Designing for Sustainability in the Community of the Future, Part 2

The Intelligent Community

In part 2, Chairman and CEO of Toronto’s Institute Without Boundaries and now the Brookfield Sustainability Institute Luigi Ferrara talks about sustainability, why we are far away from it and what Brookfield is going to do to move it into the consciousness of communities.

Luigi Ferrara, Dean, Centre for Arts, Design and Information Technology, leads program development, partnerships and innovation centres that provide students with challenging and exciting real-world learning opportunities and position George Brown College as a key player on the global stage.

Luigi has also served as the Director of the Institute Without Boundaries, an academic program and studio aimed at solving real-world problems through design research and strategy with goals of social, ecological, and economic innovation. This has now been transformed into the Brookfield Sustainability Institute.

Luigi is the inaugural Chair and CEO of the Brookfield Sustainability Institute, a centre of excellence that will be housed at Limberlost Place, George Brown College’s net-zero carbon emissions mass-timber building that is set to open at Waterfront Campus in 2024. The Institute will focus on aligning the processes of digital transformation and sustainability for the benefit of communities everywhere, becoming a beacon for ‘smart sustainability’.

Luigi has devoted his career to advocating and practicing interdisciplinary design both in Canada and internationally, working on the relationship between architecture, urban design, sustainability, digital transformation, strategy, and design thinking. He continues to take on professional design projects every year and lends his expertise to several boards and associations while showcasing his talent and knowledge through exhibitions, publications, and lectures.

Luigi Ferrara is a graduate with distinction in the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Toronto. He worked for the internationally recognized firm Stirling/Wilford Associates, and locally with Peter Turner Architects, Paul Reuber Architect and Russocki/Zawadzki Architects. Luigi is an Honorary Member of the Association of Chartered Industrial Designers of Ontario and a former president and current senator of the World Design Organization (formerly the International Council of the Societies of Industrial Design), the UN-recognized NGO for Design (formerly the International Council of the Societies of Industrial Design). Luigi is also the Chair of the Board for the McLuhan Foundation on Media Literacy.