Episode 46: SPOTLIGHT - OSPE's Sustainable Cities Task Force

At OSPE, advocacy is our cornerstone, driving us to create change and progress within the engineering community. To fulfill this commitment, we've established five task forces, each focused on conducting research and providing policy recommendations in areas critical to engineers in Ontario.

In part five of our series, we spotlight the work being done by OSPE's Sustainable Cities Task Force. Host Jerome James, P.Eng. speaks with task force chair Carl Bodimeade, P.Eng., who shares insights on promoting responsible urban development in Ontario and the key priorities in creating environmentally friendly communities.

Tune in now to learn more about the important work being done to create sustainable cities for future generations.

Transcript

ENGINEERING THE FUTURE - EP.46

SPOTLIGHT: Sustainable Cities Task Force 

JEROME JAMES:

This episode of Engineering the Future has been brought to you by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization. NWMO is the national organization responsible for safely managing Canada's used nuclear fuel, a critical component of Canada's long-term sustainable energy strategy. Want to learn more about NWMO's plans for the future? Visit nwmo.ca.

FEMALE NARRATOR:

This podcast is brought to you by OSPE, the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers, the advocacy body for professional engineers in the engineering community in Ontario 

JEROME JAMES:

Welcome to Engineering the Future, a podcast brought to you by the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers. I am your host, Jerome James. At OSPE, advocacy is our cornerstone, driving us to create change and progress within the engineering community. To fulfill this commitment, we've established five task forces, each focused on conducting research and providing policy recommendations in the areas critical to engineers in Ontario. With us today to explore the ongoing initiatives of OSPE's Sustainable Cities Task Force is Carl Bodimeade, Task Force Chair and Senior Vice President at Hatch Infrastructure. Carl, welcome to Engineering the Future. Hey, thanks very much, Jerome. Very pleased to be here. Great. Now let's just dive right in. Can you provide an overview of OSPE's Sustainable Cities Task Force and its objectives?

CARL BODIMEADE:

Sure, yeah. So, as you mentioned, Sustainable Cities Task Force are one of the task forces under OSPE, and our mandate is to really advance and develop environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable communities for Ontario. So, we do that by raising the awareness on the role that professional engineers can play in creating those types of cities and communities, and we do that through a number of objectives, initiatives, one being research and analysis, identifying appropriate practices, saying that there are certain trends or emerging trends, I should say. Collaboration, particularly with the provincial government, but also other stakeholders and the private sector. And then policy advocacy, and that our primary audience is really a provincial government. but also the other, uh, organizations which have a role in either the, uh, governance or the, uh, organization cities, uh, such as the Ontario Municipalities Association, and also obviously large cities like the City of Toronto as well.

JEROME JAMES:

Excellent. What motivated you to take on a chair role with, uh, with this task force?

CARL BODIMEADE:

Well, actually, I was part of the environmental task force before OSPE reorganized the various task forces and found that interesting. But I think the task force at that time was a little bit split between sustainability and climate change. So I think the reorganization of the task force by OSPE certainly fitted well. And due to my interest in sustainability, it seemed to make sense to take on the chair role in the Sustainable Cities Task Force.

JEROME JAMES:

Interesting. So you had a good experience and wanted to be able to direct the conversation and direct some of the outcomes.

CARL BODIMEADE:

Yeah. And contribute to some of these very urgent issues.

JEROME JAMES:

What are the key priorities and challenges, would you say, in promoting sustainable urban development in Ontario?

CARL BODIMEADE:

Well, I think our priorities has to have to align with the challenges in society right now. And certainly around the GTA and other municipalities in Ontario, the key challenges are growth right now, the housing stock, you need to increase the housing stock just due to the fact that everybody wants to move to Ontario, it's a great place to live. And so Those are the two challenges which society itself is dealing with, but how can we encourage those challenges to be met in a sustainable and climate-friendly manner? For example, does all that increase in housing stock have to occur in greenfield developments, big subdivisions, when we've got quite a lot of opportunity for brownfield or infield development journey in our communities.

JEROME JAMES:

Interesting. How does the Sustainable Cities Task Force collaborate with municipalities? Is there an urban planner that you guys work with or other stakeholders or most of the work that you are doing within the subject matter experts within the team?

CARL BODIMEADE:

Yeah, no, it's a very important question, Ashley Giroldman, a very important part of our activities. We have to engage with these organizations, you know, whether it be the provincial government through OSPE's Queen's Park Days and the various very useful meetings we have with politicians there, through links, Ontario Municipalities Association, or through examples like procurement committees, okay, on determined advisory committees with the City of Toronto, which both myself and Sandra Perruzza sit on, and basically getting in front of these decision makers, engaging them, informing them as to how OSPE and professional engineers can contribute to addressing these issues, and through that, in addition to that, sorry, as well, I'd be responding to calls for consultation when new legislation is being proposed, etc.

JEROME JAMES:

Can you discuss some of the key initiatives and projects that the Sustainable Cities Task Force is currently working on?

CARL BODIMEADE:

Yeah, sure. So we've got three main initiatives right now, and we're looking at taking on a fourth one in the very near future. The first one is a green retrofit of buildings. As you know, buildings are a major source of carbon emissions, and as we rehabilitate and redevelop existing structures, and obviously there's a carbon benefit there already in reusing its structure rather than building something at the beginning. How can we retrofit these buildings in a way to minimize their energy uses and therefore their carbon emissions? Okay, so that's one. The other idea with that is looking at sustainable building materials, including green concrete. Those building materials, how can they be reused, recycled, or during their manufacture, minimize the amount of carbon emission, okay, which they are producing. So those are two particulars to do with buildings and construction. One, though, that I'm particularly passionate about is the use of Qualification Based selection. QBS. This is something that OSPE has been promoting for quite some while now. We're starting to get traction with a number of jurisdictions and the ability with QBS is that it allows an owner to select an engineer, designer, or consultant on the basis of qualifications rather than price. And that allows the engineer or designer to put more thought into how we can make projects, buildings more sustainable rather than trying to do everything in a rush for the cheapest price possible. So those are three we've got right now, but there's also one which is just starting to happen, and it's a cross-task force initiative, and that is engineering smart communities. How can we both incorporate some of the things I've been talking about, plus innovation, in order to ensure our communities provide a good quality of life for people at the same time as sustainable and maximize, sorry, minimize carbon emissions. Okay, so this is something which has just really started over the last few months. It's very exciting. And as I said, it's a cross-taskforce working group 

JEROME JAMES:

That all sounds fascinating. You guys are doing a lot of interesting work in a variety of pots. I want to touch on some of the, something that you said earlier about advocacy and being involved in like a Queen's Park policy day, can you elaborate on that process? How does the task force advocate for policies and practices to promote sustainable transportation, the green infrastructure, environmentally friendly building design, and actually, you know, see that process from ideation to actually potential policy implementation?

CARL BODIMEADE:

No, it's a very good question, Jerome.

 I mean, we want to make sure that the stage we have with politicians, we use that as effectively and maximize the benefits as much as possible. So when we normally go and see a minister or opposition representative, we normally have a well laid out agenda with key priorities OSPE want to talk to them about. So our position being encapsulated in white papers or other type policy documents. And what we really want to do is educate them and inform them as to how professional engineers can assist in developing their priorities and also the priorities at OSPE for the put forward. So sometimes there's a bit of a discussion as to find a common ground, okay? I mean, these types of advocacy activities work best, okay, when it fulfills the objectives of both parties, okay, for themselves, representing engineers, and also the political party that they represent. Up to now we have been quite successful in modifying the position in some areas where we feel that perhaps a more science-based approach would be more effective. That's not to say to say that we can change policy all the time. Okay. But I think we can certainly help the politicians and parties develop appropriate policies and then help them implement.

JEROME JAMES:

More discussion, more consultation, the better outcomes.

CARL BODIMEADE:

Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. We have to be seen by them. Okay. And you have to become and become, as it were, a trusted advisor to them and their staff as well. So they know that if they're looking for an opinion on, say, development of communities, end-user communities, they should be talking to OSPE to get our viewpoint.

FEMALE NARRATOR:

We hope you're enjoying this episode so far. At OSPE, we're here for you, making sure government, media, and the public are listening to the voice of engineers. You can learn more at ospe.on.ca.

JEROME JAMES:

I want to talk about resilience and adaptation for a moment. I know that there's a climate change task force, but do you guys focus on climate resilience and urban adaptation within the sustainable cities task force?

CARL BODIMEADE:

Oh, very much so. And I think that any sustainable city or community should be taking into account the effects of climate change, could be sustainable, and also look at ways that can mitigate those impacts. And it really comes into two buckets, if I can put it that way. One is, what can we do now to minimize our carbon emissions and go forward? And then accepting that the climate is becoming more variable in the future, how can we design our infrastructure and programs to allow, to adapt and mitigate the impacts of this climate change? Okay. Whether it be reducing the effect of heat islands, allowing appropriate measures to account for more extreme storm events, those types of things. So I think every community now is looking for ways to acknowledge the effects of climate change, but they really do need professional engineers, as represented by OSPE, to guide them on that process.

JEROME JAMES:

I definitely agree on that sentiment. Um, and from a policy change perspective, are there specific legislation items that the task force is focusing on or ideas that you guys want to see changed, uh, from a, from a policy perspective currently, uh, that you guys are, have on your, on your purview?

CARL BODIMEADE:

Yeah, I've touched upon a few already, Jerome. I think QBS, okay, is one which can have large impacts, okay? Not just for engineers and designers, but the value, okay, that cities and their residents and other stakeholders can achieve, okay, from engineering services. Rather than just producing a design, how can we make that design more climate friendly? How can we make it more resilient, okay, in the future? QBS is a way of doing that.

JEROME JAMES:

I know that QBS has been adopted at certain, in certain jurisdictions in Canada. I'm not sure if it's only at the Ontario level or at the federal level. Where is that currently in its adoption phase?

CARL BODIMEADE:

Well, QBS has been implemented relatively rarely in the past. We are seeing more and more adoption and consideration of it by major organizations. It had been adopted by a few municipalities across Canada previously. It's been adopted by some parts of the provincial government, like MTO, for example, Metrolinx, for example. Okay, is also, okay, we're actually using it and by some organizations as part of the Federal Government, for example, the Office of Government Services Canada. But to say that it is commonly and uniformly adopted, either in Ontario or across Canada, we've got a wrong way to go. But I think more and more organizations like the City of Toronto is starting to consider it. And I think OSPE has a role in both promoting it and also advising these types of organizations on the benefits of QBS.

JEROME JAMES:

Still opportunities to grow and raise awareness on that critical idea. Yeah, very much so, yeah. Excellent. And talking about opportunities for engineers, what do you see as an opportunity for engineers to contribute to Sustainable Cities initiatives, both within the task force and more broadly?

CARL BODIMEADE:

Well, I think certainly those of us who work in the infrastructure field, it's part of our day-to-day jobs, but I'd really encourage those people who are interested in making our cities and communities sustainable and livable to get involved with OSPE. A lot of what we do as engineers is dictated or guided by legislation, either at the provincial level or the federal level or the municipal level. So if we see something that we feel should be done in a different way, I mean, it's incumbent on us to try to influence that legislation or try to guide the relevant level of government to be doing things in a better way. And I think with the wide viewpoint we have as engineers and our training, I think that we can offer a lot to the policymakers in terms of how best to develop policy.

JEROME JAMES:

Well said. And is there crossover between your day job and the work that you do on the task force?

CARL BODIMEADE:

Oh, very much so, very much so. As I think you said in my introduction, I am part of the infrastructure group at Hatch. And the reason why I am working in that group is because of my interest in sustainability in cities. And I see my OSPE volunteer work as a natural extension of that. And I get to go on my task force. I've got a wide range of people, both young, okay, and also some like myself are getting very, very close to retirement and a lot of different viewpoints as well. So it's refreshing and encouraging to interact with wide range of people like that.

JEROME JAMES:

Absolutely. And let's talk about the future outlook of the task force. What are your hopes and goals for the Sustainable Cities Task Force in the coming years?

CARL BODIMEADE:

I think the initiatives we've got right now are certainly ones that we want to, in the short term, keep promoting and keep working on. There will be other initiatives, and we do respond to requests for consultation with the provincial government on an ad hoc basis. But really, I would like us to become more and more visible, more and more consulted, and be asked for input more and more by provincial - there's provincial government, major municipalities, and other stakeholders as well. I think it'd be great if we could really raise OSPE's profile and the professional engineers generally with those organizations.

JEROME JAMES:

Great. I feel like you answered my final question in a little bit there, where it's like, what do you see the role of engineers in shaping the future of urban sustainability? That's speaking out, joining OSPE. What else can they be doing in their day-to-day life?CARL BODIMEADE:

Well, I think there's a number of different opportunities. Certainly OSPE, it's a great one. And certainly, as you could tell, since I'm a chair of a task force, one I'm very, very interested in. But I think that getting involved, that'd be my advice to everybody, whether it be with OSPE, other similar organizations, or your local community. We need more engineers, perhaps, as councillors, mayors, and MPPs, et cetera. But I think there's certainly a lot of municipalities have sustainability committees, you know, get involved with your local, regional, municipal official plan consultation. So I think there's an opportunity there. And certainly some municipalities are always looking for engineers and other concerned citizens to contribute. You know, they value that consultation.

JEROME JAMES:

Amazing. And finally, is there anything else that you'd like to share with, uh, your listeners right now?

CARL BODIMEADE:

Uh, I think I'd just like to put a shout out to the members of the task force already, uh, that we already have the, uh, support we've given by OSPE generally, uh, and the other task force. And to say that we're always looking for people who have a keen interest in sustainable cities. And, uh, uh, we're happy to, I'd always be happy to talk with anybody who's got, uh, more questions about what our committee does and perhaps persuade them to join the committee.

JEROME JAMES:

Carl, thank you for sharing your insights today. It's clear that as engineers, we've got a responsibility to ensure our cities are not only meeting our current needs, but that we set the stage for a sustainable future. We really appreciate your time today. Great.

CARL BODIMEADE:

Well, thank you very much for the opportunity, Joel. Nice talking to you. 

JEROME JAMES:

And as always, thank you to our audience. We really appreciate your ongoing support. And whether you're listening to us on YouTube or your favorite podcast app, don't forget to subscribe and leave a review. We love hearing from you. I'm Jerome James. You've been listening to Engineering the Future, and we'll see you next time.

FEMALE NARRATOR:

From all of us at OSPE, the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers, thanks for listening. Please be sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode.