Issue 2
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Issue 2: Imagining our Future CitiesDean's Letter
Environment’s 50th anniversary is here! And what better way to acknowledge this milestone than examine one topic that has been at the centre of our work since we first welcomed students, staff and faculty, back in the fall of 1969 – shaping our sustainable cities and sustainable communities.
Category: Issue 2 -
Issue 2: Imagining our Future CitiesWhat’s so smart about a smart grid anyway?
The prefix ‘smart’ gets thrown in front of so many things the phrase has lost some of its meaning. We tend to think of ‘smart’ technology mostly as something done by computers and designers. That’s not the whole story. We also need smart – and adaptive users. Only by creating both, can we achieve energy sustainability.
Category: Issue 2 Innovation Research -
Issue 2: Imagining our Future CitiesFighting for housing affordability through donor support
When Ontarians went to the polls last October, pundits identified housing affordability as an issue at the top of nearly every candidate's list of priorities. Whether it’s pricey walkable downtown cores in major cities, or people flooding into the suburbs, in the past decade the price of homes and rent has skyrocketed in a familiar pattern.
Category: Issue 2 Community -
Issue 2: Imagining our Future CitiesImagining Canada’s Future Cities
With over half of the world’s population living in urban environments, cities are invariably centres of intense change and dynamic innovation. With this intensity comes the need for careful planning to ensure that our urban communities remain inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. How do you imagine Canada’s future cities?
Category: Issue 2 Community -
Issue 2: Imagining our Future CitiesIs there hope for the future of food?
University of Waterloo doctoral research student Phoebe Stephens is certainly hopeful for a brighter future when it comes to harnessing social finance to develop sustainable food systems for our ever growing cities, and communities, while alumni Brian Cowan BES’ 80 shares his experience of a very interesting and integrated model in Europe, and finally, a quick look at how China is feeding its growing metropoles – more sustainably.
Category: Issue 2 Community Food Green Economy -
Issue 2: Imagining our Future CitiesBattling cancer and the 401
In 2016, Sam was diagnosed with stage-three cancer. He reflects on his grueling battle on the 401, and the impact lack of sustainable transportation has on the lives of Canadians.
Category: Issue 2 Community Transportation -
Issue 2: Imagining our Future CitiesOntario and the megacity
With the world rapidly urbanizing, people, capital and opportunity are flowing into a handful of cities at an incredible rate. This new dynamic has created new opportunities, but also political polarization, economic inequality, frustration and confusion on a number of levels for many people.
Category: Issue 2 Alumni Community Innovation -
Issue 2: Imagining our Future CitiesUsing more than data to help people live healthier
The Faculty of Environment has led Canada for decades in mapping and data techniques, and thanks to a handful of health researchers working to design cities that prevent illness.
Category: Issue 2 Community Health -
Issue 2: Imagining our Future CitiesLast word: Fixing climate without breaking society
If you are familiar with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), you know they’re numbered 1 through 17. It’s tempting to think of numbered goals needing to be completed in order, but the SDG’s are much more complex than that. We must see them as connected challenges needing to be solved in concert.
Category: Issue 2 Climate Change SDG
