Cities

3D-printed soil? 91�Թ� startup expands sustainable urban farming footprint in Toronto

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 11 Sep 2024 15:07:18 +0000

3D-printed soil? 91�Թ� startup expands sustainable urban farming footprint in Toronto

Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 09/11/2024 - 11:07

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Leo Hua and Adnan Sharif show off fresh basil that was grown with Lyrata’s sustainable farming system at Toronto’s Casa Loma (photo by Liz Intac)

Tyler Irving

Topic

Our Community

Alumni

Cities

Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship Hatchery

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Startups

Sustainability

91�Թ� Scarborough

Subheadline

With new installations at Casa Loma and 91�Թ� Scarborough, Lyrata is supplying freshly grown produce to local caterers and restaurants

A startup co-founded by a 91�Թ� graduate student has its roots in an experience that is all too common for many of us.

He kept forgetting to water his plants.

“I was working in a plant immunity biology lab, so if I didn’t water them, I’d have no plants to do experiments with,” says Adnan Sharif, who is pursuing a master’s degree in the department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering.

He says his solution was inspired by his father.

“My dad is a mechanical engineering professor at a university in Japan, and he knows a lot about manufacturing materials with porous, three-dimensional structures,” he says. “That’s how I got the idea to make my own 3D-printed soil construct, which could retain water for a week or more.

“That way, I wouldn’t have to go into the lab and water the plants so often.”

The innovation – which Sharif came up as an undergraduate working in the lab of Keiko Yoshioka, a professor in the department of cell and systems biology in 91�Թ�’s Faculty of Arts & Science – is one of several that now underpins Lyrata, a startup that grows fresh produce for caterers and high-end restaurants across the Greater Toronto Area.

The company, which got its start in a greenhouse on 91�Թ�’s St. George campus, has recently expanded with operations at 91�Թ� Scarborough and Casa Loma, a museum, event space and historic site in midtown Toronto.

Growing plants without soil, known as hydroponics, is a technique commonly used in greenhouses worldwide. But Sharif and his team see an opportunity to make the industry more sustainable, starting with the soil replacement that the plants grow in.

“The product that almost everyone uses today is basically the same as house insulation,” Sharif says. “It’s made from rocks that are mined in remote places and shipped hundreds of kilometres to a production facility, where they are heated to thousands of degrees in a giant furnace to make a porous, chemically inert material. This material then needs to be shipped again to where it’s needed, and when you’re finished, you throw it in the garbage.”

By contrast, Lyrata’s SmartSoil is 3D-printed using biopolymers such as polylactic acid, which is derived from corn. These materials can be locally sourced and require much lower temperatures to melt and form into porous structures.

When the growing cycle is complete, the product goes through a low-heat proprietary cleaning process and can be used again. Sharif says that SmartSoil has a total lifespan of about two years, after which it can be composted along with crop residue. Together, these changes greatly lower the carbon footprint of indoor farming.

In 2020, Sharif and his co-founders brought his idea to The Entrepreneurship Hatchery, 91�Թ� Engineering’s startup incubator and one of several entrepreneurship hubs across 91�Թ�’s three campuses. Through the Hatchery’s Nest process, they were connected with business mentors, including alumnus Xavier Tang, a consultant and venture capitalist who still advises the company today.

Over the next few years, the team evolved, with some original members leaving and others joining. They include Leo Hua, who has been pivotal to speeding the development of 3D printable soil. The concept evolved, too, as the team realized that producing food was a better business for Lyrata than rather than selling their growth medium to other farmers.

The Hatchery team – in particular, Executive Director Joseph Orozco, Go-To-Market Lead Erika J. Murray and a team of work-study students, mentors and legal externs – helped Lyrata develop their technology and business. In 2022, the Hatchery provided $155,000 in seed funding, enabling the founders to be employed by their company and further supporting business development. The funding also enabled the company to rent greenhouse space on campus, where they began growing lettuce to provide to Spaces and Experiences at 91�Թ�.

Lyrata also developed something new: a modular unit that works exclusively with their SmartSoil and contains everything required to produce a variety of indoor crops – from lights and growth medium to irrigation systems.

“None of these technological and business developments would have taken place without the generous support of the over 50 Hatchery mentors, work-study students, and legal externs who contributed to our success,” says Sharif.

“Our current concept is what we call farming-as-a-service,” Hua adds. “The SmartGrow unit we developed is small enough to fit into a standard parking spot. Our clients sign a contract with us to place a unit on their site and we take care of everything from planting to harvesting.

“For a flat fee, they get a self-contained farm that provides a reliable quantity of their desired crop over a set period of time.”

In addition to providing a locally sourced, sustainable product, Sharif says the approach can also help mitigate fluctuations in the price of wholesale produce.

“In Canada, most of our lettuce comes from California, which has been dealing with drought and many other issues,” says Sharif. “Supply chain disruptions due to COVID-19 were also a big challenge for restaurants, which have very thin margins to begin with. At one point, the price of lettuce increased by a factor of six, so you can imagine the effect that would have.”

So far, Lyrata has produced more than 15 different types of crops, including basil, parsley and mizuna, also known as Japanese mustard greens.

Support from the 91�Թ� Engineering community has been key to Lyrata’s success.

For example, it was a 91�Թ� Engineering alumni connection that recently led to Lyrata launching an installation at the historic Casa Loma museum and landmark in Toronto.

“Lyrata’s competitive edge is that they provide an on-site, full service and they do not take up very much space,” says Nikol Watlikiewicz, Casa Loma’s horticulture and grounds manager. “In a small corner of our potting shed, we were able to build two grow units that provide a good yield weekly, without having to train our staff on the complicated system.

“Growing indoors gives us the stability and control that traditional agriculture does not. It’s an excellent example of how engineers can help solve the global food crisis with innovative thinking.”

In August, Lyrata launched another growing unit at 91�Թ� Scarborough, located within the Harmony Commons Dining Hall.

The priority for the next few years is growing Lyrata’s crop offerings and client base with ongoing support from The Hatchery. The incubator has facilitated graduate student placements through Mitacs, with matching funds. It also backed a recent $167,500 project with the Ontario and Canadian governments through the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership program to further advance the yield and efficiency of the SmartSoil system.

“The fact we’ve been able to come this far in such a short time is in large part due to the help we’ve had from 91�Թ� Engineering, and especially the Entrepreneurship Hatchery,” says Sharif.

“Whether it was getting seed funding, finding mentors, hiring work-study students or making important connections through their alumni network, we wouldn’t be here without their support.”

More with less: Researchers map a more sustainable path to home construction in Canada

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 18:16:30 +0000

More with less: Researchers map a more sustainable path to home construction in Canada

Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 07/31/2024 - 14:16

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(photo by Roberto Machado Noa/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Tyler Irving

Topic

Breaking Research

Cities

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Graduate Students

Research & Innovation

Sustainability

Subheadline

From more multi-unit projects to fewer basements, a computer simulation shows that multiple building strategies will be necessary to address the country's housing affordability while meeting climate targets

Adopting the right mix of sustainable construction practices could allow Canada to meet its housing goals – as many as 5.8 million new homes by 2030 – without blowing past its climate commitments.

Researchers in the 91�Թ�’s Centre for the Sustainable Built Environment (CSBE) developed a computer simulation that forecasts the emissions associated with new housing and infrastructure construction.

The work builds on previous CSBE research that showed that, in order for Canada to meet its greenhouse gas emissions targets, homes built in 2030 will need to produce 83 per cent fewer greenhouse gases during construction than those built in 2018.

“There is an obvious tension between our commitment to reducing our emissions and the need to restore housing affordability,” says Shoshanna Saxe, an associate professor of civil and mineral engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering who is the CSBE’s director.

“But that tension only exists because of our status quo approaches to housing. As our research shows, we can build 5.8 million homes and cut GHG emissions from construction – it’s just that we must build them differently than we have in the past.”

In their latest paper, the CSBE team built what they call the future infrastructure growth (FIG) model, which enabled the team to evaluate the effect of implementing various strategies that aim to lower these emissions.

“We built our model using open data from the roughly 50,000 neighbourhoods we currently have in Canada,” says Keagan Rankin, a PhD student who is first author of the new paper published in Environmental Science & Technology.

“We looked at aspects such as how many units there are per neighbourhood, what type of housing stock comprises them, what length of road services them, etc. We then used what we know about current construction methods to model what the embodied emissions would be if you built a given number of new homes in the future, using the same distribution of neighbourhood types.

“Once we had that, we were able to ask the question: how much could we reduce those emissions by adopting sustainable construction strategies, such as denser neighbourhoods or better building design?”

The team looked at five strategies that could be implemented to reduce emissions associated with housing construction:

Urban form: Analysis of existing neighbourhoods showed that emissions per unit are lower for those that contain more multi-unit buildings (either high-rise or low-rise) than they are for those that consist mostly of suburban, single-family homes. This strategy would involve a shift toward more of these multi-unit neighbourhood forms.
Higher infill rate: This refers to placing new housing in existing neighbourhoods – areas that are already built up. Because it reuses existing infrastructure, such as roads and water pipes, this new housing can be built with lower emissions than greenfield developments.
Circularity: This strategy involves re-using existing buildings or infrastructure in the construction of new ones. For example, renovating a single-family home to become a multi-unit dwelling would require fewer materials than razing it and starting from scratch.
Material technology improvements: Innovations in the way that materials such as concrete or steel are manufactured can reduce their carbon footprint. This strategy assumed that by 2030, our main construction materials will be produced with 20 to 25 per cent fewer emissions than today.
Best-in-class design: The team found that some housing designs were associated with lower emissions per unit, such as making the home smaller overall through better layouts. Another example involves the proportion of residential building that is underground. Since basements are typically made of carbon-intensive concrete, the same sized dwelling with a smaller basement would have lower emissions.

Multiple strategies will be required

Using the FIG model, the researchers showed that building housing at the rate required to restore affordability without any changes to construction practices would cause Canada to overshoot its climate commitments by 437 per cent.

However, if the above strategies are implemented, the FIG model suggests that they would in fact be able to reduce emissions to below the target level.

The model also showed that while all five strategies are needed to reach the target, some of them had a stronger effect than others. For example, changing urban forms and using best-in-class design together accounted for roughly two-thirds of the improvements needed. By contrast, the strategies of infill, circularity and improvements in manufacturing each accounted for roughly one-tenth of the changes needed.

The researchers found that for the next one to two decades, the most important elements of sustainable building will be designing better buildings and building denser neighbourhoods.

“The numbers are very close, and of course there’s a certain amount of uncertainty associated with all of these estimates, but it was good to see that we came in below the line, because it means the situation is not completely hopeless,” says Rankin.

“There’s no question that building 5.8 million homes by 2030 is an aggressive target. We may not get there, and if not, it would of course make it a bit easier to stay within our carbon budget.

“But we’ve done ambitious things as a country before, such as building a railroad from coast to coast in just five years. This analysis shows that the strategies we already know about are sound, and that all of them will be needed if we are going to prevent the worst impacts of climate change while also restoring housing affordability.”

91�Թ� researcher’s data-driven platform aims to predict when emergencies will happen

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 15:02:23 +0000

91�Թ� researcher’s data-driven platform aims to predict when emergencies will happen

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 03/22/2024 - 11:02

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(photo by Matthew Tierney)

Matthew Tierney

Topic

Our Community

Cities

Electrical & Computer Engineering

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Research & Innovation

Subheadline

Alberto Leon-Garcia is collaborating with Edmonton Fire Rescue Services and TELUS to support first responders in Alberta's second largest city

A 91�Թ� researcher is working with Edmonton Fire Rescue Services and TELUS, through its Data for Good program, to predict when emergencies are likely to occur in Alberta’s second largest city.

The tool being developed by Alberto Leon-Garcia, a professor in the Edward S. Rogers Sr. department of electrical and computer engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, and the two partners leverages data to more efficiently allocate municipal emergency resources and help first-responders.

Leon-Garcia says many emergency events can be predicted because people’s behaviours tend to follow certain patterns.

“The pulse of the city is driven by people and their activity,” he says, “and their activity exhibits seasonality.”

Leon-Garcia’s platform uses data from 11 years of emergency calls, which provide the time and approximate location of each event as well as the type of emergency – house fire, medical emergency, traffic accident and so forth – in addition to other relevant data points.

“For the city of Edmonton, we look at the neighbourhood level, at demographics, land use, transportation capabilities, population density,” says Leon-Garcia. “We consider the timing of the events, how they vary by season, month, day of the week, hour.

“This can allow you to predict the rate of events in the vicinity of each fire station in the next week or month, for example. Right there, that’s a valuable input to resource allocation – how many trucks, how many people you assign and where.”

Creating the model required collecting the necessary data and then refining it so it was free from errors and standardized, possibly transformed or aggregated. Next, researchers needed to determine the most useful way to analyze it.

“Deep neural networks were not appropriate in this instance,” says Leon-Garcia, referring to the machine learning techniques behind such tools as ChatGPT. “You can try – and we did – but we did not have the volume of data to train a neural network.”

Instead, he turned to “well-established advanced analytics.”

The data analysis will generate various graphs, heat maps and other tables that display the type and mixture of emergency events that the model considers normal in and around Edmonton for a given time and place while taking into account variables such as weather.

By following events in real time and comparing them to what is anticipated, researchers can detect anomalies and potential vulnerabilities in the model.

“For example, one time we noticed that the fire event numbers in a neighbourhood didn’t correspond to the models,” says Leon-Garcia.

“It was later confirmed that an arsonist was active during that period.”

Over the years, Leon-Garcia has applied his predictive models to various road transportation systems, including in Toronto and the San Francisco Bay Area. He has also applied his anomaly detection systems to detect faults in computer networks and cyberattacks.

Given that each partner in such a project typically has its own goals and unique data collection processes, Leon-Garcia says it’s critical to take a collaborative approach.

“You can’t come in and say, ‘I have this neat platform, you have to change the way you do things,’” he says. “It doesn’t work that way. You have to pull together, factor in their long-term goals, their privacy concerns, their flexibility. They generally see the usefulness of the approach and [then] it’s more a question of how you get from here to there.”

Professor Deepa Kundur, chair of the electrical and computer engineering department, says Leon-Garcia has consistently demonstrated how data streams hold the key to creating smarter, safer cities.

“His partnership with Edmonton FRS and TELUS has the potential to greatly enhance life-saving initiatives and will, no doubt, serve as a catalyst for future collaborations.”

Academic collaboration rethinks urban freight logistics

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 13 Mar 2024 17:38:58 +0000

Academic collaboration rethinks urban freight logistics

Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 03/13/2024 - 13:38

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The City Logistics for the Urban Economy, or CLUE, research group seeks to address congestion, emissions and safety concerns surrounding urban freight logistics – all while ensuring an equitable distribution of benefits and burdens (photo by Rene Johnston/Toronto Star/Getty Images)

Selah Katona

Topic

Our Community

Cities

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Sustainability

Subheadline

The City Logistics for the Urban Economy (CLUE) research group - which involves three universities, government and private sector partners - aims to reshape the urban goods transportation landscape

An academic collaboration between 10 faculty researchers and more than 50 graduate students at the 91�Թ�, McMaster University and York University is rethinking urban freight logistics.

The rise of e-commerce and home delivery, although convenient for consumers, has exacerbated challenges in urban freight logistics as the transportation and delivery industry continues to expand and freight emissions outpace those of passenger vehicles.

Led by Matthew Roorda, a professor in 91�Թ�’s department of civil and mineral engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, the City Logistics for the Urban Economy (CLUE) research group is focused on reshaping the landscape of urban goods transportation by addressing four main areas: congestion, emissions, safety concerns and the equitable distribution of benefits and burdens.

That includes examining the equity and environmental justice implications of the rise of e-commerce and home delivery.

“Questions around winners and losers in the transition from brick-and-mortar to delivery, as well as the distribution of emissions from delivery vehicles, are being explored,” Roorda says.

Since launching in 2020, CLUE's faculty researchers – along with 12 research sponsors, including federal, regional, non-governmental organization and industry partners – have worked on more than 24 projects.

Through their various research projects, CLUE aims to quantify the influence on the communities most impacted by freight logistics – particularly those living near highways and loading facilities.

Image outlining the impact of commercial vehicles in comparison to passenger vehicles across the Greater Toronto Area (image courtesy of Marianne Hatzopoulou)

Data collection and science also play a crucial role in CLUE’s research. The group is currently developing the Freight Data Warehouse, a repository for large data sets such as GPS traces of commercial vehicles, with the aim of enabling further research using this valuable data.

“The goal is to build visualization dashboards to provide insights into greenhouse gas emissions, traffic patterns and travel speeds, empowering policymakers and the public to make informed decisions,” says Roorda.

Various pilot projects have been successful outcomes of CLUE’s research, such as Purolator’s bike delivery initiative and an off-peak delivery project, which is providing data to guide the creation of a permanent Ontario program that relaxes noise bylaws for deliveries between 6 p.m. and 7 a.m.

“We have seen impact of our off-peak delivery pilot project on government policy changes, such as allowing night-time deliveries across Ontario,” says Roorda.

To collect evidence of the impact of that change in policy, CLUE conducted community surveys after night-time deliveries were permitted to help assess the noise impact on residents and developed a freight transportation model to assess the greenhouse gas emissions impact.

CLUE also introduced a new truck driving simulator, where novice truck drivers can be trained to navigate extremely challenging urban areas safely while considering pedestrians and cyclists. The goal of this initiative is to enhance safety standards within the freight and logistics industry, another key research theme for the group.

“Everyone makes mistakes while driving, but when you’re driving a huge truck in the city, you need to drive perfectly or else you put people at risk,” says Roorda. “It’s a very challenging job.”

By proposing innovative solutions like new delivery models, curbside loading zone technology and lifting restrictions on late-night goods deliveries, CLUE seeks to make the goods movement network more efficient and less impactful on urban environments.

91�Թ� prof explores experiences of Canadian-born youth of Somali descent

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 17:09:40 +0000

91�Թ� prof explores experiences of Canadian-born youth of Somali descent

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 03/05/2024 - 12:09

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As part of a two-year research project, Ahmed Ilmi interviewed a group of Canadian-born youth of Somali descent living in Toronto’s Rexdale neighbourhood (photo by Don Campbell)

Topic

Subheadline

"I started looking at questions of being Black, Muslim and African – and being a member of this diaspora within a broader Canadian identity"

Ahmed Ilmi has witnessed firsthand the lack of inclusion and support for Black Muslim youth in the classroom – a topic he’s now exploring as a scholar at the 91�Թ�.

An assistant professor, teaching stream, in the department of global development studies at 91�Թ� Scarborough, Ilmi’s work looks at the ways early educational experiences can be linked to social exclusion and identity formation among Black Canadian youth in Greater Toronto.

For two years he conducted interviews with Canadian-born youth of Somali descent living in the Toronto neighbourhood of Rexdale, which is home to a large and vibrant Somali diaspora community. Ilmi says the interviews he conducted highlight the anti-Black racism and Islamophobia experienced in the community – and reveals how this group has built their own unique identity that differs from previous generations.

He adds that the neighbourhood’s youth have coined the unique term Say-Walahi, a fusion of English and Somali that loosely translates to “swear to God” – a term that hints at multiple identities as Canadian and Muslim of Somali descent.

Writer Jasmine Mahoro spoke to Ilmi about the project and what educators can do to better support Black youth.

What inspired you to take on this project?

My goal is to study how colonial education manifests itself within the classroom, in community settings and across society. I look at marginalized Black students and the influences on Black boys, especially, in the classroom. For my current work, there is a known concentration of Black Muslim youth of Somali descent in Rexdale and the community has had low education outcomes due to systemic challenges with white, Eurocentric education.

I was also thinking about who I am – in terms of belonging, exile, diaspora and identity. I came across this unique cultural location that is very fluid and dynamic, referred to as Say-Walahi. I started looking at questions of being Black, Muslim and African – and being a member of this diaspora within a broader Canadian identity.

What did you learn about the experiences of this community?

These youth are not sitting idly and waiting for their lives to pass them by. They are incredibly brilliant. They are resisting both racism and Islamophobia by building community and proudly expressing their identity. For example, it’s common to see them use Say-Walahi memes on social media, so they are proudly owning this.

My generation and previous generations didn’t share a similar experience. It's something very profound. This is where I argue this youth group is very creative. Not only did they navigate the multiple identities that they have in the world, but they were able to connect the dots to create a new way of speaking, articulating and being that is uniquely theirs.

What were your early experiences with education like in Canada?

We don’t push Black students to achieve their full potential through education. For me, I was lucky enough to have some educators and professors that would eventually inspire me. Early on, so many told me “No” – that it wasn’t going to happen. All it took was that one “Yes” for me to move forward and keep going. Unfortunately, being the only Somali-Canadian in the classroom is something that I had to live with for most of my academic career.

How can educators and the school system better understand and address the complex challenges faced by Black Muslim youth?

Although the youth I interviewed were all born here in Ontario, their identities are seen as foreign. It's not even a question of where you were born or where are you from, it's that their identities are not seen as Canadian.

At the moment, the school system we have is molded around a particular kind of identity that is white and European. When you don't fit into that mold, it's as if your identity is an afterthought. That doesn't give you much inspiration to become productive members of society. There are also low expectations of Black students. If the beginning of the conversation comes from a place of Black brilliance, then we can think about creating and constructing classroom spaces that foster Black excellence.

What impact do you hope your current research will have?

I hope this will inspire people to think about their own identity. I want educators to think about how they can reach and inspire these youth and believe in their potential.

There are also policy implications, such as creating more inclusive classrooms built around a multiplicity of identities. It also goes beyond how we fit in the overall Black Muslim African experience that is expressed only during specific times such as Black History Month. It includes looking at ways to validate and uplift these voices consistently and how we can work with that knowledge to transform society.

91�Թ� prof makes disability and accessibility research his life's work

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 09 Feb 2024 20:45:34 +0000

91�Թ� prof makes disability and accessibility research his life's work

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 02/09/2024 - 15:45

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Ron Buliung, a professor in 91�Թ� Mississauga’s department of geography, geomatics and environment, says his research aims to “just make things work” for people with disabilities and their families (photo by Romi Levine)

Topic

Subheadline

Ron Buliung dedicated his professional life to studying disability – and the experiences of people with disabilities – after his daughter was born with a genetic neuromuscular disease

When Ron Buliung’s youngest daughter was born, it changed his life both as a parent and as a researcher.

She was born with spinal muscular atrophy type 2, a genetic neuromuscular disease that causes progressive muscle weakness and requires her to use a wheelchair.

Since then, Buliung, a professor of geography, geomatics and environment at the 91�Թ� Mississauga, has made disability and accessibility research his life’s work.

“It took me a while to process what was happening in my family,” he says. “I then decided I wanted to dedicate my professional life to disability study and the experiences of disabled persons in cities. Since I made that commitment, I haven’t really looked back.”

Over the years, Buliung has delved into disability and accessibility issues. One of his projects focused on food insecurity for people living with disabilities. He found that people with disabilities face both physical and economic barriers to accessing food – putting them at greater risk of food insecurity.

“That research was very timely, given the pandemic and subsequent rise in food prices,” says Buliung, who also teaches at the St. George campus. “The problems we identified in that work have been exacerbated by current conditions.”

Much of his research is motivated by his experiences as a father, as outlined in a recent article for the academic journal Disability and Society. For example, when his daughter started school, he felt frustrated as he watched her face physical barriers to school transportation – an experience shared by many other parents and caregivers of children with disabilities.

In a research project, he and graduate students found that young learners with disabilities face excess travel time to school, and early departure times at the end of the day, which can result in unacceptable levels of missed classroom time and peer interaction. 

“We questioned the ways in which transportation can be both an enabler and barrier to access to education,” Buliung explains.

He also dug into disability and pedestrian injury research, finding that people with disabilities have a significantly higher risk of pedestrian collisions, injuries and fatalities. He wanted to study this issue after walking in Toronto’s The Junction neighbourhood with his daughter and noticing the hazards she faced as a pedestrian.

“I noticed her position and height, relative to parked cars, and the pedestrian countdown signal buttons,” he says. “Her visibility is an issue when she’s sitting in her power wheelchair and she was the height of a four- or five-year-old. If she was hit, all of her vital systems were in the path of a vehicle.”

Looking ahead, Buliung says he’s interested in studying the effects of climate change on people living with disabilities – for example, the barriers they face when they must evacuate due to extreme events like wildfires.

“If you look at the casualty figures of extreme weather events, you’ll find a disproportionate representation of elderly and disabled persons. It’s terrible, and unnecessary,” he says. “If you think about the pace of the recent fire in Maui ... the fire swept through so quickly – imagine trying to remove yourself if you have a mobility challenge.”

Buliung was recently named a Distinguished Professor in Geographies of Disability and Ableism for a five-year term. He joins two other 91�Թ� Mississauga faculty members – Kent Moore of the department of chemical and physical sciences and Robert Gerlai of the department of psychology – in the latest cohort of the program.

Buliung describes the designation as a “very big deal” for his research focus.

“This designation is honouring the subject matter of the work, and bringing maybe a bit more attention to disabilities in cities and the academy,” he says.

Over the next five years, he hopes to study the experience of siblings (with disabilities and/or without) of children with disabilities – a topic that is personally meaningful and aligns with his multidisciplinary approach to work.

As the father of three, he thinks about the experiences of all his children. 

“There is more work to be done looking at how siblings, parents, other family members and outside care workers relate to one another and disability within a family or household,” he says. “There can be some challenges around the disproportionate amount of time that can be associated with engaging in care work for one child.”

Buliung ultimately hopes his research will draw attention to important issues and ultimately create changes that will make people’s lives easier.

“The idea behind my research is: let’s just make things work. Let’s try to shape things in such a way that people who are disabled and their families have to do less work to basically access the same kinds of things that many other people do.”

91�Թ�’s Rotman Commerce opens Toronto Stock Exchange to mark 100 years of program

mattimar — Thu, 18 Jan 2024 17:37:41 +0000

91�Թ�’s Rotman Commerce opens Toronto Stock Exchange to mark 100 years of program

mattimar Thu, 01/18/2024 - 12:37

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Susan Christoffersen, dean of the Rotman School of Management, was joined by students, alumni, faculty and staff on the floor of the Stock Exchange at TMX Market Centre in the heart of Toronto’s Financial District (photo by Tam Nguyen)

Topic

Faculty of Arts & Science

Rotman Commerce

Rotman School of Management

The 91�Թ�’s Rotman Commerce community opened the Toronto Stock Exchange this week – an event that marked the 100th anniversary of the university program.

Susan Christoffersen, dean of the Rotman School of Management, was joined by students, alumni, faculty and staff for Wednesday’s opening ceremony on the floor of the stock exchange at the Market Centre in the heart of Toronto’s financial district.

“Our two organizations have much in common: they share not only a proud history of shaping the business landscape in Canada and around the world, but also a long-standing vision of driving change,” Christoffersen said.

It was in 1924 that the first graduating class walked across the stage at 91�Թ�’s Convocation Hall. Today, the well-known 91�Թ� undergraduate business program is jointly managed by the Rotman School of Management and Faculty of Arts & Science, boasting 3,300 students.

Alum Evelyn Foo said it was an honour to be included in the ceremony and that Rotman Commerce served as the foundation of starting her business career. Meanwhile, student Edouard Larouche said the event provided “great perspective on the legacy left by those who preceded me at Rotman and fuels my aspiration to contribute meaningfully to the future of the program.”

91�Թ� researcher explores how rent banks help prevent homelessness

rahul.kalvapalle — Mon, 18 Dec 2023 21:13:03 +0000

91�Թ� researcher explores how rent banks help prevent homelessness

rahul.kalvapalle Mon, 12/18/2023 - 16:13

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Renters would benefit from long-term measures such as designated affordable housing units – such as those included in this Toronto rental complex – says Alison Smith, an associate professor at 91�Թ� Mississauga (photo by Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

Subheadline

Research shows that rent banks can protect people from eviction in the short-term – but come with downsides

In many communities across Canada, renters who can’t make their next payment have a safety net that can protect them from getting evicted: rent banks.

Rent banks are essentially pools of money available to people who are at risk of eviction due to financial difficulties. While not a solution to the housing crisis, they’re an important service that can prevent people from becoming homeless, according to research by Alison Smith, an associate professor of political science at the 91�Թ� Mississauga.

Smith is exploring the role that rent banks can play in helping prevent homelessness through her research project, Rent Banks as a Tool of Eviction Prevention: A comparative study of rent banks in Canada and Europe. For her research, which is supported by a Connaught New Researcher Award, Smith is studying rent bank programs available to Canadians and speaking with service providers across the country.

“Rent banks are an important intervention for the people who it is designed for,” says Smith, who is collaborating with colleagues from McGill University as well as service providers and research managers at Montreal’s Old Brewery Mission emergency shelter.

Alison Smith (supplied image)

Smith’s research shows that rent banks can help renters who need a month or two to get into a more stable position – whether that’s getting a new roommate, or a higher paying job.

“If people are evicted, there are a lot of consequences for that, that will follow them for a long time,” Smith says. “In the event that people are being evicted for financial reasons, research shows that there’s a downward trend in housing stability. Especially in this market, somebody is not going to be able to find an equivalent place to live in terms of cost or quality if they are evicted.”

While rent banks can help tenants in the short term, Smith is discovering downsides. For example, in some jurisdictions, tenants can only access a rent bank once every two years, which doesn’t help if they run into financial trouble again within that time.

Smith is also finding that rent banks might be a bandage solution to a larger, systemic problem. A risk of this kind of emergency intervention, especially amid rapidly rising rents, is that it may take funding away from other measures that could provide greater long-term benefit – for example, investing in more purpose-built rentals and non-market housing units.

“I think it’s a real challenge that housing providers and advocates are really confronted with,” says Smith. “They are trying to balance the very real emergency needs and crises that people are living in. They want the current moment to be stable for people, but that is very expensive.”

Associate Professor Alison Smith and her collaborators are working with Montreal's Old Brewery Mission emergency shelter and hope to establish a pilot rent bank there (photo by Andrej Ivanof/AFP via Getty Images)

In Ontario, rent banks are usually administered by local governments or non-profits, who provide funding to the landlord on behalf of the tenant. This funding covers rent arrears or provides emergency financial support to households that are suddenly unable to pay their full rent one month. While these payments may be grants that don’t need to be repaid, programs in other provinces, like Manitoba, provide loans that the tenant must repay.

Smith says the Connaught New Researcher Award will help her team explore rent banks in Europe, and how they compare to Canada. Ultimately, she hopes to use her research to help Old Brewery Mission, the largest emergency shelter and service provider in Quebec, establish a pilot rent bank to help residents.

“It would be so innovative for an emergency shelter to be working intensively on prevention. It would be an interesting shift,” Smith said.

Joe’s Basketball Diaries: Season 2 launches with episode on community

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 16:04:13 +0000

Joe’s Basketball Diaries: Season 2 launches with episode on community Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 11/29/2023 - 11:04

Mariam Matti

Topic

City & Culture

Joe's Basketball Diaries

Diversity and Inclusion

Subheadline

In a new season of the award-winning series, host Joseph Wong and guests take the conversation beyond the court as they discuss topics ranging from sustainability to inclusion

For Joseph Wong, basketball is more than a hobby or a passion – it’s a platform to foster meaningful conversations about community, sustainability, diversity and equity, and reconciliation.

As host of the award-winning series Joe's Basketball Diaries, Wong explores these and other themes with guests from inside and outside the 91�Թ� in a new season that begins today.

“The show puts front and centre a lot of key issues we’re grappling with as a society,” says Wong, 91�Թ�’s vice-president, international, and a professor in the department of political science and the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy in the Faculty of Arts & Science.

“These are all big issues that are not exclusive to the world of sport or basketball, but it provides an opportunity for a discussion.”

Season Two begins by following up on a topic explored in the first season – community – and opens with a discussion about the Scarborough Shooting Stars, a local basketball team that won its first championship in the Canadian Elite Basketball League this past summer.

Sam Ibrahim, a business leader, philanthropist and co-founder of the Stars, says during the episode that it was important to name the team after Scarborough to keep its roots authentic.

“Scarborough is not a city anymore, it’s more of a historical region,” says Ibrahim, who is a major supporter of 91�Թ� Scarborough. “For us to preserve Scarborough and what it means to us – it was important regardless of what it meant to the Greater Toronto Area.”

Will Lou, writer and co-host of the Raptors Show podcast, adds that locals understand the social and cultural of importance of Scarborough.

“People always make jokes, but at the end of the day a lot of Toronto’s culture comes from Scarborough,” he says.

Aleer Leek, a player on the Varsity Blues men’s basketball team who grew up in Scarborough, says he saw first-hand how excited the community was about local sporting events, while Fabienne Blizzard, co-founder of the Capital Courts Academy and the Cadette National Team coach, speaks about how sports brought her community together growing up.

Airing biweekly on 91�Թ�’s YouTube channel, future episodes of Joe’s Basketball Diaries will delve into the intersection of sports and reconciliation, the significance of sustainability in sports and the complexities that surround transgender athletes. For instance, while much of the mainstream debate on issues of transgender inclusion and sport focuses on elite athletes, Wong says the show is deliberately steering the conversation towards the underlying issues – from the science of sports performance to the sociology of gender and the need for inclusion.

On the topic of sustainability, Wong notes that few sports fans stop to consider the volume of greenhouse gases that are emitted when tens of thousands of people travel to a stadium to watch a big game.

“Sports attract a lot of people – and all the work that goes into putting on a sporting event comes with a carbon price,” he says.

Wong says he puts a lot of thought into his hosting the series, often reading hundreds of pages in preparation for an episode, in an effort to go “beyond the headlines.”

Even so, the series’ success – the first season received more than 1.3 million views on YouTube and won several awards – has surprised Wong. “It’s talked about in the extended Toronto community,” he says.

Guests of the show have included three-time Olympian Miranda Ayim and former Toronto Raptors basketball coach Nick Nurse. In addition, the MLSE Foundation, NBA Canada, Sinai Health Foundation, Raptors for Research, and Canada Basketball have all shared interests in connecting with 91�Թ� and potentially engaging in future partnerships, Wong says.

He adds that he’s confident viewers will find the second season of Joe’s Basketball Diaries as compelling as the first – and encourages new viewers to explore older episodes.

“They’re timely, but they’re also timeless.”

First-year student arrives at 91�Թ� with a plan to improve Toronto’s transit

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 28 Aug 2023 17:25:49 +0000

First-year student arrives at 91�Թ� with a plan to improve Toronto’s transit

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 08/28/2023 - 13:25

Cutline

A member of New College, incoming first-year student Zarif Ali is hoping to study computer science and meet others who are passionate about improving transit and “other things that ... could dramatically improve our quality of life” (photo by Polina Teif)

Topic

Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy

Cities

Faculty of Arts & Science

New College

Transit

Undergraduate Students

Subheadline

Zarif Ali says the idea for his rewards-focused app grew out of a Grade 9 geography project

Zarif Ali is betting the 91�Թ� – and its culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in particular – can help him get where he wants to go.

A recent graduate of the International Baccalaureate program at Scarborough’s Sir Wilfrid Laurier Collegiate, Ali has been making media headlines in recent months for Transit+, his concept for an app that would incentivize public-transit riders through a rewards program while consolidating other features from existing apps, such as route and schedule information and digital fare payment.

“It was originally part of our Grade 9 geography culminating project,” says Ali, 18, who will be starting first year in the Faculty of Arts & Science as a member of New College with an eye toward entering the computer science program in his second year. “Our teacher assigned us to create something that would improve the quality of life in Toronto.”

He says had wanted to attend 91�Թ� ever since middle school and made up his mind when he discovered the university had a specialist program for designing computer interfaces.

“I was immediately interested, as that relates directly to how I want to thrive in my career. It was very clear to me from the beginning that 91�Թ� was going to be my top choice – and so I actually didn’t end up applying anywhere else.”

Inspired by a transit-focused episode of comedian Hasan Minhaj’s talk show Patriot Act and his own burgeoning interest in computer science, Ali decided to focus on a digital solution to the issue of transit cuts and fare hikes due to transit agencies’ lack of revenue.

“Transit+ is like Starbucks Rewards for your transit fare,” he explains. “The more you ride the TTC or Metrolinx using your Presto card, the more points you would be able to rack up – and at the end of the week or month, you could redeem them for a free bus ride or even a weekly or monthly pass. And if you wanted to incorporate small businesses around the city, you could have them do promotions within the app for you to redeem using Presto or your credit card.”

Ali points to other transit agencies that have implemented similar systems over the years, such as the STM Merci loyalty program in Montreal that was able to generate $100 million in additional revenue from new ridership over the course of its three-year pilot project, according to a study, or Hong Kong’s Octopus smartcard and its rider perks.

“Right now, the app is very focused on the rewards program – it’s meant to incentivize people who are either considering using transit, or already using it, to use it more frequently. If you're able to increase ridership, you increase the total revenue that the agency is able to bring in,” Ali says.

Encouraged by his teachers and fellow classmates, Ali kept fine-tuning his idea for the Transit+ app throughout high school while continuing to learn more about computing by watching YouTube videos and taking a Grade 10 computer science course.

“I’m interested in computer science because of how it enables you to create things that are accessible to so many people,” Ali says.

He credits his experience at Wilfrid Laurier for helping him prepare to enter university.

“The teachers there were absolutely wonderful in guiding everyone throughout our high school career – especially in the last two years in the IB program,” Ali says.

“There was definitely a competitive atmosphere, but it just fueled everybody to try and do the absolute best they could in whatever field they wanted to get into. And happily, everybody in my friend group was able to get into their top choice for university.”

Ali’s former geography teacher, Karen Pak – who graduated from the master's program at 91�Թ�'s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education in 2017 – says the school project that led to Ali's app was based on principles from the Global Ideas Institute at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, where she was formerly the mentor program manager. She says Ali's enthusiasm for learning will serve him well in university.

“As an educator, you always hope that students will be sparked by something to make learning truly tangible and applicable,” Pak says.

“Zarif deserves all the credit in taking this opportunity and turning it into a pathway for his creativity and intellect – a winning combination. I know he will go on to accomplish incredible innovations and inspire others to do the same.”

As he gets ready to start at 91�Թ� in September, Ali is as focused on his academic goals as he was on building Transit+.

“I’m hoping that I can meet the requirements to get into the computer science major. After second year, I want to go into the focus in human-computer interaction program, because that’s where you get to learn about design fundamentals.

“And I’m hoping to meet like-minded people at 91�Թ� who are also as passionate about computer science and improving things like transit or looking at other things that could be very simple to implement, but could dramatically improve our quality of life,” Ali says, adding that he’s planning to join some of 91�Թ�’s entrepreneurship clubs and accelerators to help him further develop his app.

For Transit+ to become a reality, Ali knows he’d need buy-in from TTC and Metrolinx – and has already reached out to local politicians, activists and transit staff who've offered feedback and even helped him refine his pitch.

Ironically, Ali – who immigrated to Scarborough from Bangladesh with his parents in 2010 – has never been much of a transit rider himself. But that’s all about to change as he gears up for his daily commute to campus this fall.

“I've always been lucky enough to have my schools or wherever I need to go really close by, so I never really rode transit that much,” he says. “But now that I'm coming downtown to attend 91�Թ�, I feel like having a program like Transit+ in place would be great.”

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First-year student arrives at 91�Թ� with a plan to improve Toronto’s transit