Laurier Arts: The Urban Studies Sustainability Project Wilfrid Laurier University

"Urban Studies is a great field because more and more people are moving to larger cities. Infrastructure, transportation, buildings – everything needs to be renewed and the Urban Studies capstone seminar really helps you have that insight into what might work best for a certain area. There's no exam, there's no midterm. It's this huge project that you work on all term. It prepares you for real life. It prepares you for the job market. We really have the highest impact learning moments with students when we're out in the field. The Capstone Urban Sustainability project is the bridge between academic studies in the bubble of Laurier to real-world problems. This capstone course really was invaluable to understanding how to apply all of our knowledge in the real-world setting"  

Laurier students work with City of Cambridge on urban projects

WATERLOO – A team of Wilfrid Laurier University students in Geography and Environmental Studies were awarded first prize for assessing the economic impact of streetscape improvement plans for King Street East in Preston as part of their coursework for the university’s Capstone Urban Studies Project (CUSP). 

The winning team, who named themselves WALKS Consulting, is made up of fourth-year students Warren Brayne, Ashley Byun, Samantha Dunlop, Lucas Pisciuneri and Kyla Suchovs. They are are part of the inaugural CUSP course at Laurier. The senior-level course, the first of its kind at Laurier, uses a collaborative case-study approach, which challenges students to analyse and propose resolutions to urban issues within the Region of Waterloo, while bringing to bear their understanding of both human and physical geography and environmental studies.