The world is urbanizing more rapidly than ever before in human history. Yet, it is doing so at a time when we are coping with climate emergencies, environmental degradation, political polarization, technological change, shortages of affordable housing, social alienation, and surges in human migration.
Join Professors Leia Minaker (Planning) and Robin Mazumder (Future Cities Institute) and collaborate with students from across campus to tackle questions and be inspired by the insights and advice from our Jarislowsky Fellows, experts we have recruited from around the world in different disciplines.
ARTS 450 will explore what Future Cities within our lifetime could look like in terms of our individual and collective sense of being and belonging, and the ways in which we need to think creatively about how we can best ensure healthy and sustainable homes and communities at the local, national, and global levels.
This course is CR/NCR and will meet weekly and in-person. The emphasis is on innovative and collaborative problem-solving, and it will culminate in the 2025 Desmarais Family Summit where students will have the opportunity to share your findings with the UWaterloo community and beyond at the Desmarais Family Summit.
Contact your academic advisor in your program to register.
Meet the Instructors
Leia Minaker is the inaugural Director of the Future Cities Institute at the University of Waterloo, and an Associate Professor in the School of Planning in the Faculty of Environment. She holds a PhD in Public Health and her research focuses on designing cities to improve health, with a focus on urban food systems and urban design for mental health. She is currently leading a research project that uses machine learning to identify high-rise buildings across Canada to develop the first national dataset on high-rises. She served as Director of Waterloo’s Survey Research Centre from 2020-2023.
Robin Mazumder is an environmental neuroscientist with a keen interest in how urban design impacts individual, community, and societal well-being. Robin is an outspoken advocate for healthy urban design and has given more than 60 invited talks internationally on the topic. He was named Top 40 Under 40 by Avenue Magazine in 2014. Robin is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Future Cities Institute at the University of Waterloo, an Associate Fellow with the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society at the University of Victoria, and a Fellow with the Centre for Urban Design and Mental Health.