Pier Giorgio Di Cicco has extended the role of Poet Laureate beyond the area of arts advocacy and into the realm of “civic aesthetic,” a term he coined to define building a city through citizenship, civic ethic and urban psychology. His urban philosophy has found popularity in forums ranging from the Prime Minister’s Advisory Committee on Cities and Communities and The Creative Cities Project of the Ontario and Toronto governments, to The Waterfront Revitalization Corporation and international conferences on urban sustainability. He is a Roman Catholic Priest, Curator of the Toronto Museum Project and Center for Global Cities and teaches for the Department of Italian Studies at the University of Toronto.