RSI chairs panel session at Building the Next Generation of Canadian Infrastructure Conference

RSI chairs and presents on panel sessions for the Toronto conference, “Building the Next Generation of Canadian Infrastructure: Defining a roadmap for optimizing infrastructure planning, implementation and operation” held on May 15 .  This inaugural conference, hosted by InfoNex, see more here recognizes that the next era of Canadian infrastructure must become more resilient, responsive, integrated and secure through innovative planning, financing, design and construction and operations. The event features speakers who are at the centre of driving infrastructural planning in regions across Canada and the world.

RSI’s Heather Auld and Simon Eng, with support from InfoNex, Quentin Chiotti (Metrolinx) and Toronto Hydro, have organized a panel session on Climate Change and Risk Management for Urban Systems. The session will feature case studies demonstrating processes for successfully integrating a climate resilience lens into planning, design, procurement, new standards and operational procedures for infrastructure systems. The panel will highlight the processes that led to these progressive climate resiliency actions by Toronto Hydro for their electrical distribution system and Metrolinx for their rail and bus transportation systems.

Heather Auld of RSI will also chair a session that follows on Smaller Cities and Big Challenges in Regional Development. This panel session features Kayla Dixon from the City of Thunder Bay and Karen Gasmo from the City of Regina and discusses some of the challenges of smaller cities of 100,000 to 500,000 people in responding their infrastructure systems to development, rapid growth, shifts in population including declines, changing standards, operational demands while also linking to satellite and surrounding rural regions.