BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Drupal iCal API//EN X-WR-CALNAME:Events items teaser X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/Toronto BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Toronto X-LIC-LOCATION:America/Toronto BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZNAME:EDT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 DTSTART:20250309T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZNAME:EST TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 DTSTART:20251102T060000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:69f3fa4bd3a1d DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260122 SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:TRANSPARENT DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260130 URL:https://uwaterloo.ca/future-cities-institute/events/ideathon-2026 SUMMARY:Ideathon 2026 CLASS:PUBLIC DESCRIPTION:We’re excited to let you know that Ideathon is now open for W inter\n2026\, a fast-paced\, creativity-first challenge designed for stude nts\nwho love brainstorming\, problem-solving\, and building ideas that\nm atter. It’s an opportunity to work on a real urban challenge in\nWaterlo o Region.\n\nEARN A $325 HONORARIUM\, AS WELL AS A CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETI ON.\n\nThis Ideathon focuses on adaptive reuse\, where student teams will\ nreimagine vacant commercial\, industrial\, and heritage spaces into\nsust ainable\, community-centred solutions.\n\nYou’ll collaborate with studen ts from different programs\, apply\ncreative and analytical thinking\, and explore how design\,\nsustainability\, and economic feasibility come toge ther in the real\nworld.\n\nThe Ideathon will run from January 22-29th\, and has a time commitment\nof 16 hours. On the final day\, you will pitch your solution to a\npanel of judges. Mandatory sessions include the virt ual kickoff\, and\nthe final day of presentations. \n\nALL YEARS AND LEVE L OF STUDY ARE INVITED TO APPLY. \n\nAPPLY\nNOW: https://uwaterloo.ca1.q ualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_26u6xf1UGUHmXhc \n\n_The Experience Ventures pro gram\, powered by the Hunter Hub for\nEntrepreneurial Thinking at the Univ ersity of Calgary\, empowers\ncollege and university students to make a me aningful impact alongside\nreal-world innovators._ X-MICROSOFT-CDO-ALLDAYEVENT:TRUE DTSTAMP:20260501T005643Z END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:69f3fa4bd496a DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20250422T091500 SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:TRANSPARENT DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20250422T101500 URL:https://uwaterloo.ca/future-cities-institute/events/simulation-based-me thods-using-urban-climate-data-inform LOCATION:Balsillie School of International Affairs (67 Erb St. W\, Waterloo \, ON N2L 6C2). Canada SUMMARY:Simulation-based methods using urban climate data to inform policy CLASS:PUBLIC DESCRIPTION:DAWN PARKER & RODRIGO COSTA\nThis presentation focuses on metho ds to harness city climate data to\ndevelop policy solutions.\nWhile emerg ing AI methods are exciting\, often for policy analysis\, we\nneed to desi gn scenarios\nthat ask how specific policy levers might impact social\, ec onomic\, and\nclimate metrics in our\ncities. To conduct such analysis\, w e need models of how shifts in\npolicy levers change the\ndecisions of key actors\, and how these decisions interact to drive\noutcomes of interest. From a\nscience viewpoint\, these are often referred to as “process-bas ed\nmodels.” Such models can\ncomplement\, and build on\, pattern-based AI and other statistical\nmodels. In this presentation\, we\nwill offer a brief introduction to several process-based simulation\nmodels that can be applied to\nclimate challenges in cities: systems dynamics\, cellular aut omaton\,\nand agent-based models. DTSTAMP:20260501T005643Z END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:69f3fa4bd523f DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20250421T150000 SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:TRANSPARENT DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20250421T160000 URL:https://uwaterloo.ca/future-cities-institute/events/ai-powered-solution s-bridging-urban-climate-policy-data-gaps LOCATION:Balsillie School of International Affairs (67 Erb St. W\, Waterloo \, ON N2L 6C2). Canada SUMMARY:AI-Powered Solutions for Bridging Urban Climate Policy Data Gaps CLASS:PUBLIC DESCRIPTION:ANGEL HSU\nMachine learning\, generative AI\, including Large L anguage Models\n(LLMs) hold immensepotential in addressing critical data a nd\ninformation gaps within city climate policy. Thesetechnologies enable\ ncities to estimate greenhouse gas emission sources\, identify\nenvironmen talhotspots\, evaluate policy performance trends\, and\ncomprehend the div erse impacts of climatechange. This presentation\nwill showcase several ca se studies that illustrate how\nAI-drivenapproaches can innovate data coll ection\, analysis\, and policy\nformulation in the context of urbanclimate management\, including\nevaluating net-zero climate policy and strategy w ith LLMs andtopic\nmodeling\, distributional climate and environmental imp acts within\nurban areas\, theintegration of satellite remote sensing for\ nparticipatory heat-stress mapping\, among otherexamples. It will also\ndi scuss some of the challenges and pitfalls of applying AI to urban\nclimate policy and management\, such as the \"black box\" AI problem and\nbiases o f underlying trainingdata. DTSTAMP:20260501T005643Z END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:69f3fa4bd5ad7 DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20250421T093000 SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:TRANSPARENT DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20250421T103000 URL:https://uwaterloo.ca/future-cities-institute/events/challenges-related- city-climate-data-governance LOCATION:Multi-Purpose Room\, at the Balsillie School of International Affa irs (67 Erb St. W\, Waterloo\, ON N2L 6C2). Canada SUMMARY:The challenges related to city climate data governance CLASS:PUBLIC DESCRIPTION:Cities and the ecosystem of actors that support them face a ple thora\nof challenges related to climate data and action. Meanwhile\, recen t\nadvancements in geospatial technology and AIpresent both new\nchallenge s and opportunities. The diverse data challenges and variety\nofecosystem actors that seek to support city climate action present an\noverarching “orchestrationchallenge”\; connecting diverse\nperspectives and challe nges with on-the-ground climate actionrequires\na community of practice an d collaborative approach. This session will\nintroduce thechallenges of ci ty climate data governance\, as well as\nemerging challenges and opportuni tiesrelated to geospatial tools and\nAI. Next\, several practitioners will present about\non-the-groundchallenges they face related to city climate data. The\nsession will conclude with an invitation fordiscussion of the d iverse\nperspectives on these challenges and opportunities and a call\nfor collaborative solutions. DTSTAMP:20260501T005643Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR