Open During Construction: Recent Episodes
Muneef Ahmad, Michelle Berquist and Rob Muir
Michelle Berquist, Rob Muir and Muneef Ahmad reflect on stories behind-the-scenes of "Plangineering" projects.
The Plangineers engage experts Sven Beiker and Gary Hsueh to explore the world of autonomous vehicles.
Dr. Sven Beiker is Managing Director of Silicon Valley Mobility
Gary Hsueh is Director of Mobility Programs at Prospect Silicon Valley
In part 2 of this 2-part interview, Michelle and Rob continue their conversation with Sven and Gary to discuss some implications and possibilities of autonomous vehicle uptake.
Sven and Gary were kind enough to call in from across the country so we thank our listeners for understanding some of the sound challenges we faced, but know the conversation is well worth listening to.
The Plangineers engage experts Sven Beiker and Gary Hsueh to explore the world of autonomous vehicles.
Dr. Sven Beiker is Managing Director of Silicon Valley Mobility
Gary Hsueh is Director of Mobility Programs at Prospect Silicon Valley
In part 1 of this 2-part interview, Michelle and Rob engage with Sven and Gary who break down the basics of "Automated Connected Electric & Shared" vehicles, or ACES as referred to in the industry.
Sven and Gary were kind enough to call in from across the country so we thank our listeners for understanding some of the sound challenges we faced, but know the conversation is well worth listening to.
Indy Johar, Visionary, is co-founder of Project 00, Dark Matter Labs, as well as multiple social ventures in England. While doing all of this, he also works with large global multinationals and institutions to support their transition to a positive Systems Economy.
In this discussion, Indy explains the necessity of the "boring" revolution to equip our cities with the tools for the future.
Olivia Labonte, Executive Director of Young Diplomats of Canada, talks about grassroots youth engagement.
Olivia, an economist with a passion for global youth advocacy and sustainable cities, distills ideas from the Canada at 100,000,000 panel. She shares insights from her work as Executive Director of Young Diplomats of Canada, a national non-profit organization focused on creating spaces for young people to engage at the highest levels of decision-making.
Derek brings his extensive experience in the development and management of housing to answer our questions on the topic. We talk about the merits of piloting policy in real-life versus the pitfalls of policy from the boardroom, and discuss takeaways from the Future Cities Canada Summit 'Housing for All' panel.
Fang shares insights from her experiences leading workshops and meetings that aim to tackle diverse social issues. The aim of her work is to deal with cross-government issues and enhance a better organisational culture from inside to outside of the government.
Claire Hicks, Program Manager for Future Ready at WSP Canada, shares successes in sustainability.
Future Ready is WSPs global innovation program, encouraging staff and clients to see the future more clearly and design for it today. Claire strives to support teams to deliver resilient, sustainable and people-centred project solutions that are prepared for tomorrow's world.
After listening to her discussion, read more about her work here.
Leah Lawrence is a lifelong advocate for engineering, entrepreneurship and the environment. The President and CEO of Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) shares behind-the-scenes insights on technology and how 'change management' can be about 'change expectation.'
Check her out in 'The Future of Business' panel discussion at the Future Cities Summit.
Geoff Cape, is the founder and CEO of Evergreen. Since being founded in 1991, Evergreen has evolved into a national organization focused on integrating people, natural and built worlds, turning spaces into great places.
On-site at the inaugural Future Cities Canada Summit, Geoff talks about how lessons learned at the Evergreen Brick Works site can inform city-building.
Desmond Cole, award-winning journalist, activist and author, speaks to the Plangineers on the heels of his opening keynote at the Future Cities Canada Summit, held November 7-9, 2018 at Evergreen Brick Works in Toronto. Click here to see his intriguing presentation.
He points to segregation within the City of Toronto and encourages city builders to similarly call out and use the right language to address what he's seeing.
His first book, entitled "The Skin We're In" will be published in 2019.
Jo Flatt, Senior Lead of Policy & Partnerships at Evergreen speaks to us about the Future Cities Canada Summit.
Future Cities Canada is a new national collaborative that aims to accelerate urban innovation to transform cities for the benefit of us all.
The Summit takes place from November 7-9, 2018 at Evergreen Brick Works in Toronto.
Alex Lenarduzzi, Water Resources Engineer at Conservation Halton shares her thoughts on the role of the natural environment and how it co-exists with the urban environment.
We talk about:
Differences and similarities between practice in the public and private sector
The lingering impacts of extreme weather and the human stories around such events
Alex's perception of the word "environment" as the "natural environment," rather than "urban environment"
Urbanites exploring the natural world
Seeing the City from the escarpment, or from the water
Working in a career doing something you love
Alex's guide to being outside and how it promotes being in the moment
Growing up in the "Waterfall Capital of the World"
How seeing the world, on the ground, or from space, can affect our perspective
In our second episode ever, “Good, or good enough?” Michelle and Rob discuss how paradigms were broken for the revolutionary Deep Lake Water Cooling system.
Our ancestors first form of “district energy,” sharing fire in a cave
Vancouver’s Olympic village district energy system
Sustainable development at the Regent Park Revitalization
Discussing Enwave Toronto’s Deep Lake Water Cooling (DLWC)
Baffin Island Mining project
Creativity is just ingenuity, applied. The DLWC was a showcase project for Toronto, and Enwave.
Bringing along others so when we have the answers, others can see the questions.
The enemy of doing something great is doing something good. Even moreso, even better than good...is good enough.
Mentioned: Good to Great by Jim Collins
Send us your feedback at chat@openduringconstruction.ca or @ODCPodcast on Twitter if you have any suggestions for projects or topics you'd like us to explore.
The Plangineers talk about the illusions and realities of public consultation.
Rob explains the methods by which we gather and consider various points of consideration when undertaking city-building initiatives.
Dialogue revolves around engaging early and often.
Michelle shares the pizza analogy of consultation.
We talk about change management and the ADKAR model of:
- Awareness
- Desire
- Knowledge
- Ability
- Reinforcement
Sheila Boudreau, Senior Landscape Architect at Toronto & Region Conservation Authority, shares stories of teaching, engaging and opening up opportunities for indigenous youth.
Sheila speaks to us about:
How her experiences have been interwoven to shape what and how she teaches
Taking care of the forest in a free-range upbringing
Why she has embarked upon opening doors for indigenous youth
The importance of the Kairos blanket exercise
The natural connection of earth and land to indigenous stewardship
Making connections with programs that support young women, like Girls Can Too
The success of art interventions for infrastructure such as those in Calgary’s Watershed Plus program
In the latter part of our dialogue, Rob and Sheila offer up different perspectives on low impact development (LID). Rob posed that wide scale adoption of LID would present financial challenges.
Sheila offered up that opportunities exist when you’re “Creating Great Choices” (citing Jennifer Riel & Roger Martin's Guide to Integrative Thinking.) Though not in the final version of the posted interview, Sheila reflected to us in our conversation about the importance of considering the triple bottom line when thinking about LID.
Listeners can find a triple-bottom line analysis of Toronto's Street Tree Standards here and also refer to a report by TD Bank on the economic value of trees.
The Plangineers, Michelle & Rob, share how their professional fuel often comes from outside their professional lives. We talked about:
Voracious reading
Understanding people
How Ray Dalio's "Idea meritocracy" resonated with Rob
Thinking Fast & Slow, in Rob’s case about Floods and Flow
Finding the strength to put down a book
Michelle’s reflection about how world changing design comes from play, as brought forward in Steven Johnson’s Wonderland
How humans are inspired by the things we do in our leisure time
Handling social media
Going against the flow and being right
The single trait that Rob and Michelle identify as being crucial to success
Helen Noehammer, Director of Transportation & Infrastructure Planning at the City of Mississauga shares her take on pink-handled tools and how soft skills help alongside the hard skills in the engineer’s toolbox.
Helen talks to us about...
How "a little bit of everything" adds up to a lot
What happens when "life happens"
Changes in the representation of men and women in the engineering industry
Using "The Velvet Hammer"
Lessons from customer service at Canadian Tire
Dealing with angry mobs using humour
The biggest challenges facing Mississauga
"Asking the right questions"
What happened at her first interview (hint: someone cried)
The relevance of legacy
Lesley Pavan, Director of Design and Development at the City of Mississauga shares her insights into the lifestyle choices on offer in the rapidly urbanizing city where she both works and lives.
Lesley speaks to us about...
Her path from humble roots on the farm, to geographer and through a municipal journey to her role as Director.
Mississauga's evolution from post-war migration right to being nearly built-out with dialogue on some crucial elements along the way
Brownfield redevelopment lands such as St.Lawrence Starch, Inspiration Lakeview and the Imperial Oils Lands (West Village development) along Lake Ontario
Farm to table practices and urban agriculture
The coolness indicator of restaurant culture as well as the contrast to the dining in and the use of Mississauga's green space
The loaded question of density and the evolution of cities
The function of Square One as an element of the evolving downtown
The New Urban Crisis, by Richard Florida
Democracy in the food court
The Plangineers talk about ingrained falsehoods and the challenge of living up to our professional duty
Factual review of engineering data is found here relating to the fact that storm intensities have not increased
Rob shared data and engaged specific outlets to expose falsehoods. In this article from Canadian Underwriter, editors consulted Environment and Climate Change Canada to correct the insurance industry Weather Story statement.
Here is an example of CBC reporting with an insurance industry statement on storm frequency that was corrected after consulting Environment and Climate Change Canada.
Rob clarified that his comments on storm intensities don't dispute the narrative on potential future climate change trends. However, observations on storm intensities changing now are inaccurate.
Here's a link to Rob's paper, "Evidence Based Policy Gaps in Water Resources: Thinking Fast and Slow on Floods and Flow."
Although Rob stated increasing temperatures are undeniable in the podcast, research by the University of Guelph shows that temperatures shifts are related to cold temperatures and not the high temperatures that have been linked to more extreme weather due to higher water vapour holding capacity.
Send us your feedback at chat@openduringconstruction.ca or if you have any suggestions for projects or topics you'd like us to explore.
A “Millenial” is defined as someone born between 1981 - 1997. Our Millenial Planner, Michelle, and Gen X-er Engineer Rob, share their perspectives on the topic of the “Millenial experience,” and challenge the current narrative.
Age-ism is a recurring and troubling theme as is the reality of how it may be ever-present, but simply being dealt with differently in an era of tech-savviness.
Michelle quotes transportation planner Sam Schwartz and asks, “It’s not about asking ‘How do we plan for Millenials, but how do we plan like Millenials?”
Rob points out the two different types of people who won’t amount to much:
People who won’t listen to what they’re told, and;
People who don’t do anything but what they’re told
The Plangineers discuss an industry article called “Good Planning Knows No Age” by Liz Howson (Mar/Apr 2017 Ontario Planning Journal)
Send us your feedback at chat@openduringconstruction.ca or if you have any suggestions for projects or topics you'd like us to explore.
The Plangineers talk about how the input of technical experts can help round out storytelling to add the "why" to the "who cares?"
(Sorry for the confusion in the intro...this is actually episode #5, you're right.)
Reporting on the GO Train flooding of 2013 may have exaggerated the frequency of this occurrence
Check out Rob's CityFloodMap blog post on the matter
Discussing the context of numbers and the value of infographics
How technical input to the media can add the "why" to the spice of storytelling as well as the mechanisms of mini-advocacy
The lesson of communicating like an activist while telling a good story
The need for our professions to push past humility and tell good stories that will resonate and inform people in positive ways
Listeners might be interested to know that during our cut, to keep the show within our regular ~20-25min length, we sacrificed a dialogue on "open data", it's emergence, relevance and potential value as a tool for healthy skepticism. Though it was a relevant part of the overall dialogue that dialogue almost stood on its own so we cropped it from the final edit that you hear.
Send us your feedback at chat@openduringconstruction.ca or if you have any suggestions for projects or topics you'd like us to explore.
ArtWorkX fused art & infrastructure at Celebration Square in Mississauga on May 27, 2017.
Artists Gaya Kairos, Claudio Ghirardo, Dominic Simone & Nisreen Askar turned otherwise remnant pieces of infrastructure into a creative cityscape mash-up.
Kids took turns in a wide variety of interactive crafts. Here you can see the result of their efforts making pipe look good.
Credit Valley Conservation was representing and supporting the event. Melanie was ready to answer questions from participants on a range of planting techniques. Whether it was what to plant in a pollinator garden, what might attract birds or what to use in a raingarden, she had the answers.
Just around the corner from CVC's booth was a functional raingarden. This standalone feature helped answer a lot of questions since you could see and feel what the end product could look like. And thanks again to Sean for explaining how the water recirculated.
The incredible Joanne Jackson, Producer of the Messenger, during an interview just before the screening of the acclaimed documentary about the plight of songbirds.
Corrugated plastic pipe becomes the Marilyn Towers.
It was an incredible event that helped change the way people look at infrastructure and imagine creative possibilities.
Cheers to the event organizers!
Episode #4: Dancing About Infrastructure
Michelle and Rob reflect on the artistry that reveals our invisible services and why these reminders are an important part of our urban existence
Talking about music, is like dancing about architecture. But we’ll try dancing about infrastructure anyway
Older underground sewers are brick works of art like the photo shown by clicking here of the Garrison Creek storm sewer
Aesthetic inspirations for the Herb Gray Parkway pedestrian bridges
Is the River Longing?
The beauty of water treatment, as seen through the RC Harris filtration plant
How a tight butt can be a tribute to aging infrastructure
Wishing for the "Big Bridge Theory"
A timely tribute to Hamilton’s first water pumping station
Send us your feedback at chat@openduringconstruction.ca if you have any suggestions for projects or topics you'd like us to explore.
In episode #4, Michelle recounts her experience viewing this sign in Calgary for the first time. It was a simple yet powerful reminder of what is around us that can be seemingly invisible.
At the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage in Ontario, we ask is there a "woman's place" in the Plangineering space?
Ontario became the fifth province in Canada to grant women the right to vote on April 12, 1917. This came following more than half a century of activism.
Discussing how the controversial dialogue between Jane Jacobs and Robert Moses was storied.
Recognizing areas of internal strength and vulnerability.
Statistics on women’s representation in engineering from the Ontario Network of Women in Engineering
Where the engineering information gap may be?
-overall lack of awareness of what engineers do
-misconceptions about engineering (not being related to people) in contrast to the high prestige, say, for the medical profession which is seen as important work
Judgement blocks internal action, but may also be a barrier to acceptance of others. A cure for this is found through the rules of Improv as told by Tina Fey. Rule no.1: Agree.
Send us your feedback at chat@openduringconstruction.ca if you have any suggestions for projects or topics you'd like us to explore.
Episode #2: Good, or good enough?
Michelle and Rob, our Plangineers, discuss how paradigms were broken for the revolutionary Deep Lake Water Cooling system.
Our ancestors first form of “district energy,” sharing fire in a cave
Vancouver’s Olympic village district energy system
Sustainable development at the Regent Park Revitalization
Discussing Enwave Toronto’s Deep Lake Water Cooling (DLWC)
Baffin Island Mining project
Creativity is just ingenuity, applied. The DLWC was a showcase project for Toronto, and Enwave.
Bringing along others so when we have the answers, others can see the questions.
The enemy of doing something great is doing something good. Even moreso, even better than good...is good enough.
Mentioned: Good to Great by Jim Collins
Send us your feedback at chat@openduringconstruction.ca if you have any suggestions for projects or topics you'd like us to explore.
In the debut podcast, Michelle and Rob talk about what inspired them to urban planning and engineering and why the bridge between their practices is shorter than we think.
This month, we talked about:
Urban dictionary reference to Plangineer
The three pillars of planning: Public Health, Legislation & Architecture
Rob's toothpick bridge
Discussing how, "Form follows function"
The curious case of building the Sydney Opera House
Zooming-in versus zooming-out
Engineering the Windsor-Essex Parkway
Muneef’s take-away: Thinking inward versus outward
Rob's take-away: Appreciate the complexities of planning, design and constructing big City-building projects
Michelle's take-away: Respect and curiousity
Send us your feedback at chat@openduringconstruction.ca if you have any suggestions for projects or topics you'd like us to explore.
In episode#1, Rob talked about the toothpick bridge he built that was, in part, responsible for his inquiry into engineering. Still lookin' good.