As Waterloo Region continues to plan for long-term population growth, one question looms large: are the systems that support daily life ready for what comes next? In January, the Future Cities Institute (FCI), alongside BESTWR, released an updated Vision 1 Million Scorecard, offering a data-driven snapshot of how prepared the region is to grow toward a population of one million residents in the coming decades. By framing the analysis this way, the tool invites decision-makers to think proactively rather than reactively, highlighting where current trajectories may fall short and where strategic intervention could have the greatest impact.
The Scorecard takes a system-level view across five interconnected domains: housing, healthcare, transportation, employment and jobs, and placemaking and livability. Rather than treating growth as a single issue, the framework reflects how pressures in one area ripple across others. Over the past six months, FCI and BESTWR worked closely with community partners to validate the underlying data and pressure-test the Scorecard’s approach, ensuring it reflects both local realities and long-term challenges.
One of the clearest takeaways from this process was the importance of data itself. Municipal data, the partners emphasized, is not just an administrative byproduct, but a core public asset that needs to be managed with the same care and foresight as physical infrastructure. Without consistent, shared data, it becomes difficult to align decisions across departments, sectors, and levels of government, even when objectives are shared.
Equally evident was the degree to which the five domains assessed by the Scorecard are inseparable. Housing outcomes shape transportation demand. Employment patterns affect healthcare access. Placemaking decisions influence workforce attraction and retention. The Scorecard’s value lies in making these connections visible, bringing fragmented datasets together so that trade-offs are clearer, and accountability is shared.
The release of the updated Scorecard was marked by a public conversation hosted by the Greater Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber of Commerce, where municipal leaders, business voices, and community partners engaged directly with the findings. Thanks again to BESTWR partners Ian McLean and Julie Garner for their leadership, to the many local organizations that shared data and perspective, and to our co-op student Aster Penney, whose behind-the-scenes work helped bring the update together.
Check out the scorecard: https://bestwr.org