PEOPLE

Professor, Building, Civil, and Environmental Engineering
Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in Smart, Sustainable and Resilient Communities and Cities

“Next-gen cities are built with a life-cycle approach, where resource use follows circular economy principles, where all energy is produced by renewables and where urban dwellers meet and create culture.”

Built and Natural Environments
Associate Professor, Department of Geography, Planning and Environment

“A next-gen city is a city that cares and nurtures. A next-gen city mobilizes its ingenuity, collaborative skills and willpower to create nurturing buildings, infrastructures and public places and spaces that are also spaces of citizenship.”

Built and Natural Environments
Associate Professor, Department of Finance

“Next-generation cities will have smart buildings and infrastructure measuring environmental and social footprints; and develop communities being aware of environmental and social impacts. Lowering carbon emissions and climate impacts continuously, healthy buildings, and inclusive societies are some examples of the priorities of the next-generation cities.”

Design, Arts, Culture and Community
Associate Professor, Department of Music

“Thriving cities and towns of the future must stimulate arts and culture to build community, engage diverse constituencies and motivate us to act more sustainably — environmentally, socially and economically.”

Design, Arts, Culture and Community
Associate Professor, Department of Geography, Planning and Environment

“The city is the realm of strangers. I want to contribute to creating spaces where strangers — even people with profound differences — see themselves in the eyes of the others and thrive.”

Mobile, Secure and Sharing Cities
Associate Professor and Chair, Centre for Engineering in Society

“Transformative pathways that will address systemic lock-ins and barriers are the way forward to achieve the goal of sustainable, equitable and resilient next-generation cities.”

Mobile, Secure and Sharing Cities
Professor, Concordia Institute for Information Systems Engineering (CIISE)

“Next-generation cities pursue a citizen-focused approach which leverages smart, integrated, and optimized services enabled by innovative technologies to improve citizens' welfare and foster economic growth.”

Manager, Strategy, Innovation and Outreach

"The ability to innovate decides our future, and innovative capability starts in the mind - with our attitude. Next-generation cities need catalysts and decision-makers who are equipped with an open ear, a playful mind, critical thinking skills, curiosity, and the ability to master complex challenges in a collaborative way. With the Next-Generation Cities Institute, we created a space where persons of all ages and backgrounds can co-create the future."

Advisor, Science Communication and Engagement

"As a designer, I recognize the need to rethink public spaces and look at them from the unique perspective of their users. Understanding different behaviours and lifestyles will allow us to create accessible, inclusive and pleasant multi-generational next-generation urban experiences."

Senior Advisor, Urban Simulation Platform & Gamification

"By visualizing Next Generation Cities and allowing you to play with them in real-time, we expand the reach of our research: empowering smarter decisions and educating greener behaviours."

Lead, Zero Carbon Communities, Next-Generation Cities Institute and part of the UNIVER/CITY 2030 initiative

"Joining the Institute's team is an excellent opportunity for me to help bring all the knowledge I have acquired in the private and social sectors in Spain to Montréal. By bringing all our research ideas into real-world practical cases, we can show that next-generation cities can be a reality. However, it is key to address all these solutions using bottom-up approaches involving social stakeholders."

Lead, Sustainable Mobility, Next-Generation Cities Institute

"The Next-Gen Cities Institute provides me with a great opportunity to integrate my ideas for sustainable urban mobility systems into a cross-sectoral, holistic vision to decarbonize our cities and transform them into thriving, green, and inclusive ecosystems. By linking our research to local challenges, communicating science comprehensibly and partnering with public and private stakeholders, we will move closer to achieving this vision."

Senior Strategic Advisor for the inter-university Data Studio initiative of the UNIVER/CITY 2030 program

"In the context of the climate emergency and socio-ecological transition, new collaborative models are necessary to facilitate the sharing and application of data and knowledge across institutions and sectors in the public interest. Anchored communities most impacted by this complex and accelerating crisis, I’m excited to bring to life this ambitious vision of an inter-university Data Studio with my years of local and international experience at the intersection of data, technology, and democracy."

Research Associate - Graphic Design and UI/UX Design

"I see myself as a design researcher with an interest in the relationship between humans, technology and the world. I aim to explore what it is like to interact with technology and it’s influence on the experience of the world. By joining Next-Generation Cities, I hope to contribute to new and interesting ways to gain insights, leading to new ways to envision cities collectively."

Team Coordinator

"Being a part of the Next-Generation Cities Institute means being a part of an innovative future. It’s a dynamic environment where students, faculty, staff, and other collaborators can work together to advance and transform the quality of life for upcoming generations. Together, we’re not just imagining the future but crafting it."

Professional Team Support

"I believe that when we attentively practice deeper forms of listening, we connect more deeply to ourselves and one another. 

Our senses become our awareness, which becomes our way of treating ourselves and our neighbours; this is the way to self care, but also to equity, accessibility, and healing.

What are you hearing, right now?

I listen, I reflect, I listen again - together we listen, together we reflect; we are building a more sustainable community."

Finance Coordinator

"At Next-Generation Cities, I make sure everything is financially on track so that our research community can stay focused on shaping the cities of the future. It's not just about numbers, it's about working with people, creating opportunities, and turning big ideas into real change."

Research Associate - Project Coordinator

"I have always worked on projects that made a difference to the planet. Joining the Institute helps me join my two passions: helping to develop innovative solutions to tackle climate change and the biodiversity decline and being able to train new generations on the best ways to face the upcoming emergency."