Dr. Leia Minaker
Professor, School of Planning
Faculty of Environment
> Future Cities Institute
This urgent question is at the heart of a new living lab launched by the Future Cities Institute (FCI) founded by CAIVAN in partnership with BUILD NOW, an initiative led by Habitat for Humanity Waterloo Region.
BUILD NOW sets out a bold new model of affordable homeownership that could reshape how communities across Canada approach housing. The goal is to build 10,000 "missing middle" homes by 2030, including townhouses, walk-ups, mid-rises and high-rises.
Seventy per cent of these homes will be designed for ownership, using a legal model that keeps them affordable in perpetuity. As part of this innovative initiative, FCI is embedding a living lab in the first 25-acre development site in Waterloo, where more than 1,000 homes will be built.
The University of Waterloo was built on the principle of tackling the big challenges facing its community. Today, that challenge is housing, and the FCI is drawing on this legacy of problem-solving to help create solutions that work here and can be scaled across the country. Beyond being the academic partner of BUILD NOW, FCI is committed to asking the right questions using rigorous, interdisciplinary research to determine what works and why.
"This partnership with BUILD NOW is a great example of how we approach innovation at the Future Cities Institute," says Leia Minaker, director of the FCI and professor in the School of Planning. "It's a very exciting model with real potential, but our responsibility is not to celebrate it uncritically, our job is to collect evidence, evaluate outcomes and understand its impact on families and our region."
The living lab is supported through funding from the University's Global Futures Fund and draws on FCI's unique structure, where interdisciplinary teams of researchers, students, municipalities and industry leaders come together to tackle urgent urban issues. The work being done with BUILD NOW touches on all five of Waterloo's Global Futures, showcasing just how deeply issues of housing are connected to every aspect of life today.
"This is about more than housing policy," Minaker explains. "Affordable homeownership affects family health and well-being, our economy, our environment, city infrastructure, and even the ways we design technology for the built environment. That's why we see this critical partnership really cutting across every one of the Global Futures."
The teams working on this project are co-creating with FCI community partners, testing not only whether the BUILD NOW model successfully delivers on affordability, but also how it shapes long-term outcomes for residents and municipalities. FCI's living lab approach puts real families and neighbourhoods at the centre of this research, combining local insights with applied work.
Through the living lab, the FCI is demonstrating a pragmatic path forward: test bold ideas, measure them carefully, and share insights widely to communities and municipalities across Canada.
"Canada needs housing solutions that are both ambitious and practical," Minaker says. "By asking tough questions and working across sectors, we can help build communities that are fair, productive and future proof."
Thanks to support from the Global Futures Fund, the Future Cities Institute is helping ensure that the path to affordable homeownership in Canada is guided not by assumptions, but by evidence.
