Building healthy, inclusive, and resilient urban communities
Thriving Cities: Innovating for Sustainable Urban Living
Presented by
Sponsored by
Open Innovation Partner
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This challenge is tied to the united nations’ sustainable development goals:
Background
Canadian cities are facing urgent challenges that range from aging infrastructure and climate impacts to social inequities in access to housing, healthcare, and community services. Ensuring that urban environments remain livable, inclusive, and resource-efficient requires data-driven insights and advanced tools.
Key Issues:
- Inefficient resource usage (water, energy, waste) and environmental pressures (air quality, heat islands).
- Significant carbon emissions from buildings, both from operational energy use (heating, cooling, lighting) and the embodied carbon associated with construction materials and processes.
- Lack of equitable access to services (affordable housing, public transportation, healthcare) affecting underserved communities.
- Difficulty in prioritizing investments and measuring the impact of urban planning efforts.
- Growing need for resilience strategies to address climate change and social shocks.
Challenge as part of Cooperathon 2025
How can science, data, AI, and related technologies empower Canadian municipalities to address critical urban challenges—such as resource management, equitable access to services, and resilience to environmental and social stressors—ultimately enhancing quality of life for all residents?
Goals
Desired outcomes:
- Urban Resource Optimization: AI-driven tools to optimize water, energy, new materials, and waste management, reducing environmental footprints.
- Equitable Access to Services: Data-backed solutions to enhance public transportation, affordable housing options, and healthcare accessibility.
- Resilience & Preparedness: Analytics platforms to model potential climate impacts or social stressors, aiding proactive urban planning.
Stakeholders & Target Audiences
- Construction and engineering: Firms, especially those operating in urban environments where innovation is most needed, require innovative solutions and data-driven insights to incorporate sustainable practices and meet decarbonization targets.
- Municipal Planners & Policymakers: In need of actionable data-driven strategies.
- Community Organizations & Residents: Particularly those in underserved neighborhoods, seeking more equitable access to essential services.
- Urban Innovators & Startups: Early-stage entrepreneurs and researchers focusing on sustainable urban solutions.
Scope & Constraints
- Geographic Focus: Canadian cities (small, medium, large).
- Solution Stage: Early-stage concepts through proof-of-concept prototypes that demonstrate feasibility and potential for real-world pilot testing.
- Considerations:
- Compliance with municipal, provincial, and federal regulations.
- Privacy and ethical use of data (especially when dealing with public services data).
- Cultural and community engagement factors to ensure inclusive solution design.
- Scalability and adaptability across different urban contexts.
Prize(s)
- 1st Prize: $5,000 (minimum)
Solution scope
- Efficiency Gains: Demonstrated potential to reduce resource consumption (e.g., percentage reduction in water usage, CO2 emissions reduction or energy consumption).
- Mobility & Accessibility Improvements: Indicators like reduced average commute times, increased public transit utilization, or improved access to essential services.
- Equity & Inclusion Measures: Clear evidence of benefits to underserved communities (e.g., improved availability of affordable housing, access to clinics).
- Implementation Feasibility: A well-defined roadmap for a pilot deployment in a Canadian municipality, with initial interest from local stakeholders.
Confidentiality
All details relating to technologies, innovations or methods submitted to Cooperathon will remain strictly confidential, unless otherwise indicated.