Building Good

As Building Good wraps up its sixth season, we're looking back at the big ideas shaping the future of construction. A few key themes kept emerging. First, sustainability still faces financial and regulatory roadblocks. Second, meaningful change needs community buy-in to succeed. Third, bold ideas are the skeleton keys to unlocking the construction industry's biggest brain teasers. Co-hosts Jen Hancock and Geoff Capelle revisit the season's most thought-provoking moments: from researchers developing sci-fi worthy building materials to expert navigators of the twisty, ever-evolving road of regulatory landscapes to multihyphenates using generative AI to reimagine community engagement.Join the Building Good community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

For thousands of years, humans have built with wood. Today, mass timber is changing the way we design, build, and experience our spaces. It's strong, fire-resistant, and capable of storing carbon, offering a sustainable alternative to traditional building materials. And beyond its structural benefits, wood also connects us to nature, improving well-being through biophilic design. Andre Lema, Business Development Manager at Western Archrib, breaks down the benefits of biophilic design, how mass timber is reducing carbon emissions, and why architects and developers are embracing wood for everything from rec centers to high-rises.Join the Building Good community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

Canada's path to net zero hinges on electrification. As the world's fourth-largest producer of hydroelectricity, we're primed to take a global leadership role. With the provinces and territories at different stages of grid decarbonization, electrification doesn't have to be “all or nothing” — regions with a longer way to go can take a phased approach, incorporating supplemental energy sources. But what about chilly Canadian winters? Cold-climate heat pumps now operate efficiently at -25°C. Of course, the best time to electrify may be during the initial build. But the second best time is now. Mariko Michasiw, program manager for B2E, the Building to Electrification Coalition, explains how cold-climate heat pumps, strategic retrofits, and grid planning are key to scaling electrification.Join the Building Good community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

Climate change is polarizing. Between inflation, investor pressures, competitiveness, high interest, and economic sluggishness, climate change can seem like a far-off problem — just another thing to worry about. Sustainability often takes a back seat, becoming a “nice to have” instead of a “need to have.” But an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Heather Taylor of EY Canada breaks down how prioritizing climate action is actually a smart investment strategy.Join the Building Good community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

In Asia, bamboo has been used as a construction material for thousands of years. Prized for its availability, strength, and flexibility, it has over a thousand uses—including scaffolding during the construction of high rises in Hong Kong. So why has it been slow to be adopted by the global construction industry? It's a sustainability advocate's dream: it sequesters carbon; provides wildlife habitats; supplies biofuel. Some species mature in just five years and can auto-regenerate after harvesting. But how does it stack up against concrete, steel, and timber? With the right ingredients, engineered bamboo shows major promise as a regenerative building material of the future. Brock University's Dr. Amir Mofidi is an expert in bio-based composites and he's developing cold-hardy, construction-ready strains that can handle North American climates.Join the Building Good community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

What if your city wasn't just a place to live, but a tool to keep you healthy? Dr. Avi Friedman, Professor of Architecture at McGill University, and Alexandra Pollock, landscape designer and urban planner, discuss how our cities impact our health—and how they can be redesigned for a better future. Avi and Alexandra dive into the concept of cities as “exercise machines,” where walkable streets, green spaces, and accessible design promote both physical and mental well-being. They explore how planning for “15-minute cities” can combat urban sprawl, reduce isolation, and bring communities together, all while tackling environmental challenges.Read Fundamentals of Planning Cities for Healthy Living (Anthem Press, 2023).Join the Building Good community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

New York Times science journalist Emily Anthes, author of The Great Indoors, has spent a lot of time thinking about how buildings shape our lives, from mood to mortality. From designing hospitals that speed up recovery, to developing autism-friendly apartments, to rejigging offices to boost productivity — the interior of the built environment can be a crucial factor in determining human health and happiness. After all, we spend 90% of our time inside. So why not use soundproofing, plants, and universal design to make our inner worlds a dreamy place to be?Join the Building Good community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

Because of the Indian Act, Indigenous communities have been blocked from accessing capital markets, which means they haven't been able to invest in critical infrastructure projects happening in their territories. For the past ten years, First Nations Major Projects Coalition has been working to change that. FNMPC is a non-profit, Indigenous-led organization working to empower Indigenous communities to secure equity stakes in mining, clean energy, regulated utilities and pipelines. FNMPC's Chief Sustainability Officer Mark Podlasly Mark explains how First Nations are becoming full partners in the next chapter of Canada's development—and why it's a crucial element to meeting Canada's international obligations around accessing export markets.Join the Building Good community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

NIMBY. It's a cursed acronym that can send chills down an urban planner's spine and jettison approved building permits into liminal space. It stands for “not in my backyard,” and it can stop even the mightiest projects in their tracks. Blamed for gentrification, urban sprawl, and a myriad of other evils, NIMBYs tend to oppose land use change. So, how does a NIMBY evolve into a YIMBY? (A “yes, in my backyard!”) It's not magic. It's just good public consultation. And there's an app for that. Farhaan Ladhani is the CEO of Digital Public Square and Senior Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy. His latest project, Goodbit, is here to transform how we talk with each other about the topics that get us the most… heated.Join the Building Good community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

Mushroom bricks sound like something straight out of science fiction or an 80's arcade game featuring an intrepid pair of plumbing brothers. But mushroom bricks are more than just fantasy—they're a biomimetic masterpiece. Biodegradable, eco-friendly, non-toxic, waterproof, fire-resistant, and grown from mycelium—the fuzzy white, green, or black germinated spores of a mushroom—mycelia is a material that's mushrooming with potential. Outside of construction, it's being used in myriad of ways—as packaging, replacing materials like styrofoam and polyurethane; in fashion, as a substitute for leather; in acoustic treatment, as an alternative to cork and foam. Dr. Mercedes Garcia Holguera, Assistant Professor of Architecture at the University of Manitoba breaks down the science of mushroom bricks and how we can use them to stack the future of construction in our favour.Join the Building Good community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

Urban planning is a constant negotiation between the bold dreams of the built environment and the delicate balance of the natural one. After all, we have a limited amount of space to terraform, and plants got here first. Urban growth is exploding: by 2060, the global building footprint is projected to double. But instead of wreaking havoc on biodiversity with every new development, interdisciplinary artist Dror Benshetrit of Supernature Labs has a greener idea: bioplanning. An approach that's rooted in nature, bioplanning is the idea that maybe (just maybe!) humans don't have it all figured out. It's the concept that Mother Nature is a brilliant urban planner and she's happy to share the IP when it comes to efficiency and conservation. So, who are the brave souls ready and willing to take one big leaf forward?Join the Building Good community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

Wood isn't what it used to be. Virgin lumber is generally less dense and grown faster than wood that was harvested from natural old growth forests. But logging what's left of those old growth forests isn't a sustainable option, so why not reclaim old lumber when buildings are torn down? Until now that process was labour intensive and expensive, but Eric Law and Urban Machine have developed robots that are making reclaimed lumber into the building material of choice, and that might just change the way we build new buildings entirely.Join the Building Good community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

Buildings from around the world represent the culture they were built in. From gothic cathedrals in Europe to glittering glassy office towers. So why don't we always think about local culture when we start designing? Why don't we talk to the community and ask for the stories they grew up with, so they can tell us about their culture? That's what Chris Cornelius, founder of Studio:Indigenous, does. He joins Building Good to tell us how listening is the starting point for any of his projects.Join the Building Good community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

If you head downtown in any major Canadian city you will see a lot of construction, and it is mostly large residential towers that are going up. That means more people living there, but the roads stay the same size. More residents, more cars, more traffic. So we have to rethink how we use those roads, and how we get people on to more efficient modes of transport. The cheapest, easiest alternative is the good old fashioned bicycle. Dana O'Born is the chair of the board of Cycle Toronto and a year-round cyclist. She's here to talk about how construction can work better with cyclists to help us build better cities for users of every kind of transport. Join the Building Good community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

Human nature makes the future a scary place. Scientists had predicted pandemics for decades, but the Covid-19 pandemic still felt like it came out of nowhere. Our tendency is to react to events, rather than get ourselves ready for likely eventualities. Markku Allison and Molly Connor have developed a free tool to help change our thinking and learn how to be ready for the future. They're on the show to talk us through the tool, which you can get at https://chandos.com/futureready, and to discuss what the future might hold for the architecture, engineering and construction industries.Join the Building Good community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

If job sites can be hostile environments for women and nonbinary people, how do we get them into construction in the first place, so they can change those workplaces? Nora Spencer founded Hope Renovations. They run a programme to bring women and nonbinary folks in the trades, which includes training on dealing with job sites and then they employ them in internships. They're also a nonprofit providing renovations to seniors so they can age in place. Nora joins the show to tell us why her trainees are proving to be the perfect people to do this kind of work, straddling construction and social work. Join the Building Good community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

When we're starting a new, dream job, we can overlook some annoyances, thinking they might get better. As we get older, more experienced though, we might realise that annoyance was a red flag. That coworker's “jokes” were actually a sign of an intolerant attitude, and that promotion you wanted is given to someone less qualified. You still love what you do, but would you tell a young person to go after that job? Jamie McMillan has been a welder and ironworker for 27 years and she's the founder of KickAss Careers and Made In The Trades, and she spends a lot of time getting kids excited about the trades… but she also understands that getting them in is only half the battle. We have to change the industry so that they stay for the long haul, too.Join the Building Good community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

Afdhel Aziz is a “recovering marketer”. His purpose used to be helping some of the biggest brands on the planet sell their products, and he did that by connecting them with “cool”. Now, he thinks that “cool” has been replaced with “good”. He's even written a book about it: Good is the New Cool. He joins us to talk about how companies need to have a purpose beyond just making profits, because that purpose ultimately does lead to profit.Join the Building Good community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

Heading into downtown Toronto you see a forest of cranes and partly built condo towers. These buildings are providing new, much-needed housing… for a certain type of resident. They're mostly small, with good amenities and high fees. So where will all the families live? Where do our low and fixed income neighbours move to? Cheryll Case is an urban planner who puts affordable housing and inclusion at the heart of her strategy, through her non-profit firm CP Planning. She's on the show to help us understand how we in the construction industry can help people like her plan for more affordability and equity in housing.Join the Building Good community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

Cities are phenomenally complex, living spaces that can generate an overwhelming amount of data, so collecting, managing and using that data is also phenomenally complex. There are huge pitfalls to avoid, privacy being the obvious one, and misuse by private entities another. Data is an incredibly valuable tool though, especially as we look to manage massive increases in electricity use. The “Smart City” is a concept that John Lorinc has covered in his book “Dream States: Smart Cities, Technology, and the Pursuit of Urban Utopias” and he joins the show to tell us how smart cities are operating in the real world, what's gone wrong, and what technology we desperately need to transition to a green economy.Join the Building Good community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

What's so scary about being the man who speaks up for women at work, especially when courage and accountability are traits that so many of us feel “make a man” in the first place? David G. Smith, PhD and W. Brad Johnson, PhD are “The Workplace Allies”, and they've drawn on their military and academic experience to write “Good Guys: How Men Can Be Better Allies for Women in the Workplace”, so we invited them on the show to talk about how that applies to industries like construction with varied places of work and differing cultures.Join the Building Good community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn 

Planning cities requires a lot of data. That data can be difficult to penetrate, and that's where synthetic cities come in. Myrna Bittner and RWI Synthetics create complex visual models of cities that are used to experiment and model what might happen with new projects like transit, housing or even if every resident owned a guinea pig. If you've ever played SimCity you've probably got a pretty strong image in your head right now… it's like that, but much more complex and far more useful. Join the Building Good community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

Nature has been engineering for billions of years, so why do we think we can do better than her? Biomimicry is taking that ancient evolutionary design process and using it to build buildings and design systems. Jamie Miller is Director of Biomimicry at B&H Architects and he joins Jen to talk us through how we can go further than just minimising harm to the environment, we can have a positive impact on the natural world, if we just mimic and work with it.Join the Building Good community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

Building Good is about making the built environment better. We're a place for the conscientious construction worker, the innovative engineer and the environmentally conscious architect. We're relaunching with a bigger and better show, and in this new season we're looking at what buildings can learn from nature, whether smart cities are really that smart, and how men can do better on the construction site. We're covering social justice in urban planning, and how builders can be better allies. We want to change the AEC space for better, for good. So join us at buildinggood.ca, and subscribe to the show so you don't miss our new, bigger and better season. Coming July.Join the Building Good community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

With a labour shortage that isn't being solved with only Canadian workers the solution should be obvious: immigration. Canada's immigration system has values built into it which make it hard to recruit tradespeople though, and when workers do make it to Canada their qualifications are often not recognised. So how do we fix it? Bill Ferreira has an idea of how we can make immigration work for everyone in Canada. He's the Executive Director at BuildForce, where he's helping to create a workforce of skilled trades professionals domestically and abroad.Join the Building Good Podcast Community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

Our host Tim Coldwell is not OK with the industry standard. There aren't enough Indigenous partnerships and communities often aren't involved in decisions around projects that affect them. That's not just morally wrong, it's a missed opportunity. Our guest Jodee Dick is CEO at Khowutzun Development Corporation and for her Indigenous partnership isn't optional, it's mandatory - and, it's overdue. She's been working with First Nations for over 30 years so she has plenty of thoughts on how we should be working together, because that will help us build good for settlers and Indigenous peoples alike. Join the Building Good Podcast Community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

Why does it matter if a construction project buys from diverse suppliers? If I'm a gay electrician, why should I be open about that? If an architect or carpenter is hiding their sexual orientation or gender identity, how will that affect the project? Geoff Capelle is our guest host and he's chatting with the CEO of Canada's LGBT+ Chamber of Commerce, Darrell Schuurman. They talk about creating safe spaces and why making your supply chain inclusive of LGBT+ and other diverse suppliers is better for business, how it can create a better workplace, and lead to more innovative teams.Join the Building Good Podcast Community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

Only 17% of construction jobs are going to women, and even those are mostly in off-site roles. Jeanette Southwood wants that to be at least 30%. She's vice president of corporate affairs and strategic partnership at Engineers Canada, but right from the start of her career as an engineer she noticed the barriers and hostility that women can face in this industry. When the stereotype is catcalls and bad jokes, how are we supposed to make construction appealing to all genders?Join the Building Good Podcast Community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

Did you know a water fountain is a form of accessible design? It's not just ramps, automatic doors, and escalators. Thinking about accessibility from the ground up makes the spaces we create easier and more beautiful for everyone who uses them. Sean Crump, CEO of Universal Access, spends his time fighting to make the AEC sector more accessible, both in its workplaces and in the buildings we create. Join the Building Good Podcast Community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

“Diversity” is not a buzzword. It's not just the right thing to do. Diversity is the solution to a labour shortage, it's the key to new insights and perspectives, and it's a way to make our spaces easier and more welcoming to everyone. In the new season of Building Good we're exploring how the architecture, engineering and construction sector might look if it can address its diversity issues and become a welcoming space for everyone. Join the Building Good Podcast Community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

Buying carbon offsets when you take a flight or build a building can sound a little bit like cheating. Should it really be as simple as paying your way to net-zero? Do these offsets actually do anything, or are they more like sustainability cryptocurrency… just tokens that only have value because we say they do. David Oliver is CEO and founder of Greenlines technology, a company that allows people to access carbon markets. He's someone who knows where your offsetting money goes, and how the carbon market works. Join the Building Good Podcast Community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

If you want to build a net zero project you need to predict its energy use. That's where Matt Grace comes in. He's an expert in creating virtual models of houses, extensions, or even entire communities to model the ways energy is used. This isn't just a static input/output model. It changes with seasons, and as the climate changes they have to take into account rising temperatures and more erratic weather patterns. If we want to fight climate change, we need to use energy modelling to account for the already changing climate.Join the Building Good Podcast Community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

If it were a country, cement would be responsible for more carbon emissions than the entire European Union. More than four times as much as Canada. Reducing the amount of carbon that concrete production creates has to be part of achieving a net zero future, so we've brought in Rob Cumming from Lafarge to help us figure out how. He's head of sustainability there, so he's full of solutions to decarbonize concrete.Join the Building Good Podcast Community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

A huge chunk of a building's emissions are baked into the fabric of the building itself. Even if its operations are net zero, the building itself might not be. This is called embodied carbon, and to truly get to net zero the industry needs to address this blind spot. That's one of the things Luka Matutinovic works on with his company Purpose Building. They've created the plan that will transition all of Toronto's city owned buildings to zero carbon. Luka's going to help us figure out how we do it for the rest of our buildings too.Join the Building Good Podcast Community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

Achieving net zero by 2050 requires us to build differently, but what about the buildings that are already up? We can't just knock them all down, even if they are inefficient carbon factories. We retrofit them. This can be expensive and difficult though, but it's possible. Chris Benedetti knows how to make it possible, and where the financial tools exist to make it happen. We talk to Chris in this first episode of our series “Zero by Fifty”Join the Building Good Podcast Community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

Canada has set an ambitious environmental goal: to have net-zero emissions as a country by 2050. One of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gasses are our buildings, so how does the architecture and construction industry help achieve that goal? In this series Building Good speaks to industry leaders to find out how we can achieve Zero by Fifty.Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Join the Building Good Podcast Community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

When car companies build a new car they don't reinvent the wheel, and they don't have engineers assembling each car individually. Pretty much everything in our lives is built out of other smaller components that are prefabricated with some degree of automation. Except for buildings. Jaimie Johnston at Bryden Wood has been working on changing that for over 25 years and he's had a lot of pushback, but this way of working could reduce costs by a third, reduce the impact on the environment, and make for safer workplaces. It could even help solve the labour shortage while getting underemployed people into work. So why has Jaimie had to work so hard to get the industry to notice?Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Join the Building Good Podcast Community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

Construction is rife with sexism. It's not just catcalls on building sites, it's tradeswomen being passed over for contracts. It's being told you'll never be as good as a man. It's bad jokes… and sometimes it's abuse. This isn't just a question of crass language and a tough atmosphere, it's contributing to the industry's very real labour shortage. When construction and trades are this difficult for women then of course they are less likely to want to work in the industry, and on the occasions that they do they are far more likely to leave it. Natasha Fritz has had enough. She runs her own carpentry business and she is calling out men in construction for their sexist attitudes, because she loves working as a carpenter and she isn't about to let them stop her.Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Join the Building Good Podcast Community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

Construction often rubs communities up the wrong way. Architects roll in with a construction firm and big money decides what's getting built and where. It's no fun for the people who live there… but this isn't how indigenous architects work. Brian Porter runs Two Row Architect, and he tells us that they work totally differently to mainstream architects. The way they build is inclusive, involving the community right from the start. Their buildings are also designed differently, leading to spaces that are both beautiful and wonderfully functional. He also tells us this is a way of building that people are hungry for… so perhaps indigenous architecture is the future of building. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Join the Building Good Podcast Community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

A lot of renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, depend on the weather, making their power output fluctuate. We need to store energy at times of high output. That's where Annette Verschuren's company NRStore comes in. They're providing energy storage solutions (aka batteries) across Canada, and even installing microgrids in remote, fly-in locations. Annette is a true leader in sustainable power, so she knows that working with  Indigenous communities is the best way to overhaul the energy grid in Canada, and that's what we're talking about with her.Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Join the Building Good Podcast Community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

Architecture is an intersection of art and science, but the art isn't just in a beautiful facade. The real artwork in architecture is in the space between. It's the experience, the livability and now, importantly, the sustainability of a space. Thinking in this way requires a creative mind, and the best of those minds are more than just architects - they are polymaths. Anthony Fieldman is a partner and architect at DIALOG, but he views his role as much more than that. He is someone who takes a broader, holistic approach to Architecture, so we're speaking to him about the nature of creativity and architecture's potential as a force for good.Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Join the Building Good Podcast Community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

The climate crisis is no longer a future problem. As forests burn across North America we turn up the AC, which increases the fossil fuels we burn, which makes climate change happen faster. We need clean energy solutions, and we need people who know how to use them. Jordyn Burnouf is a member of Black Lake First Nation and grew up in a Métis community. She's also an expert in clean energy from an indigenous perspective… which is about far more than just solar panels and wind turbines. We turned to her for community led answers to this urgent global question.Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Join the Building Good Podcast Community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

The construction industry is overwhelmingly male, and notorious for sexist attitudes towards women. There's also a huge labour shortage, and plenty of women out of work. So how do we get women into those rewarding and lucrative trade careers? Carol Moen is the CEO of Women Building Futures and she's helping women achieve economic empowerment so they can build good futures for themselves… and maybe change the industry for the better in the process.Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Join the Building Good Podcast Community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

To build good you need to use materials that have been built good. But how do we know that the materials we're sourcing have been produced ethically, with sustainably sourced materials in an ethical work environment? The global economy is full of people looking to make a quick buck by producing things quickly, cheaply, and dirtily. Some big companies have even found child labour in their supply chains. Martin Kotula of SAP is an expert in supply chain transparency - he even did his PHD in sourcing and procurement. He helps us unpick those opaque supply chains, and shows how technology is changing global procurement for good.Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Join the Building Good Podcast Community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

Immigration is key to building Canada's future, but we haven't been hitting the nail on the head so far... so how do we do it right? And how do we make sure that it works for everyone in Canada? Senator Ratna Omidvar is part of The Century Initiative, which means she wants to see 100 million Canadians by 2100. She chats to Tim about what our country looks like with that many people, and helps us plot a course to get there.Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Join the Building Good Podcast Community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

Looking after our minds is not something that's just nice to have, it's a crucial part of our occupational health. People work better when they have that support. So where do we start? Psychiatrist Dr David Goldbloom walks us through how we build good environments and good jobs that look after everyone's mental health… and it starts at home. Specifically, it starts with everyone having a home.Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Join the Building Good Podcast Community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

How do we build better systems, better lives and a better place to live? How do we build… good? Tim Coldwell and Jen Hancock are back to ask those big questions. We're aiming to make the construction industry (and the world) a better place to live and work. Back with weekly episodes starting July 7, 2021.Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Join the Building Good Podcast Community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedIn

With a vision to plant over 1 billion trees by 2030, the co-founders (and cousins) of tentree, Derrick Emsley and Stephen Emsley, believe that big change starts small. They join host Jen Hancock to discuss the unique business they've built around sustainable fashion with one goal in mind—plant ten trees for every item sold and protect and preserve the world. From humble beginnings in Saskatchewan, the Tentree story will inspire you with its creative business model and resulting global impact.Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Here's How »Join the Building Good Podcast Community today:https://www.buildinggood.caLinkedInTwitterInstagramFacebook

How we design our cities has a huge impact on the health and wellness of people. In a recent series of articles, A healthy city, beyond cycling, Marianne Lefever and her co-author explore the complex interconnections of health and infrastructure. For example, cycling is a great way to create healthy opportunities for people in cities but depending on where you cycle, you could be exposing yourself to harmful air pollution that may make your choice to cycle more detrimental to your health! Together with host Jen Hancock, Marianne breaks down the challenges and opportunities facing cities around the world and how a people-first approach to design and infrastructure can not only improve health and wellness but save millions of taxpayer dollars in the process.

We're better together, right? There's no “I” in team. There are dozens of ways to say it, but no matter which we choose, working together is sometimes easier said than done. Today, Tim Coldwell is joined by Pat Boucher, the Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer for the Canada Border Services Agency, as they explore the role of government in society. They go into detail on how a collaborative approach between the private and public sectors can help build culture, drive innovation, and create stronger communities. Inclusive economies will never be achieved without strong public-private partnerships.

Community engagement is often a requirement in industrial projects and as part of the formal RFP process. Over the last decade, if we traced back all the social impact initiatives that successful proponents committed to on paper and asked them to present the results, what do you think we'd find? Not a whole lot. Today many organizations claim to prioritize ESG and CSR, but how do you know whether they've delivered against those priorities? How do you know what impact they've had? Objective metrics for social impact is a critical element lacking in supply chains. Tim Coldwell explores the concept of measuring social impact with Aaron Lambie, President and CEO of Social Awareness Group, and discusses the challenges facing the industrial sector when it comes to collecting and measuring social impact data.