Our urban landscapes are at a pivotal juncture
Cities drive the global economy and are home to vibrant and diverse communities. Yet, they’re also facing complex challenges that impact urban life. From rising housing costs, aging infrastructure, climate change, the disruptive impacts of technology and an aging population, the need for expertise, capacity-building and applied tools to address these overlapping issues has never been higher.
The Future Cities Institute founded by CAIVAN is leading this bold mission.
FCI will bring the University of Waterloo’s exceptional strengths in applied science and engineering, interdisciplinary research, work-integrated learning, partnership building and academic programming to the field of city building. By bringing together key experts from across the University, the FCI will deliver programming, develop tools, and foster relationships among industry, government, academia and communities that lead to tangible outcomes for Canadian and global cities.
These strategic efforts will enable the FCI will build capacity, answer research problems and mobilize knowledge to identify equitable and sustainable solutions to the problems growing cities face.
Empowering cities for health, prosperity, and sustainability is our vision. We achieve this by enhancing our capacity to foresee and address complex challenges through the integration of diverse disciplines and futures thinking. Our focus is on developing cutting-edge tools, refining techniques and fostering strong relationships among industry, governments, organizations and communities.
To be the leading global network of interdisciplinary partners from academia, industry, government, grassroots organizations and communities, who work together to imagine, build and enable healthy, prosperous and resilient futures for our cities.
A message from the founders
In the coming decades, humanity will be faced with a variety of colossal challenges and wonderous opportunities. To drive prosperity, we need decisive leadership that’s equipped with the right arsenal of tools. If cities are to thrive in the future, we need objective and dynamic thinking. Housing access and affordability, the skilled-labour shortage, and the changing nature of retail are just a few of the pressing issues that are upending planning orthodoxy. It’s time for a renaissance. To build resilient cities, we must resist the urge to retreat into dogmatic thinking.
The Future Cities Institute founded by CAIVAN will bring together industry, government, and a variety of academic minds across faculties to collaborate and come up with solutions that make a real difference in the world. To do that, we will harness science and technology and leverage STEM advances to identify clear desired outcomes for our communities that are tangible, exciting, and powerful. We hope others will join us in our quest for a more prosperous, healthy, and sustainable future for all. There has never been a more urgent time to act.
- Frank Cairo and Troy van Haastrecht, co-founders and CEOs of the Caivan Group
The University of Waterloo and Caivan launched FCI thanks to a transformational $10-million donation from Caivan. The large-scale real estate development company is one of Ontario’s largest and is active in more than 50 communities. Through its subsidiary, the Advanced Building Innovation Company, Caivan is an industry leader, harnessing software engineering, including AI systems, automation and optimization tools, in the development and construction of its communities. The company is committed to volume-oriented sustainability while meaningfully tackling the housing affordability crisis.