Dafne Gokcen

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT DAFNE GOKCEN

I have over 10 years of experience in the field of planning, including positions in the public and private sectors, and in commercial and residential real estate development. I started my planning career in Ontario, Canada working in co-op jobs in the public sector during my undergraduate degree. I received my Masters Degree in Urban Planning at the University of Southern California and ended up spending 11 and a half years living and working in Los Angeles. I am now back in my hometown of Toronto working for a small planning consulting company. Throughout my career, I have navigated complex bureaucracies, conducted community outreach and stakeholder engagement, and worked with elected officials at different levels of government. I have extensive project management experience, and have managed land use entitlement applications in different municipalities for most of the last decade. I also have excellent public speaking skills and extensive experience with public hearings. I am a LEED AP for Building, Design and Construction (BD+C) and I have a passion for creating a more sustainable built environment. In my spare time, I am a climate activist with a focus on a just transition away from the fossil fuel economy. I am a candidate member of the Ontario Professional Planners Institute (OPPI) and am working towards my designation as a Registered Professional Planner (RPP). I have experience working in Microsoft Office, the Adobe Design Suite, AutoCAD, and ArcMap and MapInfo GIS software. I am also fluent in English and French. I have traveled to over 20 countries and lived in five different countries - and I have done urban planning in Canada, the United States, and China. I believe it is only by traveling that we can really understand where we come from and what we need to do to make our homes a better place to live.