- About
- Commitments
- Sustainable Development Goals
- The Goals
- SDG 1: No Poverty
- SDG 2: Zero Hunger
- SDG 3: Good health and well-being
- SDG 4: Quality education
- SDG 5: Gender equality
- SDG 6: Clean water and sanitation
- SDG 7: Affordable and clean energy
- SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth
- SDG 9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure
- SDG 10: Reduced inequalities
- SDG 11: Sustainable cities and communities
- SDG 12: Responsible consumption and production
- SDG 13: Climate action
- SDG 14: Life below water
- SDG 15: Life on land
- SDG 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions
- SDG 17: Partnerships for the goals
- About
- The Goals
- SFU at COP
- Sustainable Development Goals
- Sustainability and Climate Plan
- Reports
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- Contact
Sustainable cities and communities
MAKE CITIES AND HUMAN SETTLEMENTS INCLUSIVE, SAFE, RESILIENT AND SUSTAINABLE
The world’s population is constantly increasing. To accommodate everyone, we need to build modern, sustainable cities. To survive and prosper, we need new intelligent urban planning that creates safe, inclusive, affordable, and resilient cities with green and culturally inspiring living conditions.
Summary of SFU’s contributions:
SFU contributes to inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable cities and human settlements by providing public access to buildings, monuments, and natural heritage landscapes of cultural significance. We also invest in providing free and automatic public access to our library, including public access to books, publications, and electronic knowledge resources. SFU actively creates cultural resources and provides free public access to these assets along with community-friendly programming. Public access assets include museums, exhibition spaces, galleries, and works of art and artefacts.
Arts and heritage investments bring a community to life. SFU contributes to the local arts with over 90 public performances per year, including choirs, theatre groups, orchestras etc.
SFU values cultural heritage as a community asset. We record and preserve cultural heritage, including the heritage of displaced communities and the heritage of local, regional, and national communities. This includes delivering projects to record and/or preserve intangible cultural heritage such as local folklore, traditions, language, and knowledge.
Greenspaces provide social gathering places for people, offer opportunities for mental and physical renewal, and provide homes for non-human life. SFU provides public access to open and green spaces.
Walkability and sustainable transportation are key features of inclusive, safe, sustainable and resilient cities and communities. SFU sets and measures targets for sustainable commuting and undertakes actions to promote more sustainable commuting by our faculty, staff, students, partners, and visitors.
One sustainable commuting model is to forgo the commute entirely by working remotely from home. SFU allows for remote working/telecommuting as a matter of policy and standard practice. We actively promote and support members of our community to telecommute and remote work. Options available for SFU community members include: walking and cycling paths, non-motorized transport paths, carpooling programs, a shuttle bus, subsidized public transportation, motorcycle priority parking, electric vehicle charging stations, bicycle parking and storage, a bicycle sharing program, and promotion of fuel-efficient vehicles.
Pedestrian priority and access on campus is a priority. All three campus locations can be traversed entirely on foot, and most locations are accessible for wheelchair and stroller access.
Housing is a critical part of an inclusive community. SFU provides affordable housing options for faculty, staff, and students including providing financial aid in the form of below market housing.
SFU builds new buildings to sustainable standards, including LEED and Passive Haus standards. SFU also builds most of its new buildings on brownfield sites.
Learn more about how SFU is contributing
Territorial Acknowledgments
The Office of Aboriginal Peoples provides information on the territories that SFU occupies, and the Bill Reid Centre provides the Coast Salish place names for areas around Burnaby Mountain, which in Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) is known as Lhuḵw’lkuḵw’á yten, meaning "where the bark gets pe[e]led in the spring." This name is derived from the word for the arbutus tree, lhulhuḵw’ay or "always peeling tree." The Bill Reid Centre provides an audio recording of Lhuḵw’lkuḵw’áyten, providing learners an opportunity to hear, and practice, the pronunciation of the mountain's name.
It is important to note that SFU resides on the unceded and traditional territories of many Indigenous Nations. Public access to SFU's facilities is granted with full respect for the true owners of the land upon which the university has campuses.
BURNABY CAMPUS
Simon Fraser University acknowledges the unceded Traditional Coast Salish Lands including the Tsleil-Waututh (səl̓ilw̓ətaɬ), Kwikwetlem (kʷikʷəƛ̓əm), Squamish (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw) and Musqueam (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm) Nations.
SURREY CAMPUS
Simon Fraser University acknowledges the unceded traditional territories including Semiahmoo, Katzie, Kwikwetlem (kʷikʷəƛ̓əm), Kwantlen, Qayqayt and Tsawwassen First Nations.
VANCOUVER CAMPUS
Simon Fraser University acknowledges the unceded Traditional Coast Salish Lands including the Squamish (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw), Tsleil-Waututh (səl̓ilw̓ətaɬ) and Musqueam (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm) Nations.
Accessibility
PUBLIC ACCESS TO LIBRARY
All three SFU Library locations (Burnaby, Surrey and Vancouver) provide automatic free public access to books, publications and computers to the community and all visitors. Those wishing to use a public workstation can simply request a guest log-in at one of the main desks. Those that wish to borrow from the general collection can request a borrower card through the front desk at any of the three library locations.
PUBLIC ACCESS TO BUILDINGS, MONUMENTS & NATURAL HERITAGE OF CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE
SFU provides free public access to all of its significant buildings across all three main campuses. SFU also provides public access to buildings, monuments, and natural heritage landscapes of cultural significance. Many of SFU’s building—across all three campuses—provide general access for 14+ hours of the day with some buildings being accessible 24/7. The free SFU Snap application allows anyone to easily find where they need to go at our three campuses (Burnaby, Surrey and Vancouver).
Public Access to Indigenous Buildings, Monuments & Natural Heritage
A guided tour of Indigenous art located all around the Burnaby campus is available on the ‘ímesh’ application. This private, guided walking tour shows and educates the user on publicly accessible Indigenous artwork and monuments of cultural significance on campus which includes—but is not limited to—canoes, totem poles, paints, and sculptures.
The Coast Salish Welcome Figure (2017) was hand-carved by Squamish artist Sinámkin and instated during a traditional First Nations blessing ceremony. The figure honours and acknowledges the surrounding territories of the Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), səlilwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), xʷməθkʷəyw̓əm (Musqueam), and kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem) Nations. Welcome figures are often grouped within the category of totem poles but are distinct in form, function, and cultural significance The Coast Salish use welcome figures as markers to welcome people to their territories. This monument reminds SFU that First Nations continue to exercise their sovereignty and refuse conditions of disappearance despite various dispossessions, erasures, and displacements due to the colonization of these lands.
The Black Eagle canoe is one of four 1987 reproductions by artist Bill Reid of Loo Taas, a 50-foot canoe born from a 750-year-old cedar. It has been added to the Bill Reid Collection at Simon Fraser University and is now proudly displayed at SFU’s Burnaby Campus. Based on their centrality in some of the earliest oral histories in the region, the dugout canoe is arguably one of the most important physical manifestations of Northwest Coast culture. A culturally significant spiritual vessel and vessel of knowledge, canoes garner respect and represent the skill and precision of craftsmen and carvers who transformed mighty trees into seagoing vessels.
Located in the First Nations Atrium, the Frog Constellation is an example of SFU’s growing role as a custodian of Northwest Coast Aboriginal art. The sculpture is artist James Hart’s tribute to a small shamanic piece of cultural significance collected on the Northwest Coast in the mid 19th Century. Frogs are considered the primary spirit helpers of the shaman because of their ability to move between worlds and symbols of good luck, prosperity, and healing, and are known as great communicators. This important monument was taken out of over a decade of storage to be installed by the Bill Reid Centre at SFU.
SFU provides public access to museums, exhibition spaces, galleries and works of art and artifacts.
The SFU Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology puts a focus on British Columbia, but exhibits artifacts from all over the world. Exhibits are rotated and everything that has been shown is digitally captured so that it can be viewed later. Visiting the museum or accessing digital collections online are free.
SFU has several gallery spaces that provide free access to the public and have incorporated art works into all three campuses. The SFU Art Gallery on the Burnaby Campus and the Audain Gallery at the Goldcorp Center for Arts in Vancouver are the most prominent. These hold over 5,800 works which include significant regional and national pieces. The Vancouver campus also has an open access gallery on the main floor of the Harbour Centre building and regularly offers special projects such as “Geographies of Longing” In SFU’s Harbour Centre Lounge, a public study and meeting space defined by its massive picture window framing views of the North Shore mountains and working shoreline, "Geographies of Longing" is presented in multi-dimensional form.
SFU opened the Marianne and Edward Gibson Art Museum in September 2025. Situated centrally on Burnaby Mountain, with 12,000 square feet of programming and gallery space the purpose-built facility will house SFU’s art collection, host programs and create a welcoming community space. SFU galleries are of no cost to the public and seek to engage the general public as well as the university community. The Marianne and Edward Gibson Art Museum fosters inclusive learning and critical inquiry for everyone through innovative visual arts programming at Simon Fraser University. Our informal exhibition tours, artist-led workshops, research, and community outreach opportunities, contribute directly to SFU’s academic mission by inviting learners of all ages—whether undergraduate and graduate students, scholars, elementary and secondary school classes, families, or special interest groups—to develop strategies of close looking, dialogue, and creative response. The Art Museum also hosts regular free programming for the community including their Studio Saturdays which invite toddlers and youth weekly for free scheduled events.
PUBLIC ACCESS TO OPEN SPACES AND GREEN SPACES AND ALL CAMPUS GROUNDS
SFU provides permanent, free public access to all open spaces, green spaces across all campus grounds on its three campuses.
SFU provides ample free public access to the green spaces on all campuses which include 26 multi-use trails spanning 14,23 acres within the Burnaby Mountain Conservation Area, 2.7 acres of space at Richard Bolton Park, open use space in the Academic Quadrangle and five outdoor courtyards used for music, festivals, pop-up markets, recreation (e.g., ping pong), kids camps, outdoor classrooms, and community connections.Members of the public can utilize a virtual walking tour HERE to find and locate these spaces for free and easyaccess to public spaces.
ACADEMIC QUADRANGLE COURTYARD
The Academic Quadrangle Courtyard in the centre of campus features open grass areas, seating, a reflection pond, and public art including an Indigenous ceremonial canoe. It is a well-used space for outdoor classrooms, summer camps for kids, exercise classes, picnics and the annual staff and faculty BBQ. It is open space to the public 24/7, year-round and is a well-used green space for the adjacent UniverCity residential community. The courtyard is wheelchair accessible.
Community Gardens
Embark Sustainability operates four Learning Gardens at Simon Fraser University. This includes three outdoor raised-bed Learning Gardens at SFU’s Burnaby and Surrey campuses and an indoor vertical garden at SFU Surrey. The gardens provide spaces for the SFU community and the public to explore food production in our communities and uncover their personal and cultural connections to food justice.
The Naheeno Park Community Garden is located at the north end of Naheeno Park on Burnaby Mountain. The garden is operated, maintained, and managed by the UniverCity Community Association and is open to all students, staff, and faculty of SFU and UniverCity residents.
DJAVAD MOWAFAGHIAN COURTYARD
The Djavad Mowafaghian Courtyard is open to both the SFU community and the public. This quiet greenspace is wheelchair accessible and features a pond, grassy areas, seating, and a beautiful walkway, making it a perfect location for yoga, studying and small picnics.
Richard Bolton Park
Richard Bolton Park, a 2.7-acre park run by the City of Burnaby, resides in the heart of the UniverCitycommunity.
Complete with a children’s playground, benches and featuring one of UniverCity’s ARTWALK pieces—NEST WITH CHROME EGGS by Artist Bruce Voyce—the park provides the SFU community a wonderful area to play and relax.
City of Burnaby Trails
A network of 26 multi-use trails criss-crosses the 576-hectare Burnaby Mountain Conservation Area that surrounds SFU's Burnaby campus.
This important mountain ecosystem is forested with deciduous and coniferous trees. Blacktail deer, coyotes, bald eagles, and a wide variety of smaller animals make their homes in this lush and rugged terrain. Black bears and cougars are occasional visitors, seeking out the numerous creeks and streams along the trails.
For a complete map and description of the trails, click here.
SFU’s School of Contemporary Arts hosts frequent events including theatre performances, screenings, symposiums and more. In 2024, they held more than 90 performances. The School of Contemporary Arts also has several ongoing projects and activities which range from an Indigenous Film Festival to Sound Seminars, discussions about the carbon footprint of streaming, student run productions, album releases and much more.
SFU’s Pipe Band has won the World Pipe Band Championships six times. It competes and performs at annual competitions like the B.C. Highland Games and Scottish Festival, the Victoria Highland Games and Festival and at the university’s 12 convocation ceremonies annually.
There are also a number of SFU clubs that regularly contribute to the arts. These include, the jazz band and vocal club, music discussion, SFU Artists, Befikre Dance Team, circus club, rck music club, concert orchestra, choir, and slam poetry.
SFU records and preserves cultural heritage
SFU delivers projects to record and/or preserve intangible cultural heritage such as local, regional, and national folklore, traditions, language, and knowledge, including the heritage of displaced communities.
Local and regional cultural heritage:
First Nations communities have local and regional languages that are intangible cultural heritage. SFU works to record and preserve these languages.
SFU has been working with First Nations communities and organizations for more than 20 years and has developed undergraduate and graduate language programs for 18 local and regional Indigenous languages. During the fall 2023 convocation, one graduate received a certificate in Indigenous language proficiency, 15 received a diploma in Indigenous language proficiency and one graduate received a Master of Arts degree.
SFU’s the Indigenous Languages Program (INLP)
The Indigenous Languages Program (INLP) works with speech communities and organizations to enable Indigenous language learning off campus in First Nations communities. The Program recognizes the powerful role that Indigenous languages and language revitalization play for the present and future identity, well-being and wholeness of Indigenous peoples and communities. Since 1993, they have offered courses around British Columbia and Yukon, recording and preserving the cultural heritage of regional Indigenous languages.
Sts’ailes Community Field School
The Faculty of Environment’s Sts'ailes Community Field School, generously hosted by the Sts’ailes First Nation, offers university students at all levels an opportunity to learn local folklore, traditions, language, and knowledge directly from community members. These students give back to their hosts by looking into community issues and working on short projects to address them. These have included work on local signage representing Sts’ailes stories and language, multi-media educational curriculum planning for inclusion of Indigenous traditions, and mobilization of knowledge and use of traditional food sovereignty.
Native Plant Garden
The Archaeology Department is nurturing SFU’s Native Plant Garden to build connection with the community and provide a naturalized setting to showcase local wild plants and preserve intangible land-based cultural heritage. Identification tags on the plants provide names in hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓, Sḵwx̱ wú7mesh sníchim, Latin, and English languages.The garden incorporates food plants important to local Indigenous communities, including Camassia quamash (common camas), Amelanchier alnifolia (saskatoon berry), Urtica dioica (stinging nettle), and Fragaria chiloensis (coastal strawberry). Groundcovers, such as Claytonia perfoliata (Miner's lettuce), Cerastium arvense (field chickweed), and Oxalis oregana (redwood sorrel) have been eaten by local Indigenous peoples and settlers on this land. Other plants are useful for medicine (Achillea millefolium, yarrow) or tool making (Corylus cornuta, beaked hazelnut wood, or Crataegus douglasii, black hawthorn branches).
National cultural heritage:
The Simon Fraser University (SFU) preserves and promotes the cultural heritage of a range of Canadian cultural groups through research & archives, cultural programming/events, community engagement and equity initiatives, and institutional policies & curriculum.
SFU Faculty of Environment’s Efforts to Record & Preserve Cultural Heritage
The SFU Faculty of Environment’s Department of Archaeology not only has concentrated academic expertisein archaeological science, environmental science, and First Nations heritage and resource management, it also works on practical projects to record and preserve intangible cultural heritage in British Columbia and beyond. SFU Professor Emerita Dana Lepofsky has worked on numerous collaborative projects with Indigenous peoples along the Northwest Coast of North America. These projects have actively preserved cultural heritage of the Heiltsuk and Tla’amin Nations such as language, environmental stewardship practices, and culturally significant subsistence traditions.
Research & Archives
SFU’s long-running research initiative Intellectual Property Issues in Cultural Heritage (IPinCH) engages communities (including Indigenous and other cultural groups) in defining and safeguarding their heritage (e.g., material culture, oral traditions). Read More
SFU Library’s Special Collections & Rare Books hold collections related to immigrant and ethnic-group experiences in British Columbia. For example:
The “Immigrant Experience” research guide listing monographs and journals on immigrant heritage. lib.sfu.ca
The “Indo-Canadian Oral History Collection” capturing the stories of early Indian immigrants in BC. digital.lib.sfu.ca+1
The “Canadian Farmworkers Union Project” preserving historical materials relating to farmworker labour heritage. lib.sfu.ca
These archival efforts help ensure that the histories and cultural contributions of various groups are documented, accessible and integrated into scholarship and teaching.
Cultural Programming & Events
SFU’s Multilingual Week (from the Department of World Languages & Literatures) celebrates multilingualism and cultural diversity on campus, offering film screenings, panels, booths, and workshops that connect languages, heritage and identity.
Through its student services, the Intercultural Engagement team runs programs and events aimed at supporting cultural understanding, and celebrating different identity-groups and their heritage.
The university’s list of Days of Significance formally acknowledges and raises awareness of cultural and heritage events (e.g., Black History Month, International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination).
On campus, student-led cultural clubs for diverse communities (e.g., Iranian Club, Punjabi Student Association, Afghan Student Union) organise heritage-focused events and provide cultural spaces. go.sfss.ca
These programming efforts create living heritage-spaces for cultural groups to present, practice, and share their traditions and stories.
Institutional Policies, Curriculum & Teaching
SFU embeds cultural heritage and diversity into curricular offerings such as world-languages, global literatures, immigrant-heritage studies (via library guides and course material).
The library’s collections and research guides support teaching and scholarship on cultural and heritage themes.
Equity, Diversity & Inclusion initiatives at SFU include recognition of cultural heritage, identity groups and multiculturalism as part of its institutional strategy. (e.g., Days of Significance)
These institutional structures help ensure that heritage preservation is not just extra-curricular but part of the academic, archival and policy fabric of the university.
Language and Learning
SFU works to support recording and preserving cultural heritage nationally.
SFU has been working with First Nations communities and organizations for more than 20 years and has developed undergraduate and graduate language programs for 18 local and regional Indigenous languages. During the fall 2023 convocation, one graduand received a certificate in Indigenous language proficiency, 15 received a diploma in Indigenous language proficiency and one graduate received a Master of Arts.
SFU Indigenous Languages Scholars at National & Global Conferences
SFU’s INLP has sent its scholars across Canada and around the globe to promote its work in preserving national Indigenous oral cultural heritage.
At the WAVES Global Indigenous Languages Summit in Ottawa, INLP faculty, students and alumni presented research on Indigenous language teaching, ties to the land, and the importance of recording and preserving Indigenous oral cultural heritage.
The INLP had a strong presence at this year’s International Conference on Language Documentation and Conservation (ICLDC 9), the theme of which was “Navigating new realities in diaspora communities”. INLP members presented on both languages Indigenous to British Columbia and from across Canada.
Heritage of displaced communities:
Displaced Indigenous Communities
Simon Fraser University was built in the 1960s on Burnaby Mountain, land that lies within the unceded traditional territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), q̓íc̓əy̓ (Katzie), and kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem) Nations. While the construction of the university did not involve the direct removal of residents at the time, it took place on land that had been colonially expropriated without treaty or consent, contributing to the historical displacement and dispossession of Indigenous peoples from their ancestral territories. Therefore, Indigenous communities are displaced across Canada and the United States.
SFU now acknowledges this history and works in partnership with host Nations through initiatives such as:
Agreements and Memorandum of Understanding
Signing a Relationship Protocol Agreement with the Tsleil-Waututh Nation to advance reconciliation.
Signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the Skwxwú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation).
The Bill Reid Centre for Northwest Coast Studies at SFU supports reconciliation by creating a vibrant collaborative space founded on respect and admiration of differences. It allows Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars, artists, students, curators, and cultural practitioners to come together to share diverse ways of knowing, being and doing.
The McDonald Collection reflects SFU's respect for Northwest Coast cultures. This collection brings together images from museums and archives around the world into a centralized location to allow better access to some of the history of Northwest Coast First Nations.
The SFU Library houses a Special Collections and Rare Book department which allows individuals to see collections both physically and digitally. These collections provide access to unique materials, including rare books, archival material, and manuscripts.
SFU’s 2017 Walk this Path with Us strategy outlines 34 calls-to-action to create and support an improved environment for SFU’s Indigenous community members. SFU released a final report on the work that has been completed since this strategy was released.
First Peoples' Gathering House
Opened in September 2025, The First Peoples’ Gathering House on the SFU Burnaby Campus is a gathering place where Indigenous students, staff and faculty can come together to practice, learn and share in their cultural traditions.
As part of SFU’s commitment to Uphold Truth and Reconciliation, the Gathering House is a place where ceremonial events, cultural learning, celebration, workshops and classes will be held for the Indigenous and campus-wide communities.
The space is a home-away-from-home for Indigenous students, offering a deep sense of belonging, comfortand cultural safety when they are away from their families, communities and traditional territories.
The First Peoples’ Gathering House will support the decolonization and Indigenization of courses and programs, fostering teaching and learning environments that respect diverse Indigenous knowledge systems and world views. It will also help enable professional development opportunities for non-Indigenous faculty and staff, including land-centred learning and teaching that deepens understanding of the traditional territories on which our campuses reside.
The First Peoples’ Gathering House on the SFU Burnaby Campus is a gathering place where Indigenous students, staff and faculty can come together to practice, learn and share in their cultural traditions. As part of SFU’s commitment to Uphold Truth and Reconciliation, the Gathering House is a place where ceremonial events, cultural learning, celebration, workshops and classes will be held for the Indigenous and campus-wide communities.
The space is a home-away-from-home for Indigenous students, offering a deep sense of belonging, comfortand cultural safety when they are away from their families, communities and traditional territories. The First Peoples’ Gathering House will support the decolonization and Indigenization of courses and programs, fostering teaching and learning environments that respect diverse Indigenous knowledge systems and world views. It will also help enable professional development opportunities for non-Indigenous faculty and staff, including land-centred learning and teaching that deepens understanding of the traditional territories on which our campuses reside.
Making room for Indigenous art and culture
SFU is actively collecting, commissioning, and showcasing Indigenous artwork across its campuses. The public and SFU community members can visit and learn about the art on SFU’s campuses using the ímesh Indigenous Art Walk mobile app.
SFU Surrey Indigenous Public Art Commissions
In 2023, SFU commissioned four works of public art to acknowledge, honour and respect the unceded traditional territories of the south of the Fraser River First Nations where SFU’s Surrey campus is located. Designed in consultation with Indigenous and local community partners, the pieces produced by Indigenous artists, Phyllis Atkins (q̓wɑti̓cɑ̓), and her son, Noah (Kwantlen First Nation), Rain Pierre (sɬə́məxʷ) (Katzie First Nation), and Roxanne Charles and Leslie Wells, both assisted by Easton Arnouse (Semiahmoo First Nation) bring Coast Salish traditions, culture and identity into the heart of the campus’s teaching and community spaces.
Art-related calls to action
Following the 2017 report from SFU’s Aboriginal Reconciliation Committee (ARC), an ARC Arts Cluster was formed to address art-related calls to action across SFU. The committee included SFU indigenous staff and faculty, including Eldon Yellowhorn, Bryan Myles, June Scudeler and Deanna Reder.
This initiative led to the first removal of work under the calls to action in 2019, which saw a controversial painting that misrepresented Indigenous people and B.C.’s history, Charles Comfort’s British Columbia Pageant, taken down.
Indigenous Curriculum Resource Centre Coast Salish Weaving Commission
The Indigenous Curriculum Resource Centre (ICRC) assists the SFU teaching community with Indigenizing and decolonizing their curriculum. To assert the importance of Indigenous artwork as a vital form of intergenerational knowledge holding and sharing, SFU Galleries has partnered with SFU Library to commission four Coast Salish weavings—by Chepximiya Siyam Janice George and Skwetsimeltxw Willard “Buddy” Joseph (Skwxwú7mesh), Debra Sparrow (xʷməθkwəy̓əm), Angela George (Skwxwú7mesh and Səl̓ílwətaɬ), and Atheana Picha (q̓wa:ńƛəń)—to hang in the space and define the ICRC’s new home.
Honouring Our Women
Honouring Our Women is a mural by Semiahmoo artist and cultural historian Roxanne Charles, commissioned by SFU for 312 Main. Previously the headquarters of the Vancouver Police Department, 312 Main is now a community-centred hub for social and economic innovation, and includes the offices of SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement, Lifelong Learning, Community-Engaged Research Initiative (CERi) and Public Square.
Cultural Safety Training
The Faculty of Education is leading the collaboration of the R.E.S.P.E.C.T Program project, which responds directly to SFU's ARC report's, Walk This Path With Us, Call #7: “Develop intervention programs teaching cultural safety and anti-racism for all employees at SFU”.
Development of senior leadership, student services, and community offices within SFU, including the Indigenous Council Office, The Office for Indigenous Peoples, and the Indigenous Student Centre, add resources for cultural safety learning.
Black Diaspora
Simon Fraser University (SFU) engages with students and colleagues of the Black diaspora through initiatives like the Institute for Black and African Diaspora Research and Engagement (IBADRE), student groups like SOCA (Students of Caribbean and African Ancestry), and the SFU Black Caucus. These groups work to create supportive communities, advocate for social justice, and provide platforms for dialogue and research on issues relevant to the Black community within and outside the university. The university also supports this work through events, library resources, and strategic commitments to equity and inclusion, such as aligning with the Scarborough Charter.
The university’s SFU Black Caucus runs the “Black History Project”, an ongoing initiative that “spotlights the achievements, historic moments, advocacy and resilience of Black individuals … at SFU since 1965.” The project aims to inform, illuminate and inspire, filling in gaps in the historical record, telling stories of Black faculty, staff and students in their own voice.
The student group Students of Caribbean and African Ancestry (SOCA) runs programs such as the “Walk with Our Elders Program” which pairs Black students with Black elders (mentors) to support inter-generational cultural connection, knowledge sharing, and community bonding.
SFU marks Black History Month with curated events, displays, talks, celebrations. For instance, on the 2025 theme: “Black Legacy and Leadership: Celebrating Canadian History and Uplifting Future Generations.”
SFU Library offers a research guide on primary sources for social history, including materials on Black history in Canada. lib.sfu.ca
SFU provides affordable housing for students
SFU Evaluates Affordable Housing
SFU regularly evaluates affordable housing for students through our 2035 Residence and Housing Master Plan. SFU is currently in Phase 3 of its five phase Residence and Housing Master Plan, which will play a significant role in community engagement, student citizenship, and student academic success. The Phase 3 Student Housing Project is an eight-storey building that will include 445 new beds for upper-year undergraduates in Fall 2027. On completion of all five phases of the Residence and Housing Plan, SFU will be able to offer on-campus housing to 3,250 students on Burnaby mountain.
SFU Provides Affordable Housing
Burnaby is currently the second most expensive Canadian city to rent in. Comparative to the local market, SFU provided affordable housing to students with undergraduate housing at an average cost of $952/month for the 2024 academic year, while a bachelor suite nearby North Burnaby had an average cost of $1,286/month in October 2024.
SFU Provides Financial Aid
SFU students have access to many awards and bursaries which can be used for tuition and housing costs.Awards and grants range from $250 to over $10,000 per semester. For those in exceptional academic standing, some awards may not even require an application.
SFU Provides Affordable Housing for employees
Staff and faculty at SFU can take advantage of affordable housing in the Verdant complex which is exclusively for SFU staff and faculty at a valued price of 20 per cent less than market value. When reselling, the same 20% discount is applied so that prospective staff and faculty can benefit from the same savings. Owners are not allowed to rent these units out and they must be their primary residence.
SFU Provides Financial Aid for employees
SFU faculty members have access to a $50,000 subsidy which can be used for aiding in the down payment for their principal residence in the expensive Lower Mainland housing market.
Facts and Figures
375 research publications relating to SDG 11, 2020-2024 (source: SciVal)
75 active research projects related to SDG 11 funded from 2020-2024
Since the 2018/19 academic year, SFU has offered 34 courses related to SDG 11, representing over 624 students
At least 104 faculty members involved in research relating to SDG 11 (source: SFU Research Expertise Engine)
Global partnerships for innovation and sustainable community development
SFU is a member of a consortium of five universities who have come together to tackle the climate crisis in Tanzania. The consortium includes the Aga Khan University (AKU), the University of Dar Es Salaam, Sokoine University of Agriculture, and the Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology.
SFU and AKU also partnered on the Arusha Climate and Environmental Research Centre (AKU-ACER), aresearch centre focused on global issues like health and climate innovation, student exchanges and other collaborations. Both institutions are committed to advancing the United Nations sustainable development goals. In 2023, and 2024 SFU led field schools in Arusha, focused on climate change and community resiliency, and climate resilient food systems and sustainable development.
Sustainable community-resilient alternative mobility (SCRAM)
SFU’s Collaborative Research on Energy, Air Pollution, Transportation and Environment (CREATE) is working in partnership with the Action on Climate Team (ACT), SFU's Chris Buse, UBC's Amanda Giang, and Mahmudur Fatmi to examine community-centred urban transportation decarbonization strategies. Utilizing extensive data from the City of Burnaby and Metro Vancouver, alongside advanced modeling tools, it aims to pinpoint opportunities and assess their impact on community resilience. Health impact assessments and considerations of environmental justice are critical components of our mobility recommendations.
Decarbonizing community’s on-road transportation
Led by Dr. Chris Bule and Dr. Vahid Hosseini, researchers from SFU launched a project in 2024 aimed at decarbonizing community on-road transportation while advancing sustainable urban mobility across the Metro Vancouver region. This project brings together major partners such as, UBC, Translink, Evo Car Share, Mobi Bike Share, and more to evaluate how neighbourhood design and locate engagement can accelerate low-carbon travel transitions.
The Centre for Sustainable Development
The research and publications of the Centre for Sustainable Development seek to support and enable the sustainable development of communities in B.C., Canada and internationally. The Centre's 5-year research project, SAGA, investigates and advances sustainability across language and context. Recognizing that English is the lingua franca of sustainable development discourse and policy, SAGA researchers seek to advance more-than-English language capacity as means to embed diverse cultural values within sustainability strategies. With collaborative research in English, French, Finnish, Danish and Indigenous languages, in different urban contexts, the team investigates the translanguaging processes that permit and inhibit the activation of sustainable cities in ways that hold cultural meaning.
Faculty of Environment: Sustainable Development Program
The Sustainable Development Program offers in-classroom and online courses, as well as a Certificate and a Minor in Sustainable Development that are open to all students at SFU.
This innovative program is newly redesigned to align with the UN Agenda 2030: Sustainable Development Goals and emphasizes the need for action in the Global North and Global South and for new governance models internationally and locally that allow for multi-actor collaboration for the Goals.
Sustainable development programs offered by the Faculty of Environment
SFU’s School of Environmental Science
SFU's environmental science program started over 25 years ago and became the School of Environmental Science in 2019 to address the growing global demand for environmental scientists. Faculty have expertise in a range of fields including geomorphology, river dynamics, soil science, environmental modelling, climate change, and arctic environments. Maclean's 2024 university ranking listed environmental science as one of the standout programs from SFU.
Simon Fraser University professor Andréanne Doyon is laying the groundwork for building more sustainable cities and communities—work that is urgently needed to address climate change while creating more just and equitable societies.
Setting commuting targets
SFU, as a body, measures and sets targets for more sustainable commuting such as walking, cycling or other non-motorized transport, vanpools, carpools, shuttlebus or public transportation, motorcycle, scooter or moped, or electric vehicles.
SFU's 2022-2025 Strategic Sustainability and Climate Action Plan targets:
25 per cent reduction in Scope 3 emissions, including commuting emissions
SFU has committed to continue work to ensure the Burnaby Mountain Gondola is being built on schedule, with an anticipated completion date in 2027 (Scope 3 commuting strategy is of particular importance to SFU)
Measuring commuting targets
SFU publishes an annual report on all its sustainability commitments. SFU’s also conducts and publishes a Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventory Report which measures and reports out on commuting emissions as part of a comprehensive GHG emissions calculation. The first GHG Inventory was completed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The most recent GHG Inventory was released in November 2024 and covers 2019, 2021 and 2022. Subsequent GHG inventories will be conducted every three years. They can be found on the reports page of the Sustainability and Climate website.
Examples of the creative ways that SFU measures its progress toward targets are provided below:
To meet targets set by the 2025 SFU Sustainability and Climate Action Plan, SFU Parking and Mobility Services partnered with the SFU Sustainability and Climate Office to assess commuting patterns and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from transportation-related sources. The information collected by the SFU Transportation & Commuting Survey 2024 will be used to assess SFU’s current transportation-related emissions at all campuses and will guide actions to improve sustainability university-wide. The survey work was led by a current master’s student in Resource and Environmental Management (REM), with support from Parking and Mobility Services and Sustainability and Climate Office. It builds on the work carried out in 2022 by an SFU Living Lab research team. The information gathered in this online survey will be compared to comprehensive “hard” data collected in the Fall of 2019 and 2024 as well as a previous online Transportation & Commuting Survey completed in Fall 2022. The purpose of this analysis is to review SFU’s steps towards GHG reduction in commuting in a post-COVID world.
Our university’s Sustainable Transportation Working Group hired a graduate student with the skills and experience required to complete a best practice analysis of the most impactful projects to reduce our commuting GHG emissions. The purpose of this work was to make informed and data-driven decisions about which potential transportation actions need prioritization within our university’s context. The project analyzed the GHG reduction potential on campus for 18 sustainable commuting projects. This research directly contributed to the final GHG emissions reduction plan for the commuting category under the SFU 2022-2025 Sustainability Plan.
SFU undertakes actions to promoting sustainable commuting at SFU
SFU has a long history of promoting sustainable commuting and reducing barriers for community members wanting to select sustainable commuting options. SFU has programs for nearly every type of sustainable commuting option and all campuses are accessible by foot. SFU has participated in many regional and national sustainable commuting campaigns to encourage adoption of sustainable commuting methods including hosting specific SFU "go by bike" events.
Campus Community Shuttle (Burnaby campus)
The Burnaby Campus Community Shuttle is free for anyone to use. Its route—which can be tracked in real-time—contains six stops across SFU's Burnaby campus, reducing the need for single occupancy car use and increasing safety and accessibility on campus.
U-Pass for students (subsidized transit pass)
The U-Pass BC program is a partnership between B.C. post-secondary institutions, their student societies, TransLink, and the Province of British Columbia. Participation in SFU's U-Pass BC Program is mandatory for all members of the Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS) and all members of the Graduate Student Society (GSS).
Electric vehicle charging plug stations
SFU's Burnaby campus currently has two different types of Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Stations on campus. There is no additional charge to use the stations, however the Permit or Daily Rate required in each parking lot remains in effect for the EV Reserved stalls.
Level 1 Charging Outlets
SFU has 60 Level 1 charging outlets in the 6000 level of the West Parkade. They are available to any indoor permit holder or daily parker. These Level 1 charging outlets are smart outlets, which require a user provided cord and will provide approximately 5 to 8 km of range for each hour charged. Over an 8-hour day this represents more than 40 km of range – more than enough for the average SFU commuter to drive home
Level 2 Charging Stations
SFU currently has 18 Chargepoint Level 2 dual-port electric vehicle charging stations on the Burnaby campus, creating 36 EV charging parking spaces. These Level 2 charging stations dispense electricity approximately 10.5 hours per day per port (or 40 per cent of the time) representing the highest usage amongst the Chargepoint network in Canada. The stations can be activated via the Chargepoint network (card or app) or via tapping a credit card or debit card, but there is no additional charge to use them.
SFU has an additional two Chargepoint stations at the Surrey campus (four ports total), which operate in a similar manner.
Cycling infrastructure
SFU has a small but vibrant cycling community. Some people ride up-and-down Burnaby Mountain, some take the bus up-and-ride down, and some come specifically to SFU to enjoy the mountain biking trails. Various resources exist, including:
Bike cage—Burnaby campus
The bike cage is located on the northwest corner of the bus tunnel, adjacent to the southbound lanes. It has approximately 40 year-round active users.
Mobi Bikes—Vancouver Campus
Mobi Bikes can be used to commute, run errands, visit friends or casually cruise around the city of Vancouver. It is ideal for one-way trips and users never have to worry about bike theft.
Evolve E-Bikes—Burnaby Campus
Thirty Evolve E-Bikes are available to ride around SFU’s Burnaby campus and the surrounding area. The electric pedal-assist bikes can be found at nine designated parking zones strategically located across campus, including outside student residences to the west and adjacent the UniverCity neighbourhood to the east.
Each e-bike includes complimentary use of a helmet if riders do not have their own, and access to safety information, riding tips and advice on the app and at evo.ca/evolve. The program has flexible pricing of $0.35 per minute, or $12.99 per hour, plus an additional $1.25 unlocking fee per trip. Frequent riders can subscribe for $9.99 a month, lowering the rate to $0.10 per minute.
Bike tool lending program
SFU is also working on a bike tool lending program which will provide resources for cyclists who are in need ofrepairs while on campus.
Carsharing and carpooling
Car sharing services provide vehicles for a fee to individuals for short-term use. Two car sharing companies have partnered with SFU Parking and Sustainable Mobility to bring their vehicles to SFU's Burnaby campus: EVO, and Modo. These vehicles are heavily used by students living in residences and by the community looking to travel between campuses and for grocery and recreational trips.
Pedestrian priority on campus: SFU prioritizes pedestrian access on campus
As SFU campuses are in Metro Vancouver municipalities, each campus is within walking distance of amenities. The Burnaby campus is completely walkable once on site and can be reached on foot from the west side by trail from the City of Burnaby or the east side by trail from the City of Coquitlam. The Vancouver and Surrey campuses are rated as a walker’s paradise and are easily navigable by foot or bike.
SFU has developed a multi-use path up the west side of Burnaby Mountain that creates a safe and reliable path for pedestrians all year round. Cyclists coming up the mountain now have a safe passageway separated from car traffic.
On Burnaby campus there are also specific accessibility and weather avoidance routes outlined in publicly available maps. All roads on the Burnaby campus have sidewalks, crosswalks, and pedestrian controlled crosswalks.
SFU promotes and allows telecommuting, remote working, and condensed working weeks for employees as a matter of policy and standard practice.
SFU offers hybrid work arrangements which include remote working options
SFU supports flexible work arrangements that promote work-life balance and sustainability through its formal Hybrid Work Program (HWA). The university’s policy allows eligible staff and faculty to telecommute on a regular or hybrid basis, depending on the role and work required. SFU recognizes the benefits of remote work in enhancing productivity, reducing commuting time and environmental impact, and supporting employee well-being. In addition to remote work options, the university provides flexibility in scheduling, including the possibility of compressed workweeks, to accommodate diverse needs and reduce the frequency of commuting.
The Hybrid Work Program
At SFU, we value a vibrant campus community experience for our students, faculty and staff. Our Hybrid Work Program is designed to enable and support in-person interactions and collaboration while also bringing flexibility to the way we work.
Employees participating in the program spend some of their time working on campus and some of their time working remotely from an alternate work location. On-campus work can refer to another physical location other than SFU’s 3 main campuses where an employee is needed to represent or perform work duties on behalf of the university. The amount of time spent working on campus is determined by the Work Persona assigned to a position which is based on an assessment of role responsibilities, departmental operating requirements as well as team connection and collaboration needs. Personas and hybrid work arrangements can vary in terms of the days and frequency of on-campus presence and may be structured or flexible. The right balance may differ across departments and roles.
A Principle-Based Approach
Our framework for hybrid work takes a principle-based approach to faculty and departmental decision making. Employees participating in the program will work together with their manager and team to ensure arrangements align with operational needs and support the desired workplace culture. Managers are encouraged to review the tools on the Leaders' page which outline specific considerations and resources, recognizing that each unit has unique operating needs that need to be met.
Hybrid Work Framework
The Hybrid Work Program Framework provides information on each Work Persona; requirements and limitations of hybrid work; and the process of establishing and modifying arrangements. All managers and employees are required toreview the Framework prior to starting their hybrid work arrangements.
Collaboration for Sustainable Planning and Development
SFU works with local authorities to address planning issues and development to ensure that local residents have access to affordable housing and vibrant, safe, sustainable, and livable community infrastructure. Among the top issues is affordable housing, which is particularly relevant to the high costs of living in Metro Vancouver.
The intersection of social justice, sustainability, resilience, urban planning, and livability are key focus areas for SFU. The university has been engaged with numerous partners over the last 10 years to integrate social considerations into planning and infrastructure development and current and future social infrastructure. This work is part of SFU’s commitment to being an engaged university and positions the university as an anchor institution within our communities, improving and elevating the prosperity and conditions for thriving for all residents.
UniverCity
Simon Fraser University has collaborated closely with the UniverCity Community Trust to develop affordable and sustainable housing on Burnaby Mountain, transforming the area surrounding its main campus into a vibrant, mixed-use community. Over the years, this partnership has focused on creating housing options that are environmentally responsible, architecturally innovative, and financially accessible for students, faculty, staff, and local residents. Through initiatives such as Verdant, an affordable housing project for SFU faculty and staff, and other mixed-income developments, SFU and the Trust have prioritized affordability while maintaining high standards of livability and design.
Research at Urban Studies: Hey Neighbor Collective
Hey Neighbour Collective (HNC) is a group of researchers and practitioners, lead by SFU faculty members Meg Holden, Meghan Winters and Atiya Mahmood, interested in the domain of social connections and neighbourliness in urban housing. HNC brings together housing providers, non-profits, researchers, local and regional governments, housing associations and health authorities to experiment with and learn about ways of building community, social connectedness and resilience in BC’s fast-growing multi-unit housing communities. Their Building Social Connections project works with local authorities in Metro Vancouver to address planning and development issues with a focus on safe and affordable housing. From July 2023 to June 2024, HNC worked with six jurisdictions in Metro Vancouver to co-create new design policies to support wellbeing for residents in multi-unit housing. This work comes at an ideal time for the region, ensuring that new, denser housing contributes to happier, healthier communities for all.
Community Housing Canada
SFU faculty members Yushu Zhu and Meg Holden are part of the Community Housing Canada research project, co-leading the sector of this project that addresses the affordable housing needs of vulnerable populations. This research group includes student researchers, community housing partners and local government agencies. The group promotes a better understanding of and solutions to housing challenges faced by vulnerable populations for local authorities and organizations.
ACT’s 2021 Low Carbon Planning Handbook for Local Governments
In 2018, SFU’s Action on Climate Team (ACT) launched the Integrated Climate Action in B.C. Communities Initiative (ICABCCI) to co-create low carbon resilience (LCR) pathways with partner communities of all shapes and sizes, and work with local authorities to address planning issues/development. This yielded a systemic planning approach that coordinates and mainstreams adaptation and mitigation planning, while advancing key co-benefits for governments and local residents. ACT has identified and honed key entry points and opportunities for local governments to embed the LCR approach in climate planning, community planning, asset management, and corporate strategy. Their handbook compiles the results of the ICABCCI, draws on best practices and key learnings, and outlines an integrated climate action planning process that is systemic and cross-cutting.
Community-Engaged Research Initiative (CERi)
Based on a collaborative research infrastructure, SFU’s Community-Engaged Research Initiative (CERi) promotes principles of participation, cooperation, social transformation, and knowledge translation to lift and strengthen the capacity of SFU’s researchers and students, to engage respectfully and ethically with community organizations, Indigenous Nations, community members, and leadership. Working with various local authorities on issues such as climate change, affordable housing, independent economic development, CERi’s 312 Main Research Shop has completed projects related to planning and development issues. Their partners include Indigenous governments, local climate action agencies, and community associations.
Collaboration with CIL
Through the Civic Innovation Lab— a partnership between SFU and the City of Burnaby—the university is sharing its leading-edge research and strengths in innovation and sustainability to advance practical solutions for the city’s most pressing urban issues, from diversity and housing to sustainable growth and environmental challenges caused by climate change.
Over the long-term, the initiative will provide the city with a permanent research base, where students and researchers apply their education and knowledge to develop real-world solutions, helping solidify the city’s role as a leader in solving urban issues.
"From taking action against climate change to addressing reconciliation and equity, diversity and inclusion in a meaningful way, there are pressing challenges facing our cities today—challenges that SFU students and researchers are eager to tackle," says SFU President Joy Johnson.
"This partnership gives SFU an exciting opportunity to deepen our decades-long relationship with the City of Burnaby, while upholding our commitments to knowledge mobilization and community engagement."
The city approved the formal research partnership and has also created a non-profit society that will provide a path to seek federal and provincial grants.
Urban Innovation Lab
The Urban Innovation Lab (UIL) 2023-2025 was a pilot initiative between the City of New Westminster and Simon Fraser University that aimed to open up new ways of learning and idea generation from students and faculty to help solve complex urban challenges with local authorities. Designed to bridge municipal innovation and student learning in a range of dimensions of urban public sector management, the UIL worked on projects that addressed planning and development issues across municipal departments for the benefit of local residents. Project topics included a downtown livability strategy, community-informed opioid management, innovative small green spaces (parklets), accessible recreational and cultural resources, and community-centered heat-resilience.
Planning Development – new build standards for sustainability
SFU is committed to constructing new buildings to high sustainability standards as part of its Sustainability and Climate Action Plan. All new major campus buildings are designed and built to meet or exceed LEED Gold certification or equivalent green building standards, ensuring energy efficiency, reduced water consumption, and lower greenhouse gas emissions. SFU integrates sustainable design principles such as advanced energy management systems, green roofs, natural lighting, and the use of low-impact, locally sourced materials. More recently, the Sustainable Energy Engineering Building (SE3P) in Surrey, incorporates innovative mechanical systems and energy-efficient materials to minimize environmental impact. Through these initiatives, SFU demonstrates its ongoing leadership in sustainable construction, aligning campus growth with its long-term goals for carbon neutrality and environmental stewardship.
The third building of the Residence and Housing Master Plan is currently under construction and is expected to be LEED Gold certified. This housing building is being construction from mass timber which showcases SFU's commitment to sustainable building practices. This building will also meet the BC Energy Step Code and Zero Carbon code standards.
More examples of sustainable building standards and examples can be found in SFU’s Climate Action Reports.
Building on brownfield sites
SFU exclusively builds on brownfield sites.
At SFU’s Burnaby campus, all new buildings since the first main construction have been built on brownfield sites such as parking lots and old building sites. Currently, new construction is planned on the site of a decommissioned gas station.
Burnaby Campus:
Gibson Art Museum was built on a parking lot
First Peoples' Gathering House was built where the previous Annex buildings existed
The Shrum Science Complex was renewed instead of being rebuilt
The Student Union Building was built on a parking lot and mixed space area
Newest Student Housing buildings were built on a parking lot and mixed space area
The McTaggart-Cowan building has been around since 1985 and
Surrey Campus
The School of Sustainable Energy Engineering (SEE) building was built on a parking lot
The future site of the SFU Medical School will be on an old recreation building
Surrey campus was built on top of the ruins of another university on top of a mall
Vancouver:
The Vancouver and the Surrey campuses were built on brownfield sites. All newer buildings in the downtown campus including Harbour Centre, Woodwards and the Charles Chang Innovation Centre were built on former shoreline/industry/railway tracks.
The building, touted as a ‘living lab’ for its sustainable spaces and operations, is the university’s first major step in expanding beyond its Central City campus, creating an integrated academic precinct within Surrey’s evolving City Centre downtown core.
The LEED designation demonstrates SFU’s commitment to being a leading post-secondary institution in sustainability research, learning, innovation, outreach, and practice. The building is an example of how SFU uses campus infrastructure and operations as living environments in which interdisciplinary learning, applied research and practical work advance sustainability and resiliency on campus and beyond.
The building comprises teaching and research labs, study and lounge spaces, offices, an open atrium, and a 400-seat lecture hall, serving the campus and the community.
Its award-winning façade is composed primarily of framed, high-performance, undulating precast concrete panels. Its distinctive design is derived from abstracted circuit board imagery, which symbolizes the technological subject matter being taught in the building.
More examples of sustainable building standards and examples can be found in SFU’s Climate Action Reports.