elementslab is an applied research in urban design and environment in the School of Architecture + Landscape Architecture and the Centre for Interactive Research in Sustainability at the University of British Columbia. The lab was formed at the University of Oregon in 1995 and relocated to UBC in 2004. Co-founders and -directors Cynthia Girling and Ronald Kellett work closely with students, collaborators, clients and sponsors to create new knowledge, processes and tools for effective, creative integration of urbanism and environment.

Our expertise spans the disciplines of urban design, landscape architecture and architecture. We work across scales (from regions to buildings) on community-based projects typically in collaboration with academic and professional partners. Academic collaborators have included faculty and students in atmospheric science, architecture, community and regional planning, computer science, civil engineering, environmental design, forestry, geography, landscape architecture, library science and remote sensing.

The results of our work have contributed to the development of urban design tools, indicators, guidelines and community prototypes in the United States and Canada. Expansion and refinement of our principal tool, elementsdb, a web-based database of case-based urban form examples, and its application in applied urban design research and teaching contexts is an ongoing project.

Our sponsors and clients have included public agencies: British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund; Canada Fund for Innovation; Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation; Natural Resources Canada; Oregon Department of Transportation; Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development; Oregon Department of Transportation; Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions; US Army Corps of Engineers; US Department of Energy; US Department of Agriculture Forest Service; US Geological Survey; cities and municipalities: Albany, Oregon; Benton County, Oregon; Calgary, Alberta; Eugene, Oregon; Lake Oswego, Oregon; Lebanon, Oregon; Strathcona County, Alberta; Toledo, Oregon; Vancouver, British Columbia foundations and non-profits: American Planning Association; Center for Housing Innovation, University of Oregon; Landscape Architecture Canada Foundation; Neptis Foundation, John Yeon Charitable Trust; Simon Fraser University Community Trust; Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund of the University of British Columbia.


CURRENT AND RECENT PROJECTS

Watch us on CBC-TVs 'Nature of Things with David Suzuki' — the Suzuki Diaries: Future Cities, our touch table application of elementsdb is featured in a segment on UBCs Center for Interactive Research on Sustainability at minute 39:30 of 45:15. Originally aired 16 February 2012.

IDEAS2.0: Integrative Data-Enabled Approaches to Sustainability across Scales — a 3 year transdisciplinary research project funded by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Strategic Project Grants Program. 2011 - 2014

Measured Visualizations as Catalysts for Mobilization — a 2 year research project in social mobilization around municipal planning for climate change funded by the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS) and the City of Revelstoke, British Columbia. 2011 - 2013

Visualizing Urban Futures: Geomatics Decision Support for Canadian Urban Regions — a 2 year transdisciplinary and interinstitutional project in telling "digital stories based in data" about regional and local urban form scenarios funded by GEOIDE Networks of Centres of Excellence and the Neptis Foundation. 2011 - 2013

Measured Visualizations as Catalysts for Mobilization — a 2 year research project in social mobilization around municipal planning for climate change funded by the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS) and the City of Revelstoke, British Columbia. 2011 - 2012

Measured Visualizations for the Cambie Corridor Plan  — a project to use elementsdb to measure and visualize proposed built form alternatives along the Cambie Corridor in support of the Cambie Corridor Planning Program funded by the City of Vancouver. 2010 - 2011

Engaging students in the environmental dimensions of urban design through elementsdb — a 3-year teaching enhancement project to integrate the elementsdb web application into courses and design studios at the University of British Columbia funded by the Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund. 2010 - 2012

A LiDAR-based Urban Metabolism Approach to Neighbourhood Scale Energy Carbon Emissions Modeling — a transciplinary project to use remote sensing technologies and field measured carbon flux data to estimate carbon and emissions flow through the Sunset neighbourhood in Vancouver funded by Canmet Energy, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). 2010

Sustainability Indicators for Computer-based Tools in Community Design — an external research grants project funded by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). 2008

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Green Infrastructure in Calgary’s Mobility Corridors

UniverCity at Simon Fraser University: A case study in sustainable neighbourhood design

Skinny Streets & Green Neighborhoods: Design for Environment and Community