David Gordon teaches planning history, community design and urban development at Queen's. He has also taught at the University of Toronto, Ryerson, Western Australia, Harvard and University of Pennsylvania, where he was a Fulbright Scholar. Before becoming a professor, David was a professional planner for over 15 years, as director of an urban design firm and project manager for a Toronto waterfront agency. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Planners and has shared their National Award of Distinction three times.
David has written widely on urban planning including the books Planning Twentieth Century Capital Cities (2006) and Planning Canadian Communities (2014 with Gerald Hodge) and Town and Crown: An illustrated history of Canada's capital (2015). His latest research includes histories of Canadian community planning and comparison of Australian and Canadian suburbs.
Dave was Faculty Coordinator of the National Executive Forum on Public Property and is a founding director of the Council for Canadian Urbanism, where he chairs the Research Committee. He also enjoys celebrating the achievements of SURP alumni across Canada, and helping plan the redevelopment of the Queen's campus.
David was born in Ottawa and grew up in Montreal, New Brunswick and Europe. He lives in Upper Canada's oldest neighbourhood, and is active in community environmental and social service organizations. Dave can often be seen cycling around downtown Kingston with his daughter.
