- About
- Current Research
- SAGA: Translanguaging and Sustainability
- Research Team
- 2023 CO-LAB IN SYDHAVN
- 2024 CO-LAB IN HELSINKI
- 2025 CO-LAB IN PARIS
- Dynamic Language Demands for Ecological Transition of Cities
- Key Dimensions of Language and Terminology : City as Habitat in Space and Time
- Key Dimensions of Language and Terminology : Inviting Cultural Vernaculars
- Key Dimensions of Language and Terminology: Real-Time Updates to the Evolving Language of Urban Practice in Ecological Transition
- Innovation in Urban Transition Practice: Putting Transition in Place in Arcueil and the Plateau de Saclay
- Key Dimensions of Language and Terminology: Political Ecological Translations
- Losing the Edge of the Translation: Gated or Green; Shrinking or Degrowth
- Terms of Transition
- Call for Abstracts
- Open Positions
- Zotero
- Urban Innovation Lab
- SUSI: Scaling Up Social Instrastructure
- SAGA: Translanguaging and Sustainability
- Opportunities
- Partners
- Events
Research Staff
Leah Karlberg (she/her)
Leah is a Vancouver-based urban planner who uses engagement as a tool for research and policy innovation. At Happy Cities, she integrates IAP2 best practices with creative communication tools to support meaningful dialogue and inclusive decision-making. Her work includes placemaking action plans, design guidelines for social wellbeing in multi-unit housing, and research on the power of placemaking. Having worked previously in land use and urban design at the City of North Vancouver, Leah has a solid understanding of municipal processes and policy implementation. Leah is passionate about how social infrastructure can spark dialogue and strengthen social connections — leading to more resilient outcomes day to day and in the climate crisis. In her free time, she enjoys exploring new places by bicycle and facilitating small-scale community design interventions as a co-founder of Neighbour Lab.
Jacob Ereshfsky (he/him)
Jacob is an SFU MRM - Planning student supervised by Dr. Meg Holden, with a Bachelor in Arts in Human Geography and Urban Studies from UBC. His MRM project focuses on the South Vancouver Neighbourhood House's community engagement initiative called Reframing South Vancouver. His project, co-developed with the Neighbourhood House, focuses on how this engagement program bridged the gap between under-represented populations and the community planning process, serving as an example of community-led equitable engagement. This work builds on Jacob's experience in community engagement in planning with the City of Calgary and Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, as well as his IAP2 Certificate in Public Participation. His project will also help inform SUSI's case study with the South Vancouver Neighbourhood House as a multifunctional social infrastructure space and organization.
Andreas Gunster (he/him)
Andreas is a Master’s candidate in the School of Resource and Environmental Management (Planning) at Simon Fraser University. His involvement with the Scaling Up Social Infrastructure (SUSI) project began through a MITACS Accelerate internship with Metro Vancouver, where he contributed to the preliminary development of a community services performance indicator under the Metro 2050 regional growth strategy. In this role, he assembled regional geospatial datasets for childcare and parks and conducted spatial analyses to assess patterns of access across the region. He produced a report summarizing these findings, and the datasets he developed will support future work on assessing community services across Metro Vancouver. He also presented this work at a UN Habitat workshop in fall 2025. Andreas’ graduate research examines community environmental organizations as a form of social infrastructure, focusing on how their stewardship activities activate the social function of urban greenspace. He examines how volunteer led environmental stewardship shapes the social experience of greenspace and fosters connections between people and the places they care for. Andreas is an active environmental volunteer and passionate about the role of volunteering in strengthening community connection and care for the environment.
Hafsa Dastgir (she/her)
Hafsah is an urban planning student and community engagement enthusiast with a passion for youth engagement, public space, and equitable transportation planning. With experience working in urban planning and provincial transportation projects, her practice is rooted in fostering connected, inclusive communities through people-centered design. Hafsah will be supporting SUSI with Dr. Andi Binet on the development of case studies of multi-functional social infrastructure. Recently, she has supported engagement and public activations with Happy Cities and the City of Surrey. She is currently enrolled in the Master’s of Community and Regional Planning program at the University of British Columbia to develop the skills and perspectives needed to become a planner focused on building connected, equitable, and community-centered cities.
Christina Dinh (she/her)
Christina is a 2nd year MCRP student at UBC with a background in community engagement, mapping, and data. She’s interested in health equity and is working on developing performance metrics for community services in the region. These metrics will focus on the quantity, quality, and distribution of child care and green spaces as part of Metro 2050.