City Building Conference 2024

The 3rd annual City Building at the U of A Conference was held in downtown Edmonton at The Westin on October 24th, 2024. Building off of last year’s conference, the focus was on “bridging the gap” as we shine a new light on how industry partners, community leaders, and government officials can better interface to address the challenges and opportunities currently impacting the ‘city building’ space.

WATCH CONFERENCE RECORDINGS

This event’s gold sponsors are the Alberta Real Estate Foundation and Melcor Developments whose contributions make these conferences possible. We are deeply grateful for your continued support!

Download Conference Program

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

8:30 - 8:45	Introduction: David Dale-Johnson
8:50 - 9:40	Panel – Unlocking Housing Solutions: Navigating Edmonton’s Growth Jason Syvixay, Vice President of Strategy and Operations, BILD Edmonton Metro  Adil Kodian, Executive Vice President, Rohit, and CIVIDA Board Member  Saheb Dullet, Director of Policy & Government, BILD Alberta  Christel Kjenner, Director of the Housing Action Team, City of Edmonton
9:50 - 10:40	Affordable/Social Housing Josh Evans, U of A Nick Falvo, Nick Falvo Consulting Jacqueline Alderton, Alberta Seniors and Community Housing Association Miranda Jimmy, Municipal Affairs Coordinator, Confederacy of Treaty 6 First Nations	Panel: Reduction of carbon emissions in the built environment Tanya Doran, LEED Green Associate, Fitwel Ambassador, Principal, Carbon Lead Western Canada, Stantec Lisa Baroldi, President and CEO, BOMA Edmonton Barbara Daly, Senior Project Manager, Community Activation Team, City of Edmonton Brandy Burdeniuk, Director of ESG, North America for Avison Young
10:40 - 11:00	Break
11:00- 11:50	Multi-Stakeholder Collaborations: What's Working and What's Not Leo Wong, U of A Salima Ebrahim, Chief of Staff for the City of Edmonton Tom Viinikka, Principal, Edmonton Unlimited	Applying Innovation for Carbon Reductions in Buildings - A look at Edmonton based case studies Pam Goertzen, ED, SSRIA Haitao Yu, Landmark Group - Maple West project (SSRIA funded) and Net Zero + Energy Storage buildings in Blatchford Zhongyi Quan, Swiftcharge - EV charging project at U of A
12:00 - 1:15	Lunch
	Keynote speaker introduction: Sarah Stuebing
12:30 - 1:00	Keynote: Assessing Community Wildfire Exposure and Vulnerabilities in Alberta Jen Beverly, Associate Professor, Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta
1:00 - 1:15	Q & A
1:25 - 2: 15	Edmonton's Infrastructure: Growing to 2 Million Anand Pye, Chief Executive Officer, NAIOP Edmonton Kim Petrin, Deputy City Manager, Urban Planning and Economy, City of Edmonton  Stewart Fraser, Vice President, Commercial, Acquisitions and Entitlements, Cantiro Group of Companies	Social Vibrancy Impacts on Consumer Behaviour Heather Thomson, Edmonton Chamber Eric Slatter, Omada Commercial Dave Hennessy, Beljan Development Justin Der, Owner of Foosh, The Common, 9910, and Grandin Fish and Chips
2:25 - 3:15	Edmonton Transportation Emily Grise, U of A Janna Widmer, Strathcona County transit, leading the Regional Edmonton proposal for the Federal Public Transit Fund Olga Messinis, Transportation Specialist Ashley Salvador, Councillor, City of Edmonton	Opinions and Perspectives of Young Canadians Allison Watson, Vice President Public Affairs and Communications Western Canada
3:15 - 3:35	Break
3:35 - 4:25	Downtown Recovery Coalition (where are we, the downtown) Alex Hryciw, Chair, Downtown Revitalization Coalition  Puneeta McBryan, CEO, Edmonton Downtown Business Association  Jason Syvixay, Vice President of Strategy and Operations, BILD Edmonton Metro
4:35 - 5:30	Reception

---

Session Details:

Unlocking Housing Solutions: Navigating Edmonton’s Growth

Let’s examine the current housing landscape in Edmonton. This past summer, Alberta experienced a remarkable 32 per cent increase in housing starts, driven by unprecedented in-migration from other provinces and around the world into Edmonton. The development and construction industry are working diligently to keep pace with this rising demand.

However, challenges such as labour shortages, escalating costs, and a local housing emergency declaration loom large. Amid these complexities, key questions arise about how we can maintain our affordability advantage while fostering diverse housing options through both greenfield and infill development.

It is essential for stakeholders across public, private, and community sectors to collaborate on unlocking development opportunities, reforming regulations, and innovating new programs and incentives to address the city’s housing needs.

This panel will delve deeper into critical housing issues related to high immigration, city policies and regulations, and overall housing supply. Join us as we explore actionable solutions for Edmonton’s future. Moderated by BILD Edmonton Metro’s Jason Syvixay, this panel will include the perspectives and expertise of:

• Adil Kodian, Executive Vice President, Rohit, and CIVIDA Board Member
• Saheb Dullet, Director of Policy & Government, BILD Alberta 
• Christel Kjenner, Director of the Housing Action Team, City of Edmonton

 

Multi-Stakeholder Collaborations: What’s Working and What’s Not

Addressing complex challenges requires a degree of innovation and collaboration that stretches across sectors, where a mix of perspectives, resources and opportunities may lead to the right recipe for success. However, these collaborations can also be challenging in their own right, where differing agendas, needs and wants create friction. We’ll explore with Salima and Tom, their views on what makes some multi-sector collaborations work and what leads others to fail.

Moderated by Leo Wong from the University of Alberta, this panel will feature:

• Tom Viinikka, CEO, Edmonton Unlimited
• Salima Ebrahim, Chief of Staff, City of Edmonton

 

Social Vibrancy Impacts on Consumer Behaviour

Join us for a conversation to discuss the importance that socialization and retail adds to the overall vibrancy of a community, particularly on a mainstreet or in a downtown core. Hear from retailers, investors and brokers who will share what is happening in the market, what is transacting and what isn’t, and what needs to happen to support the retail economy in the future in a digital world.

This panel will include:

• Heather Thomson, Vice President of Strategy, Research and Engagement, Edmonton Chamber of Commerce
• Eric Slatter, Partner, Omada Commercial
• Dave Hennessy, COO, Beljan Development

---

2024 Speakers:

Previous conference archives