ESC Team
Meet the team behind the ESC Project.
13 STUDENTS. 16 FACULTY MEMBERS. 1 INSTITUTE. 2 PARTNERS. 1 CLIENT. 1 SPONSOR. WITHOUT BOUNDARIES.
The Ethical Smart City project was driven by an interdisciplinary team that lived and breathed stories and lessons of innovation from cities around the world. The team is made of members from different cities all around the world within the diverse city of Toronto.
At the Institute without Boundaries, at the George Brown’s School of Design, these Design Strategists have come together to create the various offerings – the Playbook, Toolkit, this website, and the Design Proposals.
As a Design Strategist...
She brings alignment between design and experience, through research, creative problem solving, collaboration and paying attention to detail while thinking big picture.
Key Takeaway on the ESC Project
Cities should be designed and built to serve the human experience through systems, products and services, while maintaining the balance in the overall ecosystem.
As a Design Strategist...
She brings problem solving at the systems level with the ability to efficiently identify and articulate the opportunities for innovation.
Key Takeaway on the ESC Project
When cities understand and prioritize their community's values resilient cities are built.
As a Design Strategist...
She brings design thinking, design research, systems thinking, critical thinking and graphic design to generate creative and resilient solutions.
Key Takeaway on the ESC Project
The future of cities and smart technologies can only succeed if their users are prioritized and empowered to be the agents that transform their own evolution.
As a Design Strategist...
She brings a growth mindset with a research-driven, creative problem solving approach.
Key Takeaway on the ESC Project
The first step to become a resilient city is to learn from the community and others.
As a Design Strategist...
She brings design thinking, systems thinking, and design research through a background in the sciences and healthcare
Key Takeaway on the ESC Project
All cities are smart. An Ethical Smart City is one that listens to and meets the needs and aspirations of its communities.
As a Design Strategist...
She brings transformative frameworks to life with a human-centred design approach.
Key Takeaway on the ESC Project
All cities do not have the same starting point, so no one solution can fit all. Cities need to begin by looking inward to understand the needs of their communities while learning from other cities that are successful to create their unique blueprint for smart.
As a Design Strategist...
He brings a combination of providing diagnostic and unseen perspectives though team provocation and pattern mapping.
Key Takeaway on the ESC Project
The application of ethical solutions is possible for all cities; regardless of technological maturity, even in its absence.
As a Design Strategist...
She brings a balance between systems thinking and detail-oriented work, responsive designs, clear communication, and plenty of empathy
Key Takeaway on the ESC Project
To create truly resilient communities, a city must first understand what makes them unique and provide a platform to tap into their strengths.
As a Design Strategist...
He brings a mix of clarity, ideation and optimism to solve the worlds most pressing problems
Key Takeaway on the ESC Project
Smart for what? Communities have to truly understand their challenges before deciding on a technological solution.
As a Design Strategist...
He brings a bird's eye perspective to complex design problems along with a knack of finding solutions to the minutest level of detail.
Key Takeaway on the ESC Project
Technologically advanced is not the only way to be smart. With a human-centered approach, even rudimentary can be smart too.
As a Design Strategist...
She brings a positive attitude to getting clarity on ambiguous situations, confidence in understanding the systems behind complex problems, and hope of what design can do.
Key Takeaway on the ESC Project
Understanding the right problems lead to relevant solutions.
As a Design Strategist...
She brings a perspective that aims to address the root causes of complex problems using a blend of empathy, research, collaboration, and design
Key Takeaway on the ESC Project
People matter. Their needs, experiences, and values. People make up communities and communities make up cities, therefore people cannot be erased from cities no matter how smart they are.
As a Design Strategist...
She brings an understanding of people, culture and relationships to craft innovative products and services
Key Takeaway on the ESC Project
Cities should be citizen-centric. It shouldn't be driven by technocratics and have a bottom-up approach in solving for the problems of the city.
IwB Faculty & Advisors
These are the faculty and advisors who help us all along the way this past year at the Institute without Boundaries.
Paddy Harrington
Nazanin Homayounfar
John Jung
Graeme Kondruss
Apostolo Zeno
Lauren Wickware
Monica Contreras
Devika Narayani Prakash
Heather Daam-Rossi
Simon Mhanna
Kristina Ljubanovic
Matt Hexemer
Victor Bogatch
Christine Leu
Alan Webb
Amanda Nastruzio
Luigi Ferrara,
Dean, Centre for Arts, Design and Information Technology
Ana Rita Morais,
Chair, School of Design
Design Contributors
Aby Abraham
Nargiz Mukhamejanova
Silvia Cordero
Stephanie Woulfe
Stephanie Ho
Thomas Clarke
Laura Casella
Michele Paludetti
Sponsor
With the support of Waterfront Toronto, this website was made possible.
Partners
Thank You
We are very grateful to have the opportunity to speak to Smart City Champions from across Canada. A special thank you to Allan Thompson (Mayor, Town of Caledon), Andreas Boehm (Intelligent Cities Manager, City of Kelowna), Anthea Foyer (Project Lead, Smart Cities, City of Mississauga), Cyrus Tehrani (Chief Digital Officer, City of Hamilton), Fred Eisenberger (Mayor, City of Hamilton), Jean-Marc La Flamme (Smart Cities Designer, Smart Villages), Joani Gerber (Chief Executive Officer, Stratford Economic Enterprise Development Corporation, City of Stratford), Kristina Verner (Vice President, Innovation, Sustainability and Prosperity, Waterfront Toronto) and Nasir Kenea (Chief Information Officer, City of Markham) for sharing their knowledge with us.
*The Ethical Smart City Project was produced for a College class project and is not an official representation of the City of Kelowna
