Sustainability Scholars Program

This guidebook offers strategies for mitigating the urban heat island (UHI) effect in UBC Vancouver neighbourhoods. It highlights nature-based and engineered solutions to enhance outdoor shading, reduce cooling demands, and support sustainable transportation use during extreme heat. Offering recommendations and actionable insights, the guidebook serves as a resource to UBC planners & architects, UNA staff, and residents working to build climate-resilience within existing and future neighbourhoods.

Partner: UBC
Funder: BC Hydro
Keywords: climate adaptation, climate resilience, green infrastructure, urban heat island, nature-based solutions

The Maplewood Flats Conservation Area is home to sixteen ecosystems in 256 acres. The site's ecosystems are at risk of being lost due to rising sea levels and flooding. This project mapped the ecosystems at Maplewood Flats and modeled inundation levels on site to better understand its impacts. Finally, the plants, topography, ecosystem zones, and inundation were graphically depicted in sections. Drawing on this information the reoprt suggests areas for coastal adaptation strategies and pilot projects.

Partner: UBC
Funder: UBC (Sitka Foundation Grant)
Keywords: biodiversity, climate adaptation, climate resilience, water 

This project aims to evaluate how community gardens in Vancouver's parks and city-managed lands contribute to fostering community and climate resilience. It develops a methodology for assessing how gardens impact these goals. The findings emphasize the diversity and adaptability of gardens in promoting resilience, equity, and justice. There is no single model that fits all gardens, as each prioritizes different aspects and reflects the unique needs of the communities it serves.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Funder: City of Vancouver & UBC
Keywords: biodiversity, equity, diversity, inclusion, food systems 

This report outlines a policy framework to reduce embodied carbon in new Multi-Unit Residential Buildings (MURBs) in the City of Victoria. It aims to align with the city's sustainability goals by promoting efficient design, innovative urban planning, and sustainable material use. Key recommendations include adopting carbon reporting, revising parking policies, prioritizing carbon-efficient designs, and incentivizing reductions through development charges and permitting fee adjustments.

Partner: City of Victoria
Funder: UBC (Environment and Climate Change Canada, Pathways Grant)
Keywords: green buildings, land use planning, low carbon buildings, waste management & recycling 

In anticipation of regional population growth, this project quantitatively evaluates the benefits of Transit-Oriented Communities as a sustainable approach to urban expansion, compared to the traditional approach of greenfield development. Includes case studies of six neighbourhoods across Metro Vancouver, assessing common design elements and strengths/challenges to sustainable transportation. Two development typologies are compared based on their environmental, social, and economic outcomes.

Partner: TransLink
Funder: TransLink (South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority)
Keywords: active transportation, land use planning, sustainable development & green economy, transportation 

This project explores the feasibility of implementing passive water storage on agricultural land to mitigate flood risk in the context of climate change. It analyzes two examples of passive water storage tools, offering recommendations for further research to ensure their viability in the Fraser Valley. The report examines the governance frameworks and funding mechanisms that may support or hinder the integration of these strategies into British Columbia's floodplain management practices.

Partner: Emergency Planning Secretariat (EPS)
Funder: UBC (Sitka Foundation Grant)
Keywords: climate resilience, climate mitigation, land use planning, governance

The project focuses on building a centralized online knowledge base for extreme heat preparedness in Vancouver. The resource categorizes strategies from various organizations to address heat risks to foster collaboration, reduce duplication, and enhance policy advocacy, ultimately supporting vulnerable populations in the face of extreme heat events. This resource will be periodically updated to ensure it remains a dynamic tool to access the latest information on heat preparedness measures.

Partner: Women Transforming Cities International Society
Funder: UBC (McConnell Foundation Grant)
Keywords: climate resilience, equity, diversity, inclusion, social sustainability, heat resilience

The project developed a custom evaluation framework and methodology to assess the impact of Minivillage's community-building model. The final evaluation blends learnings from academic research and community engagement to include 14 well-being indicators and 7 commercial indicators to measure the social and financial impact of Minivillage's approach. The evaluation supports continued and shared learning so Minivillage can continue to adapt its approach to best meet the needs of communities.

Partner: Minivillage Group Inc.
Funder: Minivillage Group Inc.
Keywords: climate resilience, social sustainability, social connectedness, well-being, community resilience 

This project summarises bank erosion issues, along with the different techniques used to stabilize riverbanks in British Columbia. The problems with an over-reliance upon "hard engineering" techniques are outlined, along with the importance of alternative methods (e.g., revegetation and bioengineering) that reduce erosion and floods, while also supporting healthy river habitats. Included are management recommendations based upon both the academic literature and a practitioner workshop.

Partner: Resilient Waters
Funder: UBC (Sitka Foundation Grant)
Keywords: climate adaptation, climate resilience, green infrastructure, water