Mira Shenker has been editor of ReNew Canada since May 2007. She has written articles on a wide variety of topics including financing, green building, governance and foreign investing.
Contact the AuthorArchitect Patrick Evans on Where the Snow Goes
February 22, 2013 - 10:51 am
Snow can be magical. Many a children’s story starts with a snowman who comes to life and opens up a world of wonders for one little boy or girl. But, in the city, snow becomes waste as soon as it hits the ground. What if snow could be seen as a material like any other or, more than that, a resource...
Timid Engineer Syndrome
February 13, 2013 - 11:32 am
This morning, I moderated a panel on technology innovations in infrastructure. The Ontario Society of Professional Engineers' research and innovation taskforce put this event together to look at how policy- and decision-makers can learn to use innovations. Every presenter agreed that LIDAR, building...
Risky Business
February 7, 2013 - 12:12 pm
St. John’s is the oldest English-founded city in North America. So if anyone understands the pressures associated with trying to insure older assets, it’s Betty Clarke, risk manager for the centuries-old city. “We actually still have infrastructure that’s over 100 years old,” said Clarke. “Right...
Design Matters
January 29, 2013 - 4:52 pm
In one of the more entertaining uses I've seen of the popular app SeeClickFix, one concerned Toronto citizen pointed out bad kerning in a downtown subway station's lettering. While he's clearly joking when he suggests that "such a visible typographical error in Toronto's trendy west end indicates that...
Campaigning for Better Transportation
January 24, 2013 - 11:11 am
Campaigns to raise funding for transit, both regional and national, are proliferating. Advocacy group Greater Toronto CivicAction Alliance and national charity Evergreen have both focused their efforts on driving awareness of the negative effects of gridlock on residents of the Greater Toronto Area...
Should NB Power Answer for Cost Overruns?
January 14, 2013 - 10:07 am
NB Power says the Energy and Utilities Board does not have the authority to question the "reasonableness" of bills it ran up during the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station’s refurbishment because legislation passed by the former Liberal government shields those expenses from scrutiny (as the CBC...
POLL// The Top Story for 2013
January 3, 2013 - 1:12 pm
It's a new year and, having just released our annual Top 100 Projects report and having a productive conversation with the report's key players, we're looking to the future and wondering what this year has to offer. We'll be watching for updates on the federal long-term infrastructure plan, but there...
Top Insights
January 2, 2013 - 9:27 am
ReNew Canada has produced the Top 100 Projects report for the past six years. The listing of Canada’s 100 biggest projects (ranked by project value) is an industry touchstone—a look at how some of our megaprojects are funded and, perhaps of more interest to our readership, which firms are working...
Cloudy with a Chance of Powers
November 6, 2012 - 12:44 pm
Smarter cities or smarter planet are very lofty concepts, says Rick Huijbregts, VP of Cisco’s Smart + Connected Communities practice. But when you get down to the concrete day-to-day uses, much of what’s comprised under the “smart” umbrella is very basic—and becoming increasingly standard. “You’d...
POLL// In-House Bidding: Too Risky?
October 12, 2012 - 8:57 am
Much like the ongoing debate surrounding public-private partnerships, the issue of government in-house fulfillment versus tendering a projects with the private sector boils down to two basic questions. Should the public sector be delivering or just funding infrastructure? And, should government offload...
