The Urban Planning Influencer

Looking for a fun activity this Friday? 👀🎨 Join us in sketching one of Toronto’s most vibrant intersections, Yonge-Dundas! 🏙️🙌 🗓️ Friday, May 1 ⏰ 5:30 PM-7:30 PM 📍Sankofa Squre (1 Dundas St E, Toronto) 👤 Led by Liam Vũ This walk allows participants to bring out their sketchbooks and art supplies to sketch and capture the area’s vibrant street life, iconic destinations, and community stories. 📝✨ This sketch walk is led by Toronto-based urban sketcher, Liam Vu! He is excited to guide participants to the basics of urban sketching while facilitating opportunities for participants to socialize with each other and share their personal reflections. 😎🫶 In order to participate in this sketch walk, we ask participants to bring their own drawing materials (i.e. pen, sketchpad). All art skill levels are welcome! See you there! ✏️🎨✨ #janeswalkto #janeswalk2026 #ourstreetsourstories #janeswalk

Cheap food ANNDD community? 👀‼️ If those are things you like, check out Sneaky Dee’s in Toronto at 431 College St W! 🧑🏻‍🍳😋 ALSOOO if you are looking for a fun, artsy, and FREE thing to do in Toronto, check out Urban Sketchers Toronto! 🎨 I’m on a mission of showcasing Toronto’s third spaces and landmarks! Let me know which Toronto third space I should visit in the comments! 😝🫶 #thirdspaces #torontocontentcreator #torontothingstodo #urbansketches #torontoartwork

What’s your favourite third space in Toronto? For me, it’s the 100 Toronto Public Libraries! 📚 Libraries like the Toronto Reference Library at Bloor and Yonge are so much more than books. @torontolibrary has youth hubs, art exhibitions, free museum passes, arts and crafts workshops, and soo much more! This is the second episode in my series “Sketching Toronto’s Third Spaces”. Let me know which Toronto third space I should sketch next below! 👇 - #tpl #urbansketch #architecturedrawing #artistsoninstagram #torontoartists

What’s your favourite “third space” in Toronto? 🏙️✨ Since they’re so hard to find, join me on a new series to paint them! 🧑🏻‍🎨🎨 The Allan Gardens is located at 160 Gerrard Street East in Toronto. With free entry, I can’t imagine a better third space in Downtown Toronto than this cozy green oasis! 🌿🌵☀️ If you’re a fan of this new series, please comment down below some third spaces I should check out next! 🤩👇 #urbansketching #thirdspace #thingstodotoronto #torontoartists #publicspaces

was it worth the wait? 🥹 #line5 #eglintoncrosstown #ttc

✨THIRD SPACES✨ are places outside of home, work, and school, where you can socialize with others and feel part of a larger community! 👥 Some examples of third spaces include community centres, libraries, parks, and in my case—this parking lot with a view of the Rogers Stadium! 🏟️ Although this was definitely an informal third space, it functioned like one! It was free, people were dancing together, and new friendships were made over common interests in the artists preforming! 🪩❤️ #rogersstadium #blackpinkdeadlineworldtour #thirdspace #torontothingstodo #downsviewpark #urbanism #publicspace #northyork #torontoblogger #torontoconcerts #blackpink #walkable #urbanplanting #todotoronto #torontomusicscene

TTC Line 6 not closed anymore! 🥹✨ @takethettc newest addition to Toronto’s transit line, the Finch West LRT, opened to the public on December 7th, 2025! 🚊🎉 It was so fun to explore the new stations and ride the LRT, while connecting with transit nerds from across the GTA! 🫶✨ #ttc #line6 #torontoblogger #transit #transportationplanning

Here’s your sign to post! 🧑🏻🤳🏻✨ *Link to my YouTube video is in my bio :-) * Social media is such a powerful tool, especially in the urban planning industry! I can think of so many inspiring urban planning content creators, such as @notjustlikes , @nerd4cities , @ohurbanity and more! 🤩 These urban planning influencers are not just entertaining to watch. These personalities are inspiring the next generation of city builders and doing the important work of making urban planning more accessible to the greater public. You could go on a deep rabbit hole of urbanism YouTube videos forever, but what’s lacking is insight on what it’s like to study urban planning as a student! To fill this gap, I’m starting a mission of creating an online presence on YouTube, Instagram & TikTok where I’m sharing insight into my journey going through planning school! If you want to follow my journey, be sure to find @liamvutoronto on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok! :) #firstpost #urbanplanning #smallcreatorstogether #torontoinfluencer #urbanplanningstudent #torontocontentcreator #youtuberlife #torontometropolitanuniversity #studentmotivation #torontolifestyle #gettingoutofmycomfortzone #comfortcreator #vlog

What if parking spaces were redesigned for youth? 🤔💭 Well you don’t have to imagine anymore! On September 28, 2025 the @plazapops Youth Committee hosted our inaugural Youth Summit 2025 at the @urbanspaceto at @401richmond 🎨✨ It was a jam-packed full-day event of appreciating the importance of strip mall parking lots, joining the plazaPOPS revolution and forever inspiring the next generation of urban planners, designers, policy makers, and (landscape) architects! 🏙️👷 Missed the event? Not to fear! The plazaPOPS “Paradise in a Parking Lot” exhibition is running from now until December 31, 2025! Be sure to check it out, you’ll never see a strip mall in the same way again! 🤩👀 #urbanplanning #urbanism #cityplanning #plazapops #townplanning #youthengagement #civicengagement #nonprofitorganisation #newurbanism #urbandesign #archistudent #landscapearchitect #walkableneighborhood

🌟 Calling all youth interest in city-building! 🌟 As part of programming alongside our upcoming exhibition at @urbanspacegallery , we are excited for our FIRST plazaPOPS Youth Committee event::: Join us for the plazaPOPS Youth Summit, a day filled with interactive activities for youth to discover, reimagine and reshape Toronto’s strip mall plazas! 🗓️ Sunday, September 28, 2025 🕛 12 pm – 5:30 pm 📍 Urban Space Gallery, 401 Richmond St W, Toronto Event Schedule Highlights: 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm | Welcome Lunch & Icebreaker Activities 1:00 pm – 1:30 pm | Introduction to plazaPOPS & Tour 1:30 pm – 2:00 pm | Design Jam Challenge Instructions 2:00 pm – 4:30 pm | Design Jam Challenge (reimagine strip mall plazas in teams!) 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm | Team Presentations & Discussions 5:30 pm | Closing Remarks, Thank Yous and Goodie Bags Lunch, snacks and all creative materials included! Open to all youth, bring your ideas, curiosity and energy! 📲 RSVP now! Link in bio or DM us for details. Tag a friend or share to spread the word! #plazaPOPS #YouthSummit #CityBuilding #UrbanDesign #TorontoYouth #CommunityDesign #UrbanPlanning #Architecture #LandscapeArchitecture #YouthWorkshop #TorontoEvents #YouthLeadership #DesignJam #StripMallPlazas #CreativeYouth #plazaPOPS2025 #ChangeYourCity #DesignForChange

At the #ACTION2025 planning conference, I did my first ever live painting! 🧑🏻‍🎨✨ I painted the iconic Toronto skyline to celebrate this year’s national planning conference in Toronto—my home city! 🏙️🇨🇦👀 This painting will be displayed at the OPPI offices in North York! I hope that as planners and professionals read the many messages written on the canvas, it will remind them of the important conversations that took place from July 8-10! 🎉 Thank you to the OPPI and CIP for this incredible opportunity and immense support! It is so important for planning institutions to celebrate student-led initiatives and innovations early in their career! Planning students—we are the future!❤️ And lots of hugs for everyone who came by to watch me paint! Thank you for making me feel so welcome and for all the laughter and memories! A special shout out to my fellow volunteers, students, professors, TMU alumni, and friendly faces! 🙌 Can’t wait to see you all at next year’s conference in Montreal and Blue Mountain! 🥹👋 À Bientôt ✌️ #livepainting #nationalplanningconference #urbanplanning #urbanism #canadianinstututeofplanners #ontarioprofessionalplannersinstitute #networking #urbanplanningstudent #weddingpainter #urbansketching #toronto @tmuplanners @surpa_tmu @tmusurp #livepainter #liveeventartist #liveeventpainting

No fabric seats in sight 😌✨ Travelling as an urban planner is so much fun because I can appreciate things that others would normally wouldn’t (e.g. urban design, transportation systems, etc.) ✈️🚉 It makes my travel experiences so much more memorable and inspiring. And what better city to visit in Canada for its urban planning than Montreal, Canada! 🇨🇦🍁 During my trip, I kept having to stop in the middle of my tracks to film things that inspired me (e.g. pedestrianized streets, wayfinding signage, intersection design, etc.) Stay tuned for more Montréal urbanism content in the coming weeks! 👀 #torontoinfluencer #gotrain #urbanisme #torontoblogger #montrealmetro #transitphotography #ttc #stm #cityplanning #townplanning #urbanism #urbanplanning #publictransit #subway #transportationplanning #citydesign