Staff

Topic: Exploring Amplification Pathways of Nature-Based Climate Solutions in Canadian cities

Speaker: Kayne Boyall (MSc student supervised by Dr. Sarah Burch)

Location: EV3 1408

Cities are increasingly central sites of climate action, amid compounding biodiversity and economic crises. Yet efforts to transform urban systems remain constrained by path dependency, indeterminacy, and shifting priorities. Nature-based climate solutions (NBCS) have gained prominence for their capacity to “multi-solve” by mitigating emissions, addressing climate risks, enhancing biodiversity, and delivering social–ecological co-benefits. Despite this promise, urban NBCS in Canada often remain confined to small-scale pilots and disconnected demonstration projects, limiting their transformative potential.

This research examines how NBCS can move beyond pilots to be amplified within broader systems of urban governance and transformation. Drawing on 20 semi-structured interviews with NBCS practitioners and governance experts alongside planning and policy documents in comparative case study of Vancouver, BC and Halifax, NS, this study maps distinct but interrelated pathways of amplification along with the actors, enabling conditions, and catalysts shaping the growth of NBCS initiatives. Particular attention is given to how institutional and organizational contexts influence the stability, diversity, and prioritization of co-benefits. The findings inform efforts to design, govern, grow and sustain NBCS in support of just, low-carbon and resilient urban futures.

Topic: Making a home in Waterloo: international student families and housing insecurity

Speaker: Dr. Nancy Worth, with Dr. Alkim Karaagac

Location: EV3 1408

Our two-year case study in Waterloo, Ontario—a city known for its purpose-built student housing—reveals that international student families face distinct challenges in the local housing market. While all students contend with high housing costs, families struggle to find suitable accommodations in a market dominated by single-student units. International student families must also navigate unfamiliar rental processes with limited institutional support, as higher education institutions typically consider off-campus housing beyond their remit. Although international students are often blamed for housing affordability issues, our findings indicate they are among the housing crisis’ most vulnerable groups.

Topic: Assessing Climate Resilience in Dominica’s Tourism Infrastructure: Supporting the Vision of the World’s First Climate-Resilient Nation

Speaker: Shania Scotland (MA candidate supervised by Michelle Rutty)

Location: AL 105

Topic: The wetland with the trees: my long-term relationship with swamp gases.

Speaker: Meg Schmidt (PhD candidate supervised by Maria Strack)

Location: AL 105

Title: Where did the soil go? A time series analysis of a southern Ontario farm field using drones (/RPA) and LiDAR

Speaker: Brandon Giura (PhD candidate in GEM, supervisor Derek Robinson)

Location: AL 105

ENVigorate Festival 2019 in the Faculty of Environment will be on Wednesday, March 20th

The ENVigorate Festival is a WESEF-funded festival that receives additional support from the Dean’s Office in the form of a Grad RA. The festival promotes community building and skill sharing in our faculty. We run many different workshops, programs, a community fair, a SWAP shop, open and closing ceremonies including food - all designed to bring our community together at the end of the winter term.