Courtney Row

Courtney grew up with the built environments of Toronto, Peterborough, and Caledon as her playgrounds, and she has always been fascinated by the intersection of the urban with the natural. Courtney started her career as a team lead in experiential and event marketing at Bensimon and Byrne, where she developed an eye for curating presentations for external audiences. A few years later, she followed her love of understanding how plants and wildlife live and interact with their environment to pursue an environmental technician diploma with honours at Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology. Following graduation, Courtney found herself working as a technical assistant at Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, where she conducted field inspections in support of the city’s Erosion Control Monitoring and Maintenance Program. Loving this line of work, Courtney eventually switched to urban stewardship as a Field and GIS Technician at RVA, where she focuses on making cities more livable by reducing pressure on the natural landscapes that make our communities so incredible.

Courtney’s journey at the firm began with the Parkland Trails Audit for the City of Toronto, a two-year project that entailed a condition assessment of over 800 kms of trails to bring them into compliance with accessibility standards. Since then, she has branched out to work with a wide range of clients on ecological inventories, environmental monitoring, environmental assessments, public information centres, mapping, surveying, condition assessments, and field inspections. Her diverse background in geography, social marketing, and environmental science compliments her skills in public realm design as a Field and GIS Technician.

Acting as a link between the built and natural environments, Courtney is committed to bringing together the program needs of a community while accentuating natural systems for mutual benefit. She is a detail and thorough-oriented technician who is skilled at absorbing big picture concepts and greater project goals while immersing herself in the details that give it life. With her social marketing experience, Courtney has a particular knack for translating complex organizational and spatial concepts through clear and impactful visuals. She promotes eco-conscious methodologies that allow teams to think holistically about embedding sustainability into all aspects of a project, and she has a passion for uncovering compelling stories in data using different platforms, such as ArcGIS Pro, ArcMap, AutoCAD, and Adobe Suite.

Time in the outdoors is always a good time in Courtney’s mind. A natural athlete since she was a little girl, Courtney played on every sports team she could growing up, and she has recently picked up kickboxing as a new way to stay active. Her Victorian bulldog, Miley, takes up most of her time now, and together they’re constantly making new friends in the places that Miley loves most: around water, beaches, and people.