H. Peter Oberlander, OC (November 29, 1922 – December 27, 2008) was a Canadian architect and Canada's first professor of Urban and Regional Planning.
Mackenzie, then President of the University of British Columbia and member of the Massey Commission, was intrigued by this simple idea, and within six months invited Oberlander to come to Vancouver and launch UBC Canada's first full professional program in Community and Regional Planning.
[3] In 1970, Oberlander was called to Ottawa to initiate the Federal Government's Ministry of State for Urban Affairs, and become its inaugural Secretary (Deputy Minister).
Beginning in 2002, Oberlander was deeply involved in persuading the Canadian Government to invite the United Nations to convene the UN World Urban Forum (WUF3) in Vancouver June 2006 and thereby commemorate the first UN Conference on Human Settlements, 30 years’ earlier.
WUF3 contributed substantively to the global recognition for the urgent need for achieving Sustainable Urbanization by “Turning Ideas into Action” through the UN with Canada's initiative.
Following his lifelong commitment to the motto "Ideas into Action", his final project was to establish The Habitat Exchange, an on-line portal and archive of international human settlement resources.