects and teams
• The journey from ego-led to community-led design
• What it means to be a weaver, orchestrator, and space-maker
• Joy, magic, and humility in community-engaged work
• Scaling belonging from the self to systems
• Systems change, stakeholder engagement, and shifting institutional mindsets
• Giving voice to the more-than-human world in urban planning
• Rights of nature, Indigenous worldviews, and legal personhood of rivers
• How noticing and slowness can build empathy and resilience

Zahra's Everyday Practice Tip

"Invest in your local unit of survival." Get to know your neighbors. Not just their names—but their needs, joys, and stories. When crisis comes, it's those micro-relational webs that make a difference.

Books & References Mentioned

• Messy Cities (edited collection with essay by Kite) https://chbooks.com/Books/M/Messy-Cities

• Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer https://www.robinwallkimmerer.com/books
• Is the River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/724830/is-a-river-alive-by-robert-macfarlane/9781039007956
• Work of Suzanne Kite (Concordia University) https://www.concordia.ca/finearts/about/galleries-venues/fofa-gallery/exhibitions/2023/suzanne-kite.html
• Rights of Nature Movement

Connect with Zahra Ebrahim

Website: www.monumentalprojects.ca

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zahraebrahim

Learn More about Happitecture

For more episodes, resources, and events, visit: www.happitecture.com

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Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and share with your community. Let’s design places—and lives—that bring us joy.

In this episode of The Happitecture Podcast, Michelle sits down with Vancouver’s own Queer As Funk — a band that transforms concerts into spaces of belonging and collective joy. Together, they explore how music can act as placemaking, the milestones that affirmed their impact, and their vision for inclusive performance spaces of the future.

References:

Vancouver LGBTQ Band | Queer As Funk: https://www.queerasfunk.com/

Pink Pony Club: https://www.google.com/search?q=pink+pony+club

For more information on this, or any other episodes of the Happitecture Podcast, you can find us at ⁠⁠https://www.happitecture.com⁠⁠.

Thanks to our sponsor Khora Architecture + Interiors ⁠⁠https://www.khoradesign.ca/

In this deeply resonant episode of Happitecture, host Michelle Fenton sits down with Djaka Blais, Executive Director of Hogan’s Alley Society, to explore how architecture and urban planning can be tools for restorative justice.

Together, they trace the erasure and revival of Vancouver’s only historically Black neighborhood—Hogan’s Alley—and reflect on the power of community-led design, cultural memory, and Black futures grounded in joy.

From negotiating with institutions to reimagining a city block as a living archive of culture and care, this conversation is a masterclass in what it means to design for belonging.

Topics Covered:

• Spatial justice and community restoration

• Black-led planning and anti-displacement strategies

• Designing for joy, cultural specificity, and belonging

• Negotiating with institutions as a community leader

• Visioning Hogan’s Alley as a thriving cultural hub

  
  

References:

Hogan’s Alley Society: https://www.hogansalleysociety.org/

For more information on this, or any other episodes of the Happitecture Podcast, you can find us at ⁠https://www.happitecture.com⁠.

Thanks to our sponsor Khora Architecture + Interiors ⁠https://www.khoradesign.ca/

In this episode of the Happitecture Podcast, we sit down with Dr. Troy Glover, a leading researcher in placemaking and its profound impact on social connectedness, wellbeing, and community life. Dr. Glover is the Director of the Healthy Communities Research Network at the University of Waterloo and has dedicated his career to understanding how the built environment fosters (or hinders) meaningful social interactions.

Placemaking isn’t just about aesthetics or urban planning—it’s about creating places that support belonging, health, and community vitality. We’ll explore the intersection of design, policy, and psychology to uncover how we can design better cities, campuses, and workplaces that truly serve the people who use them.

Tune in for insights into:

• Why placemaking matters for our health and happiness.
• The role of social infrastructure in community resilience.
• The impact of third places on social cohesion.
• Practical ways to foster inclusive and participatory design.

If you're passionate about the built environment and how it shapes our lives, this is an episode you don’t want to miss!

References:

⁠A third place in the everyday lives of people living with cancer: Functions of Gilda’s Club of Greater Toronto⁠

⁠The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness⁠ by Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz

For more information on this, or any other episodes of the Happitecture Podcast, you can find us at https://www.happitecture.com.

Thanks to our sponsor Khora Architecture + Interiors https://www.khoradesign.ca/

This episode hits at the heart of what inclusion really means – dignity for all. I sit down with Brad McCannell, Vice President of the Rick Hansen Foundation to get at the root of it. His life and journey to making spaces accessible for all. From exploring physical and mental barriers to access to how the best accessible design is invisible. Brad’s perspective is deep, thoughtful and resonates at the soul of what it means to be human first.

For more information on this, or any other episodes of the Happitecture Podcast, you can find us at happitecture.com.

Thanks to our sponsor Khora Architecture + Interiors.

This episode explores some key “out of the box” thinking when considering workplace design post pandemic. ‘What if the office was a club with a specific purpose and mission that we all share in? If your office was a club, and it was a blank slate, what would you do? What kind of activities would you have?’ Would we be happier, more innovative, more creative and yes, even more productive?

Join me as I chat with Samantha Sannella, Managing Director of Cushman Wakefield, as we continue the conversation of this exciting paradigm shift.

In recognition of Open Education Week, we welcome Rajiv Jhangiani, associate president of Kwantlen Polytechnic University in British Columbia. He's also the co founder of the Open Pedagogy Notebook that serves in the BC Open Education Advisory Committee. Rajiv has written and/ or co-edited a number of books, including "Open: The Philosophy and Practices That Are Revolutionizing Education and Science," and also co-edited "Open at the Margins." 

We hope you enjoy this chat with Rajiv as we delve into the Open Education movement and its promise to democratise learning.

This fascinating chat with Dr. June Francis explores what it means to "belong"; an historical context of Hogan's Alley; and being Black in Canada. 

Join our conversation as we explore the potential of decolonization to build happy, inclusive and resilient spaces and communities. 

(this episode was unfortunately cut short due to technical difficulties. But we promise to have Dr. Francis back to continue this important and exciting conversation. If you want to hear more, send us your thoughts)

I'm delighted to chat with my dear friend, mentor, bridge builder and change maker Amil Reddy. Amil has worked with organization such as Mountain Equipment Co-op to help them navigate and align their values with Equity, Inclusivity and Diversity. Join me on this wonderful journey of self identification, shifting perspectives and how we can become change leaders and bridge builders in our own communities and kitchen tables.

This month's episode is part 2 of 2 of a conversation with architect Derek Lee at the Olympic Village - one of his most popular projects. Derek is a principal at PWL Partnership and a LEED® Accredited Landscape Architect with over twenty years of experience across North America, Asia, the United Kingdom, and the Middle East. Serving as the creative lead on design teams at PWL, Derek focuses on innovative placemaking and urban design with a view to improving people’s overall health and quality of life. Derek’s infectious passion for innovation is grounded by his experience and ingenuity that is evident in all scales of work, from large-scale master plans and urban waterfront developments to custom details that celebrate a site’s unique character. Derek’s ability to quickly translate conceptual ideas into graphic form effectively bring ideas to life.