James Parakh

James Parakh is an Urban Design Manager at the City of Toronto, Planning Division. He has lead the Urban Design Studio overseeing developments in Toronto & East York for over a decade. He is also a Fellow of the CTBUH and is an award winning architect who is the urban design manager for Toronto & East York District of the City of Toronto's Planning Division. James is globally respected as a leader in the field of Tall Building Urban Design through his role as Chair of the CTBUH Urban Habitat Assembly as well as for his professional work in the cities of Toronto and Ottawa, Canada. James has chaired the CTBUH UH/UD Assembly since 2014. In that role James has written several research papers on tall building urbanism as well as being a principal author of three CTBUH Books: The Space Between, The Space Below and the Space Within Tall Buildings James was appointed to the CTBUH College of Fellows in 2020.

James is also Vice-Chair of the Urban Design Review Panel for Canada's Capital City of Ottawa and also serves on design panels for the National Capital Commission (N.C.C.). James is also frequently invited to participate on or chair international design juries for Tall Building Design for both the CTBUH as well as for WAN (World Architecture News) Awards. James is a member of the Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) and holds a Bachelor of Technology in Architecture Degree from Toronto Metropolitan University, a Masters of Architecture Degree from the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture at the University of Houston, and a Master of Science in Urban Design Degree from Columbia University in New York.