News

The University of Waterloo Faculty of Environment welcomed Sir Andrew Steer as the 2025 TD Walter Bean Professor in Environment, bringing decades of global insight to a packed lecture on the future of our cities, communities, and ecosystems. The lecture was presented as part of the University of Waterloo’s Waterloo at 100 vision and in partnership with the Future Cities Institute. 

Following the lecture, FCI Director Dr. Leia Minaker moderated a wide-ranging conversation on the scale of the climate challenge and the opportunities for action across sectors.

As extreme weather events strain the limits of Canada’s urban infrastructure, researchers are turning to the land itself for answers. In this new article for The Conversation Canada, Future Cities Institute member Michael Drescher and co-author Jeremy Pittman explore how Canadian cities can rethink flood mitigation, tree cover, and water systems by embracing nature-based solutions. 

Policy shifts, especially at the municipal and provincial levels, could unlock broader use of these approaches. Investing in tools that rigorously quantify climate adaptation benefits and fostering public–private collaboration are key steps. From crafting more actionable policies to integrating new decision-making tools, this work will require collective effort. 

Read the article: https://theconversation.com/canadian-cities-can-prepare-for-climate-change-by-building-with-nature-263608  

Big news! FCI is honoured to be among the inaugural recipients of the University of Waterloo’s Global Futures Fund. This support will help power our role in BUILD NOW: Waterloo Region, a bold initiative and living lab embedded in North America’s largest affordable homeownership development. With this funding, we’ll help advance research, education, and services to scale sustainable housing solutions, engage students through capstones and co-ops, and connect Canada’s housing innovation ecosystem to the ENoLL (European Network of Living Labs). 

For us at FCI, this is recognition of the impact that interdisciplinary, cross-sector partnerships can have in tackling urgent challenges like housing affordability. It’s also a celebration of what’s possible when universities, communities, governments, and industry work together to test and scale solutions in real time. 

The Faculty of Environment and FCI welcomed the latest cohort of the Master of Future Cities (MFC) program to campus for their on-site residency, an intensive deep dive introduction into systems thinking, urban collaboration, and interdisciplinary methods.⁣ 

In their first week, students explored how cities operate, and how to imagine, design and lead change across complex, interdependent challenges. They connected across sectors, built shared language, and tackled real-world problems through hands-on workshops and peer learning.⁣ 

The residency wrapped with team presentations that showcased just how much insight, ambition and clarity can be built in a short time, when the right tools and relationships are in place.⁣ 

FCI member Dr. Maria Strack was recently featured in The Conversation Canada, where she highlighted the vital role wetlands play in our climate future. Covering 14% of Canada and storing twice as much carbon as the world’s forests, wetlands are among the most powerful natural climate solutions we have.  

With a quarter of the world’s remaining wetlands, Canada carries a global responsibility to safeguard these ecosystems. In her opinion piece, “Canadian wetlands are treasures that deserve protection,” Dr. Strack calls for urgent action to protect wetlands as natural infrastructure, biodiversity havens, and irreplaceable carbon banks. 

Read the article: https://theconversation.com/canadian-wetlands-are-treasures-that-deserve-protection-261433  

FCI member and public health scientist Dr. Plinio Morita was featured in a CTV News story highlighting how climate risks are increasingly showing up inside our homes, and what researchers are doing about it.

Alongside PhD student Irfhana Z and the Ubiquitous Health Technology Lab at the University of Waterloo, Dr. Morita is developing a indoor heat warning system. Using smart thermostats and machine learning, the team is mapping regions most at risk across North America and creating dashboards to alert people before residents face life-threatening temperatures.

Their findings? When homes exceed 26°C for prolonged periods, especially without cooling infrastructure, the health effects can be severe, especially for older adults. Many public health systems still rely on outdoor temperature thresholds, missing the critical indoor picture.

By bringing together smart technology, public health insight and data-driven design, this project is helping communities stay safe as extreme heat events become more common. It also calls attention to urgent policy gaps, and opportunities for smarter resilience planning.

Read and watch the full story in CTV News: https://lnkd.in/gZeQWH_h

FCI member and transportation expert Dr. Jeff Casello joined CBC’s Cross Country Checkup with Ian Hanomansing to weigh in on one of Canada’s most spirited civic debates: the future of bike infrastructure.  
 
With decades of expertise in urban mobility and transportation planning, Jeff offered clarity, data, and thoughtful perspective to the national conversation, highlighting how the way we design our streets shapes who has access to safety, opportunity, and connection in our cities. 

Link to the full segment on CBC Listen: https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-13-cross-country-checkup/clip/16160356-when-comes-bike-lanes-streets-many-few  

In a recent Globe and Mail opinion piece, FCI member Dr. Jeff Casello, professor of planning and engineering at the University of Waterloo, offers a clear-eyed assessment of the growing fiscal crisis facing Ontario’s postsecondary institutions. With deficits running between 10–20% and core revenues falling 25% over the last decade, Casello warns: “There is a real chance of a university, or universities, in the province failing.”  

This isn’t just a budget issue, it’s a challenge to the very foundation of public education and innovation in Ontario. Universities are key to building the housing, infrastructure, and data systems our future depends on. At FCI, we support Jeff’s call for bold, system-wide reforms that safeguard both access to education and the province’s long-term prosperity. 

Read more: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-fiscal-crisis-university-education-ontario/ 

Four Future Cities Institute members have received national research funding through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), SSHRC-CRSH, and the New Frontiers in Research Fund. These grants are part of the Government of Canada’s $1.3B investment in advancing research across the country.  

Congratulations to Rodrigo Costa, Warren Dodd, Jennifer Dean, and Fatma Gzara. Their funded projects explore critical urban challenges, including disaster recovery, heat resilience, regional immigration, and operational logistics, through interdisciplinary collaboration and community-engaged design.  

From Ideas to Impact: Students Help Build the Future of Housing  

Students from the Pearl Sullivan Engineering IDEAs Clinic and the Sustainability and Social Entrepreneurship Fellowship recently stepped out of the classroom and into action at the Habitat for Humanity Waterloo Region ReStore. Together, they assembled cabinets destined for future homes and mapped out full-scale floor plans for upcoming BUILD NOW: Waterloo Region housing units, gaining tangible insight into the complexities of designing affordable, livable spaces.