VOLUME 8
THE FUTURE OF CITIES
June 18, 2019
WE Global Learning Centre
339 Queen Street East
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Managing in a mega city
54% of the world's population currently lives in cities. That number is expected to rise to 66% by 2050.
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The number of Global cities of 10+ million person cities has gone from 10 in 1990 to nearly 30 today.
It's clear that urban centres have mass appeal. Pun intended.
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But with so many people flocking to these metropolises, we need to consider things that were only a pipe dream less than 200 years ago when 50% of the North American population was still employed in agriculture:
How do we build cities to scale with the growing influx of people? And what does it mean to live in them and be a part of communities as they grow?
How will the continued influx of Newcomers to Canada continue to shape these cities and the neighbourhoods, businesses and traditions within them?
What role will technology, data and privacy play as smart devices weave themselves into our lives?
How will media and marketing continue to find new and more immersive ways to connect with the mass audiences available to them in these hubs?
What social issues will continue to rise in prominence or do we finally have the potential to begin to equalize our society through these new mega cities?
And with so much concentration of wealth and employment occurring at the municipal level, does the office of the Mayor have the potential to rival the power of leaders at the regional or even national level?
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Join us as we bring together leaders from the worlds of economics, architecture, politics, media and more to discuss the challenges and the opportunities that arise as we hyper-concentrate our society.
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Event Details
Tuesday, June 18, 2019
WE Global Learning Centre
339 Queen Street East
6:30 PM
Gregory Henriquez
MANAGING PARTNER, Henriquez PARTNERS
Gregory Henriquez is the Managing Principal and a leader amongst a generation of architects who are reintegrating ethics and activism into the discipline. His work is founded on the belief that meaningful architecture must be a poetic expression of social justice. Gregory has shaped Henriquez’s current practice, which is now best known for complex, inclusive and mixed-use projects. The Woodward’s Redevelopment completed in 2011 in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, remains unprecedented in Canada due to its scale, humanitarian aspirations and complexity.
Since this time, the studio’s socially, culturally and environmentally sustainable projects continue to have a major impact on shaping local communities and include: TELUS Garden, Coal Harbour Community Centre and 60 West Cordova in Vancouver. Gregory is actively involved in the studio’s projects that currently include the 4.3 million ft 2 Oakridge Redevelopment in Vancouver, Mirvish Village in Toronto and 1200 Stewart in Seattle.
Gregory’s work has been honoured with numerous design awards including: Architizer Awards, Governor General’s Medal in Architecture, BC Lieutenant Governor’s Medals in Architecture and Vancouver Urban Design Awards.
Elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, Gregory holds a Bachelor of Architecture with Distinction from Carleton University. He studied at McGill University’s Master of Architecture Program in History and Theory, has taught at the University of British Columbia and the Emily Carr University of Art + Design, is a lecturer for various universities and industry events, and has published three books: Towards an Ethical Architecture, Body Heat and, most
recently, Citizen City.
SPEAKERS
MIKE WILSON
Head of Sales, Canada and Central US, Waze at Google
Mike joined Waze in early 2015 as Country Manager, and Waze’s first Canadian employee. Mike is responsible for the management of the Canadian and Central US operations, primarily focused on educating the market on the Waze offering and ensuring marketers are using the platform to help brands reach a hyper-local mobile audience. Mike is also responsible for developing and growing our community of municipal and broadcast partners, and representing our Connected Cities Program at smart city conferences and events around the country.
Mike’s digital career began in 2006 at Yahoo! in New York, working on the Search side of the business acquiring and developing new advertisers for Yahoo! Search. After 2.5 years, Mike joined Microsoft in Toronto, where he spent 7 years both as an Account Executive as well as a Solutions Sales Executive focused on Mobile, Skype, and Windows advertising sales.
Mike graduated from Boston University with a B.S.B.A. in Marketing, and after spending the following 6 years in New York, returned home to Toronto, where he lives with his wife and two kids.
SPEAKERS
ANDREA DELZOTTO
DIRECTOR AND EVP, TRIDEL
Andrea DelZotto is a third-generation member of the founding family, senior executive and Board Member at the Tridel Group of Companies. In her 20 years at Tridel, Andrea has spent a large portion of her time focused on transforming the company’s approach to building communities to ensure Tridel delivers unparalleled homeowner experiences and remains a leader in GTA condo market.
In keeping with the foundational pillars of the organization, Andrea oversees the corporate values, drives innovation and empowers employees to ensure Tridel’s continued success, a practice started by her father, Angelo DelZotto. She is also General Partner at ADZ Ventures, an organization dedicated to creating innovative solutions to improve the social capital in the community experience.
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Andrea shares her thoughts and ideas about residential real estate, condo living, sustainable development, innovation, teamwork and what it’s like to be a woman in a traditionally male-dominated industry on Twitter and Instagram @andreadeezee and on her blog, Real Condo Life.
Jamie Grossman
MANAGING Princpal, broker
As Managing Principal of the Cresa Toronto for the last 10+ years, Jamie has grown the company to become one of Canada’s largest occupier focused commercial real estate companies. Under Jamie’s leadership, Cresa Toronto has grown by 81% percent, providing a fully integrated services including strategy, transaction management, interior design, and project management services to office, industrial, and retail occupiers.
Jamie prides himself on being a business builder with a keen focus on culture. Taking the business from a team of 16 to now over 60+ employees, Cresa Toronto’s culture focuses on employee growth and development, which has been key in attracting and retaining top talent. He is also a Director of Cresa Global’s Board, where he is involved in the strategic planning and direction of the global consortium of Cresa offices, with over 1,000 employees worldwide.
In addition to providing leadership and strategic direction, Jamie also works alongside his team to service clients, many with whom have been clients for decades. The key to his success has been to understand his client’s business needs, growth strategy, and culture to truly be a strategic partner. Year over year, Jamie is one of the top producers in the firm, and in 2017 Jamie was awarded the Cresa Chairman’s Award.
SPEAKERS
LANRICK BENNETT JR.
Stakeholder Engagement LeaD, HousingNowTO
Lanrick Bennett was most recently a Candidate for City Councillor in Toronto-Danforth. As a Project Manager he worked for the Province of Ontario as an Advisor to the Premier's Office tackling housing, transportation, culture and education. He also spent time specifically within the Office of the Minister of Government and Consumer Services as Operations Advisor, working closely with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) portfolio.
Prior to his jump to politics, he spent 10 years in Arts and Culture; as the Corporate Communications Producer at the world famous The Second City and as the Education Officers for the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Toronto Centre for the Arts.
His civic engagement and volunteer positions include working with: the AIDS Committee of Toronto, the Black Community Police Consultative Committee, Danforth Business Improvement Association and continued efforts with Dixon Hall's Out of the Cold Project at Eastminster United Church. During his free time Lanrick was able to embark on an epic trek called #JacksLibraryTour. Visiting all 100 Toronto Public Libraries by public transit. He lives in the Riverdale neighbourhood with his wife Sabrina, daughter Zoë and son Jackson.
DANNY ROTH
PUBLISHER, TORONTO STOREYS
Danny Roth is the founder and president of Brandon Communications, an award-winning communications and public relations firm specializing in meeting the needs of leading real estate companies and entrepreneurs across Canada. He is also the owner of Storeys Publishing Inc, the digital publishing company behind Toronto Storeys (www.torontostoreys.com), the city’s preferred daily source of news and information about the local real estate market and urban living.
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Beyond the office, Danny has been a board member for Save a Child’s Heart, is the former Chair of the Liberty Village Business Improvement Area, and was a member of the provincial government’s Expert Panel on Infertility and Adoption.
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He lives in mid-town Toronto with his wife Jillian and son, Billy. And their dog, Louie.
SPEAKERS
ANA SERRANO
Chief Digital Officer, CFC / Managing Director, IDEABOOST / Executive Producer / Digital Transformation / Innovation
Ana Serrano is the Chief Digital Officer of the Canadian Film Centre and Founder of the CFC Media Lab the world-renowned institute for interactive storytelling created in 1997. Most recently, she launched Canada's first digital entertainment accelerator IDEABOOST and serves as its Managing Director. To date, Ana has directed the development of over 130 digital media projects, mentored over 50 start-ups, and has received numerous awards from the digital media, film, and theatre industries in both Canada and the U.S., including a Digital Media Trailblazing Award in 2015 from the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television.
In 2018, Ana received the insignia of Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and Letters) from the French government. Alongside this deep experience in digital media and entertainment, she has been an active volunteer for numerous organizations and currently sits as Co-Chair of the Open Democracy Project and as a board member of The Centre for Mindfulness Studies.
MICHELLE GERMAN
DIRECTOR, ACTION LABS
Michelle manages Evergreen’s action labs, blending together research and action to advance solutions. Her work is focused on building partnerships with people from a variety of backgrounds to identify shared challenges. Michelle works together with partners to break down barriers between fields and create solutions to shared problems. Some of Michelle's key projects include the Housing Action Lab, Move the GTA and Tower Renewal. Michelle has worked in federal and municipal politics and non-profit research. She has a BA from the University of Toronto and a Master’s of Environmental Policy from York University.
MATT RUBINOFF
FOUNDER, STACKT
Matt is the founder of STACKT and has an extensive background in marketing, strategic partnerships promotions and event production. He is an avid world traveller and has been involved in international real estate transactions for 20+ years. The combination of proven expertise in real estate and marketing drove him to envision the stackt concept and bring it to life.
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While the surrounding King West neighbourhood boasts an abundance of restaurants, bars and experiences targeted to a young professional clientele there is a lack of fulsome, public space that encompasses this all in one.
This need is something Matt noticed while living in the neighbourhood and is what motivated him to create stackt; a cultural and community hub with an aim to engage the growing population in one of Toronto fastest growing neighbourhoods, and provide public space to gather, connect and discover.
After signing a two-year lease with the City of Toronto for the unused, previously industrial space at the corner of Front and Bathurst, Matt is now seeing his vision come to life.
With unique retail offerings, food and beverage experiences including the first-of-its-kind mobile Belgian Moon Brewery, a unique programming and events calendar, and an engaging cultural offering through art and music focused entertainment, stackt offers a constantly evolving community hub, set to evoke a curated sense of discovery and encourage authentic community connection.
Comprised of over 120 shipping containers, stackt is a modular development, which can be easily erected, changed and moved as needed. Following stackt, which is currently under lease until September 2020, Matt envisions this concept popping up in other locations, capitalizing on the ease of movement to continue to foster community connection through culture and innovation.
SPEAKERS
WE GLOBAL LEARNING CENTRE
We're proud of our association with the WE Global Learning Centre and now we invite you to be part of it, too.
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The WGLC is open for public rentals. Proceeds from venue rentals go directly to support WE Charity.
VOLUME 8
partners
Thank you to all of our partners who help us create something bigger.
