Jim Mountain
Adjunct Professor
Jim Mountain has some forty years experience in Canada and internationally working as a practitioner for the conservation and sustainability of places.
From 1998 to present he has served as Sessional Lecturer, Lecturer for the ACE program, Studio Instructor and mentor to students with Carleton University’s Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism.
His approach to teaching is through experiential learning . He takes classes off campus and connects students with real projects, real places and people in meaningful collaborative community partnerships. He challenges classes to work as a multidisciplinary team to undertake research and to develop design concepts for urban core areas, rural towns and regions, indigenous communities, and endangered places.
With the National Trust for Canada (formerly Heritage Canada Foundation) he helped establish Main Street revitalization projects across Western Canada, and “Regions” projects from Newfoundland and Labrador to Vancouver Island. He served as Director of Regeneration Projects 2014-2018, and is currently Senior Advisor to the Trust. Jim served as Cultural Developer at the City of Ottawa (2002-2014) where he assisted in developing the City’s Renewed Action Plan for Arts, Heritage and Culture which received the City Manager’s Award of Excellence for Equity and Diversity. Prior to the City of Ottawa, Jim worked with Commonwealth Historic Resource Management Ltd a national and internationally renowned firm in heritage conservation and adaptive reuse projects.
Active voluntarily in culture and heritage, he is currently a board Director of the award-winning RBC Ottawa Bluesfest, serving as President and Chair, 2018 to 2020 and President, Ontario Festival of Small Halls.
2018 to Present: Willowbank School of Restoration Arts : Guest Instructor – Engaging Communities in Conservation and Sustainability
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Education
BA Honours – Canadian Studies, York University
Certificate – Community Economic Development and Business Retention, University of Guelph
Certificate – Main Street Revitalization, US National Trust for Historic Preservation
National Trust for Canada Licensed Practitioner – Downtown, Main Street Regeneration
Research
Current practices and approaches to revitalization of traditional downtowns
Conservation and adaptive repurposing of heritage places
Partnership protocols and projects with learning institutions as defined by and managed by indigenous communities
Publications
Reviving Main Street U of T Press
Currently authoring book on conservation in Algonquin Park
Numerous columns on conservation and community development in regional press