Working towards the students’ proposals: An informative workshop and a field trip to the City of Cam
- c3iladmin3
- Nov 21, 2018
- 2 min read
After reading week, our students were ready to continue on the path of preparing their proposals. In our third workshop, we were fortunate enough to have Eric Davis, a Certified Specialist in Municipal Law (Local Government/Land Use Planning and Development), come to speak to the class. Eric’s talk was very helpful for the students as they were able to understand the importance of municipal and provincial regulations for developing net-zero projects. During his talk, he highlighted the relevance of looking at the intent and objectives of provinces and municipalities reflected in different Policy Plans. Particularly he encouraged the students to look at climate change policies in municipal plans as these are key to guide net-zero projects in the region.
Eric also talked about the constraints of net-zero projects and the practical considerations that developers often look at when starting new projects. While different cities aim to include more net-zero homes and buildings, there are some aspects that the students should reflect on in their proposals; such as housing affordability, developers and cities perspectives, development charges, and people’s interest in this type of development. One aspect in particular that sparked the student’s interest was the necessity to inform and educate builders about net-zero in order to encourage their involvement. Training developers and builders efficiently is a relevant step to put environmental friendly developments out there!
After this interesting workshop, we looked at the groups’ logos and asked them to assign group roles for each member of their teams. Good teamwork is only possible if everyone is committed!
On October 24th, we had our second field trip to meet the city planners and visit the future development site. Although it was a cold day, it resulted in a very informative session for the students. We were delighted to have April Souwand, Manager of Policy Planning of the City of Cambridge and Dan Currie, from MHBC Planning Urban Design and Landscape Architecture. It was important that the students saw the land to visually analyze what could be built there, considering different environmental aspects. For example, they were able to see where the water is located, the longitude of the proposed buffer zone and the density of plants and trees in the surrounding areas. April was also able to meet each team and talk to them about the considerations and concerns for net-zero developments in Cambridge. We will happily continue working together as the project unfolds.
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