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
Innovation Challenge Empowers Students to Build Real-World Housing Solutions
The Future Cities Institute founded by CAIVAN partnered with Velocity to host the Future Cities Innovation Challenge. The high-intensity, two-week sprint brought interdisciplinary student teams together to build data-backed business concepts targeting the Canadian housing crisis, modern infrastructure demands, and municipal service systems.
FCI Connects with Ontario's Big City Mayors
The Future Cities Institute founded by CAIVAN sponsored lunch at the Ontario’s Big City Mayors (OBCM) meeting in Waterloo. Connecting with over 65 mayors, Chief Administrative Officers, and policy staff from across the province, Director Dr. Leia Minaker presented the institute’s applied research capabilities and work-integrated student programs designed to tackle pressing, real-world municipal challenges.
MFC Graduate Students Explore Singapore
Graduate students from the Master of Future Cities (MFC) program recently returned from an intensive, two-week field course in Singapore. Organized by the Future Cities Institute founded by CAIVAN, this experiential learning trip allowed students to step out of the classroom and see how long-term foresight, multi-purpose infrastructure, and high-density housing strategies are deployed in the real world.
