Application of Stormwater Tree Trenches in the City of Vancouver

Stormwater Tree Trenches (STT) are a versatile green infrastructure (GI) technology that shows promising application in Vancouver’s highly dense urban environment. This project explores how STT align with the targets set by the Citywide Integrated Rainwater Management Plan (IRMP) and examines the life cycle cost of a boulevard reconstruction project.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: clean water, green buildings, water

Built Environment & Mobility
Ecological Systems
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2018
Osvaldo Vega

Reducing Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation Emission Footprint through Utilizing Electric Small Equipment

The Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation (Park Board) is aiming to reduce carbon dependency by exploring the feasibility of switching from gas-powered to electric equipment. This project intends to evaluate the technical and economic benefits of adopting small electric equipment for the Park Board and the community. Other benefits include reducing the harmful health impacts caused by equipment noise, exhaust and hand arm vibration.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: lighter footprint, transportation

Built Environment & Mobility
Data & Technology
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2018
Gerardo Marquez

Green Policing: Recommended Actions for an Environmental Sustainability Plan for the Vancouver Police Department

This report recommends actions that can be taken to improve the environmental sustainability of the Vancouver Police Department (VPD). A broad scan of the literature was conducted to identify best practices and assist in the development of a long-term environmental sustainability plan for the VPD that aligns with the corporate sustainability goals of the City of Vancouver. 

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: lighter footprint, leadership & behaviour change, waste management & recycling

Built Environment & Mobility
Policy, Economics & Governance
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2018
Jordan Konyk

Land Values and Transit Investment: Case Studies and Analysis for the Broadway Corridor

In anticipation of the Millennium Line Broadway Extension and a new Broadway land use plan, this report explores case studies on the effects of transit investment on land values and the ways in which local governments around the world capture uplift as a result of transit investment. 

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: green transportation

Built Environment & Mobility
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2018
Devon Harlos

Supporting Carshare Vehicles for the City of Vancouver: Benefits of Corporate Carshare

The objectives of this project are to analyze and interpret the financial, environmental, and community-wide implications of Corporate Carsharing. A previous report suggested that Corporate Carsharing would be approximately as financially viable as allowing employees to travel in departmentally assigned vehicles on a department-to-department basis, the old status quo. The Report also suggested there would be strong environmental, social, and community benefits of the Corporate Carsharing program. This project aims to discern whether these benefits have been realized.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: green transportation, sustainable development & green economy

Built Environment & Mobility
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2018
Rainer Lempert

Supporting Carshare Vehicles in the City of Vancouver: North American Parking Policies

The objectives of this project are to undertake a review of emerging best practice examples from cities around North America on carshare parking policies. Policies such as ending trips at on-street meters, off-street parking requirements, and parking relaxations and incentives for publically-available car share vehicles are reviewed.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: green transportation, sustainable development & green economy

Built Environment & Mobility
Policy, Economics & Governance
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2018
Rainer Lempert

Solutions Lab Community of Practice Learning Plan 2018-2019

This document serves as a guide for the City of Vancouer's Solutions Lab Community of Practice (SLab CoP) as it continues to evolve in 2018/2019. The plan for building practices and nurturing community has been informed by the first three sessions prototyped in Summer of 2018 and input gathered from current core group members of the CoP.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: leadership & behaviour change, social sustainability, sustainability in education

Human Well-being & Social Systems
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2018
Lily Raphael

Cross-Sector Collaboration: Wise Practices to Inform the Collaborative Development of the Next Healthy City Action Plan

This goal of this report is to shed light on wise practices that can serve to inform the collaborative development of the next Healthy City Action Plan. The research approach involved a literature review of cross-sector collaboration as well as learning from three precedent models by reviewing their approaches to governance, finance, implementation, and evaluation.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: healthy city, leadership & behaviour change

Human Well-being & Social Systems
Policy, Economics & Governance
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2018
Emily Morales

CIRES Web Map Application Design Overview

The purpose of this project is to assist the Community Impact Real Estate Society (CIRES) in developing an efficient and updateable geospatial dataset that establishes a baseline of space, uses, and metrics for its retail portfolio. This report provides an overview of how the CIRES Web Map application was created. It also includes a summary of the data collection process, how the data is analyzed, the web application widget choices as well as some of the challenges and decision-making points throughout the project.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: healthy city, green buildings, social sustainability

Data & Technology
Human Well-being & Social Systems
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2018
Natalie Chan Ho Man

Potential Uses of a Downtown Eastside facility

The City of Vancouver has a lease agreement until 2026 for a facility that will soon be vacated. As the facility possesses a commercial kitchen and is located within the Downtown Eastside, there is a unique opportunity to help develop options to serve community needs and advance the City’s social policy goals. The focus of this report is an assessment of the challenges and opportunities associated with the facility, as well as potential uses and tenants.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: healthy city, leadership & behaviour change, social sustainability

Human Well-being & Social Systems
Policy, Economics & Governance
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2018
Kendall Andison

Workplace Childcare: Discovering what really works for Vancouver children, families, and employers

This report explores best practices in workplace-based childcare and how they might be supported by the City of Vancouver. The review provides information on operating models; facility siting and design; supply and demand; employer partnerships; as well as other criteria that pertain to workplace childcare. It aims to provide preliminary considerations to the City of Vancouver as it develops policy for quality, non-profit workplace childcare.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: social sustainability

Human Well-being & Social Systems
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2018
Jacqueline Hunter

Indigenous Wellness Indicators: Including Urban Indigenous Wellness Indicators in the Healthy City Strategy

Indigenous concepts of wellness are distinct from western notions of wellness, and are unique to each Indigenous community’s respective worldview. As such, there is a growing recognition of the need for indicators that reflect Indigenous notions of wellness This project focuses on how to develop strengths-based, culturally relevant Indigenous wellness indicators for the City of Vancouver’s Healthy City Strategy in collaboration with the urban Indigenous community.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: social sustainability

Human Well-being & Social Systems
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2018
Kathleen Heggie

Lifecycle Analysis of Electric Vehicles

The City of Vancouver has an extensive fleet of vehicles. Due to the significant impact of transportation on total greenhouse gas emissions across the region, the City wants to reduce this impact by replacing more internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) in its fleet with electric vehicles (EVs). This study uses life cycle analysis to comparatively analyze two vehicle models of similar size of each type (ICEV and EV) currently used in the City’s fleet. 

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: lighter footprint, transportation

Built Environment & Mobility
Climate Change & Energy
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2018
Balpreet Kukreja

Urban Solar Rooftop Utility Feasibility Study for City of Vancouver

To support the City of Vancouver’s goals of zero emission new buildings by 2030 and for 100% of the city’s energy to come from renewable energy by 2050, the city is exploring solar energy generation on underutilized rooftop spaces and business models that would make this possible. This report investigates administrative and legal structures of successfully operating rooftop solar utilities and co-operatives, including ownership models and rate structures.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: climate and renewables, green buildings

Built Environment & Mobility
Climate Change & Energy
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2018
M.K. Anand

Revising the Methodology for Calculating and Reporting on GHG Emissions from Contracted Services

The City of Vancouver is working towards zeroing its carbon emissions. Goods and services procured by the City continue to be the key contributors to GHG emissions. Through this project, the City is interested in assessing the magnitude of emissions associated with a good or a service to understand the strategic importance of suppliers as a part of corporate GHG reductions plan and to focus on contractors with the most significant impact.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: climate and renewables, green economy, supply chain management & green procurement

Climate Change & Energy
Production, Consumption & Waste
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2018
Sri Apoorva Kota

Mapping Reuse, Repair, and Share: Developing a zero waste assets map

Vancouver is home to a wide range of establishments that support reuse activities. While there are several reuse, recycling, and disposal resources online for residents to consult, there is no consolidated resource that compiles zero waste assets into one platform. Drawing from community based asset mapping theory, this report applies a participatory mapping framework to propose a methodology for developing, maintaining, and analyzing a zero waste assets map.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: zero waste, waste management & recycling

Production, Consumption & Waste
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2018
Sarah Labahn

The Financial Viability of Recycling Depots in a City of Rising Costs

This report proposes a methodology  to facilitate informed decision making about the participation in Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)-- management systems based on industry taking responsibility for the products they produce through their full life-cycle--to aid in negotiating fair compensation for participation. This model was conceived as a dynamic tool that can be used in different contexts, in bigger or smaller operations.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: zero waste, waste management & recycling

Production, Consumption & Waste
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2018
Rodrigo Santistevan

Preliminary Engineering Feasibility Study for a Wastewater Treatment Facility at UBC Vancouver

This feasibility study consisted of analyzing current wastewater flow and concentration data from various sources at UBC, and applying growth estimates to determine parameters for a conservative wastewater treatment design. The use of best available proven technology for a compact treatment design was a requirement due to space limitations on campus, and to meet spray irrigation effluent requirements for water re-use (Class A effluent), recover nutrients, and capture energy from the wastewater.

Partner: UBC Sustainability and Engineering
Keywords: sustainability in education, waste management & recycling, water

Natural Resources
Production, Consumption & Waste
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2017
Majid Keshavarzfathy

Real-Time Reporting: Sustainability and Wellbeing

The University of British Columbia (UBC) wanted to create a legacy of real-time reporting for the International Sustainable Campus Network (ISCN) conference. The goal of real-time reporting was to fully understand the sustainability footprint of the ISCN conference and to develop shareable tools to capture, measure and report on the environmental footprint and sense of wellbeing at the conference in real time.

Partner: UBC Sustainability
Keywords: sustainability in education, sustainable development & green economy

Data & Technology
Human Well-being & Social Systems
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2017
Emily Mann

Developing a UBC Action Framework for Mental Health & Resilience

Mental health and resilience have been identified as a priority area for UBC to address in order to become a health and wellbeing promoting university. The purpose of this project was to develop a draft of the action framework for the mental health and resilience priority. The action framework intends to establish a shared vision, working definitions of mental health and resilience, and to synthesize existing strategies, practices, and actions across both UBC campuses.

Partner: UBC Wellbeing
Keywords: social sustainability, sustainability in education

Human Well-being & Social Systems
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2017
Michael Jae Song

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