SFU Urban Studies is dedicated to training urbanists to be critical and strategic thinkers who have the knowledge and expertise to become effective decision makers. The interdisciplinary program operates at the nexus of theory and practice, striking the right balance between academic and professional training. Dr. Meg Holden is leading Ecourbanism Worldwide, a 5-year research project (2014-2019) to investigate model sustainable neighborhoods, and urban infill settings worldwide. Perkins+Will is participating as part of the project’s advisory group, formed to help ground the research in practical application.
The inaugural workshop of the International Advisory Group (IAG) of the Ecourbanism Worldwide project was held on June 1st 2015. The IAG is comprised of a group of leading practitioners and researchers working at the forefront of ecourban development, sustainable neighbourhood planning and design. This first meeting allowed us an oppor tunity to begin a dialogue among practitioners and researchers in this evolving field, s parking our collective thinking about what is missing from our understanding of trends in ecourban development internationally. An additional, immediately practical, objective was to have a constructive discussion about the need and specific values of a possible new web compendium resource in this area, that the project could create. As we move forward with valuable insight and lessons from this day, we continue to connect with leading professionals and researchers in the area of neighborhood-scale ecourban development.
This report provides a summary of the discussions and key insights of the day, as well as an update on the Ecourbanism Worldwide research project. With this report, we hope to engage a growing international circle of critical and reflexive
contributors in an ongoing and collaborative exchange about ecourbanism at the neighbourhood scale.
EcoUrbanism Worldwide Research Project (SFU)
IAG Inaugural workshop report (PDF): iag-report-2015