The University of Waterloo’s Future Cities Institute (FCI) founded by CAIVAN brings together a global network of interdisciplinary researchers from a variety of fields, industry leaders, practitioners, students and community members to develop new tools and approaches for building healthy and prosperous cities.
Help shape the Vision 1 Million Scorecard
We’re working to make the BestWR Vision 1 Million Scorecard a powerful tool for understanding how ready our region is for a population of one million. We need your insights on critical areas like housing, transportation, health, employment, and livability; where are we prepared, and where do we need to improve?
Your feedback is confidential and will directly inform updates to the scorecard. Thank you for helping us build a better, more resilient future.
Fostering – We promote the integration of research, teaching, and knowledge mobilization to drive innovative city and community solutions.
Healthy – We embrace a One Health approach, recognizing the interconnectedness of human, environmental, and planetary well-being.
Prosperous – We create the conditions for communities to thrive socially and economically by fostering employment, innovation, education, and inclusive growth that benefits citizens.
Future – We explore multiple plausible futures, not just preferred ones, ensuring adaptable and resilient city and community strategies.
Cities and Communities – We engage with municipalities and Indigenous communities to collaboratively shape sustainable development.
News
FCI at the NEDA Conference in Iqaluit, Nunavut
FCI researchers attended the Nunavut Economic Development Association Conference in Iqaluit to present and pilot an AI-powered Community Economic Development Planning Tool with community leaders and administrators. Workshops surfaced real challenges around fragmented planning, connectivity, and language access, and reinforced FCI's grounding principle that responsible, effective tools are built only after listening closely to the people they are meant to serve.
Ideas in Action: Highlights from World Cities Week 2025
That’s a wrap on World Cities Week 2025!
This year’s program brought together students, researchers, and practitioners for a dynamic mix of panels, workshops, and hands-on sessions exploring how cities can adapt, connect, and thrive in an ever-changing world.
Each conversation reflected the energy and creativity that define the University of Waterloo and the Future Cities Institute, where ideas move from research to real-world impact through collaboration across disciplines.
Voices of the Future: Exploring AI and Agentic Tech at Waterloo
The Future Cities Institute gathered at the University of Waterloo for a fast-paced hackathon exploring how AI and agentic technologies can support the cities of tomorrow.
Co-sponsored by the Future Cities Institute and ElevenLabs, the day brought together students, researchers and builders to design tools for housing, mobility, and community services, with a strong focus on voice and co-pilot applications.
A huge thank you to guest judges from Google, NVIDIA, and ElevenLabs.
