2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This paper describes a pilot implementation of a multi-week, multi-institution design project with a focus on sustainable design of urban environments. Cities are home to more than half of the world’s population, and account for 70% of greenhouse gas emissions globally, and that is expected to grow rapidly over the coming decades. In the Canadian context, this coincides with a severe national housing shortage; it is estimated that there is a housing gap of 3.5 million homes needed by 2030 that are not currently scheduled to be built. Despite cities’ large environmental impact, they are also the economic drivers of the global economy. This staggering environmental and economic impact prompts us to reimagine our future cities. The problem of urban design is also inherently interdisciplinary, and human-centered, providing a rich environment for students to learn and develop their skills in sustainable design.

As we work to solve some of the world’s most “wicked” problems, we understand that new models of collaboration must be implemented. It is with this interdisciplinary thinking in mind that a collaborative pilot project was launched by two institutions: one Canadian, and one American, in 2023. The Sustainability and Social Entrepreneurship Fellowship project brought together nine 3rd year engineering students from around the world to participate in a nine-week, paid internship project to work on multiple sustainability projects. By inviting an international team (whose costs are paid by their home institution) we brought together individuals from different cultural, educational, and engineering discipline backgrounds.

The students were tasked with developing solutions to assist the City of London, Ontario with meeting its housing pledge to the Province of Ontario. Municipal Affairs and Housing in Ontario passed Bill 23, in response to the Canadian housing crisis as a way to help the province achieve its goal of building 1.5 million homes in 10 years. Though there is controversary around this bill and where the forecasted growth will take place, there is an opportunity to create sustainable growth and development. What this means for the City of London translates into London’s Housing Pledge to identify actions and strategies to create a path for development and building community to build 47,000 units by 2031. The student teams had access to a community of practice comprising of professors from the collaborating schools, as well as staff from the City of London, for help with subject matter.

The nine-week program was divided into several phases to guide the students through the design process. The first four weeks guided the students through information gathering and problem definition phases, ending week 4 with the students organizing into 3 teams of 3 students with their problem statement that they would pursue over the remaining time in the Fellowship. These first 4 weeks included 6-8 talks from experts from a diverse range of fields, plus presentations from city staff from London, in addition to a number of field trips to visit and experience urban infrastructure, like water treatment plants, waste processing facilities, etc., in person. During weeks 5-8, the student groups worked on solutions which address their specific problem statement, each with guidance from a faculty mentor. In the final week, the students presented their work to the City of London staff as well as various stakeholders at the host university.

This paper will present an overview of the program, key takeaways and lessons learned from the organizers, as well as thoughts from the student participants. Each student took part in an exit interview in the final week of the program with one of the organizers; these data will form the foundation for the evaluation of this initiative.