About

I’m a graduate researcher in urban studies based in Surrey, British Columbia, where I’ve lived my whole life. My work sits between spatial analysis and public policy, using GIS and financial modelling to test whether land use policy does what it claims to do.

Right now that means a Master of Urban Studies at Simon Fraser University, an Advanced Certificate in GIS at BCIT, and a thesis asking whether small-scale upzoning under BC’s Bill 44 produces rental housing that local renters in Surrey can afford. I hold a BA in Policy Studies with a minor in Geography from Kwantlen Polytechnic University.

Before graduate school I interned at the Agricultural Land Commission, where I audited 78 land-use applications for financial and compliance irregularities, evaluated 39 more and found 46% eligible for expedited review, and mapped residential land loss across 157 applications in ArcMap. That last piece became a research poster and is still the work I’d most want to be judged on.

I’ve also taught undergraduates to use ArcGIS StoryMaps as a Student Learning Assistant at KPU, and I volunteer as a mapper with the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team, digitizing building footprints and road networks from satellite imagery for disaster response.

What I’m looking for

A graduate co-op work term in municipal community or development planning, where I can put provincial housing policy and GIS to work on real applications.

Focus

Research: Housing policy and Bill 44, agricultural land use and the ALR, transportation and land use sequencing.

Technical: ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS StoryMaps, FME Workbench, Excel. Some working familiarity with QGIS.

Credentials: Canadian Institute of Planners Student Member. Class 5 BC driver’s licence.

Elsewhere

I read a lot of council agendas, take photographs around the Lower Mainland, and am always happy to talk about why Grandview Heights has townhouses but no bus.

You can reach me at contact@brandonfleming.ca or on LinkedIn.