Alumni Digest / Waterloo / Community /
The city is the classroom
A co-op project in Edmonton takes on the complications of scheduling real crews.
The context
Where the work begins
The Future Cities Institute’s CIVIC program connects Waterloo students with municipal problems. In Edmonton, Preethi Raghuraman developed SmartShift to help with staffing in Parks and Roads Services, accounting for collective agreements, preferences and certification requirements.
The takeaway
What follows
The program treats a work term as a project that can continue beyond one student. Raghuraman later worked with a Planning student on a report intended to help other municipalities learn from the experience. The next challenge is making useful work transferable without losing its local constraints.
Source reporting
The city is the classroom
Original summary by Alumni Digest, based on public source reporting. This independent publication is not affiliated with or endorsed by the University of Waterloo. Source image retained for editorial review; rights clearance is still required before any broader reuse.
