Teaching
In addition to her research interests, Samantha is a dedicated and experienced lecturer in both urban planning and urban design. She has taught across multiple universities in Ontario, including the University of Waterloo, and Toronto Metropolitan University. She has taught a range of classes from upper-year urban design studios, to first year urban design/graphic representation courses, and transportation planning theory and practice. Samantha approaches her teaching pedagogy with care and enthusiasm. She fosters environments where students feel supported to explore their creativity, are not afraid to fail, and, even more, are not afraid to try again. This teaching pedagogy is informed by the content as when working in urban design and planning, there is so rarely one ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answer; rather, what we learn is in the process of doing. Samantha’s classrooms and studios are designed with alternative and hands-on learning strategies that encourage students to learn by doing.
Picture from a studio class at the University of Waterloo, where students used legos to visualize density on a site.
Samantha Leger, Ph.D, RPP MCIP 