Sauder prof helps build city-campus green collaborations
Sauder School of Business Professor Moura Quayle is leading the Campus-City Collaborative (C3), a new initiative that will bring the City of Vancouver together with its six post-secondary institutions to work on projects aimed at making Vancouver the world’s greenest city by 2020.
“Cities are driving innovation and job growth, especially in the field of green enterprise,” said Mayor Gregor Robertson. “C3 represents a unique way for our post-secondary institutions and students to participate in tangible job growth, and is an innovative way of increasing Vancouver graduates’ job-readiness for the growing green economy.”
As a part of the C3 initiative, the partners established CityStudio, a program which connects students, faculty, experts and city staff to work on real-world projects through dialogue and design. Over 400 students took part in C3 courses during the fall term. The studio will celebrate the success of its pilot semester by holding an official opening celebration with Mayor Robertson in attendance on Wednesday, December 7.
“Post-secondary institutions are well positioned to help cities take on the challenge of transitioning to the green economy,” said Sauder's Professor Moura Quayle, who leads the C3 project and played a major role in formulating the collaborative initiative as a member of Vancouver’s Greenest City Action Team.
“Vancouver is putting itself ahead of the curve by looking to its schools and tapping into the natural idea generation and innovation taking place on our campuses. At the same time, UBC’s students are receiving tremendous benefit by grappling with real challenges facing a major city pursuing a wide-ranging green agenda.”
Students from UBC will again be enrolled in CityStudio courses in the spring semester beginning in January. In addition, the Sauder's d.studio, a hands-on course that teaches applied problem solving for business challenges taught by Prof. Quayle, will partner with the CityStudio. Through this collaboration, d.studio students will get direct experience working on Vancouver Economic Commission projects aimed at helping the City achieve its sustainability goals.
The C3 initiative will run parallel to previous partnerships already established between UBC and the City of Vancouver geared toward helping the city and university pursue green initiatives. A Memorandum of Understanding signed by Mayor Robertson and UBC President Stephen Toope in 2010 signaled the launch of a multi-year collaboration to advance common objectives for sustainability, climate action and the development of a green economy. They also launched the City of Vancouver Greenest City Scholars Program, an annual internship program that sponsors 10 UBC graduate students to work on sustainability projects with the city.
Other schools involved in the C3 initiative include the British Columbia Institute of Technology, Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Langara College, Simon Fraser University and Vancouver Community College.
In 2012, C3 will take on more initiatives drawing on the ideas and assets of the city's post-secondary schools. The Green Workforce Education Conference will bring together educators, students, representatives of all three levels of governments, leading businesses and unions to discuss how to equip workers for Vancouver’s growing green economy. The Research Collaboration Symposium will connect researchers with city staff to map out ways that researchers can help with specific issues.