leia minaker

Dr. Leia Minaker
Professor, School of Planning
> Future Cities Institute

Cities drive the global economy and are home to vibrant and diverse communities. Yet they’re also facing complex challenges. From rising housing costs and aging infrastructure to climate change, the disruptive impacts of technology and an aging population, the need to address overlapping issues has never been higher.

Finding solutions to these problems is central to the mission of the Future Cities Institute (FCI) founded by CAIVAN.

FCI brings together a global network of industry leaders, practitioners, students, community members and interdisciplinary researchers from a variety of fields to develop new tools and approaches for building healthy, prosperous and sustainable cities.

“The world is urbanizing faster than ever before, and the future is uncertain,” says Dr. Leia Minaker, director of FCI. “FCI will explore the trends, innovations and technological disruptions to meet this changing world. We're committed to working with cities to create tools that will help them visualize and estimate different types of outcomes for different kinds of decisions they make.”

The first meeting of like-minded experts took place in fall 2024 to ideate solutions to the housing crisis. Specifically, how should city growth be distributed between undeveloped land and existing neighbourhoods? 

Among the participants of the inaugural two-day event was Frank Cairo, CEO of the Caivan Group and founder of the institute. He shed light on the land development and consumer perspective. Ben Dachis from Clean Prosperity and Sandy Little from the City of Waterloo offered perspectives on the intersections with the economy, planning and policy. Academic leaders from Waterloo’s faculties of Environment, Engineering and Mathematics also shared their expertise in cutting-edge technologies as viable tools and solutions for future housing planning. 

As the need to address challenges like housing, climate and infrastructure grows, so too will the FCI’s role in driving solutions.