UPEI’s Applied Communication, Leadership, and Culture (ACLC) program will host three public lectures featuring new research on the ways that maps and other geospatial data shape regional development. The lectures are part of a three-day workshop exploring new digital humanities tools and training for research and public policy. 

Dr. Ed MacDonald, professor of history at UPEI, will present the first public talk on Thursday, October 3, starting at 7 pm at the Carriage House, Beaconsfield Historic House, Charlottetown. Dr. MacDonald’s talk, Designing Change: A Semicentennial Review of the Comprehensive Development Plan on Prince Edward Island, will explore the largest and first provincial-federal development initiative in post-war Canadian history. He will provide an overview of the genesis of, and motivation behind, the $725 million-dollar economic development agreement and trace how its interlocking suite of programs fared amid political bickering and grassroots opposition to what critics perceived as too much change too quickly. Dr. MacDonald will offer reflections on the nature of change, the limits of state intervention, and the enduring legacy of “The Plan.”