December 9, 2024
We’re proud to announce that SCARP Professor Kelly Clifton, SCARP Associate Member Alex Bigazzi, and SCARP PhD student Juri Kim have all been honoured with the Peter Wall Legacy Awards for its inaugural year!
About the newly established Peter Wall Legacy Awards program at UBC.
In December 2024, UBC announced a newly established Peter Wall Legacy Fellowships and Wall Research Awards, as well as its inaugural recipients. Funded by the $100M+ Peter Wall Endowment and valued at a total of $4M annually, these researchers represent a wide array of scholarly programs that will generate meaningful solutions to major sustainability challenges in BC and around the world.
All award-winning projects align with three key areas of focus: urban sustainability, environmental protection of coastal areas, and sustainable approaches to resource-intensive industries, with a particular emphasis on the province of B.C. Research ranges from climate change to biodiversity loss, sustainable transportation, energy storage, urban water systems, biodiversity conservation, and more.
SCARP’s recipients and their award-winning projects
Juri Kim, SCARP PhD student, awardee of the Graduate Student Award
My research focuses on understanding how neighbourhood characteristics impact business recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic in Vancouver. Using a mixed-methods approach, I conduct statistical analysis to examine the effects of contextual factors such as economic conditions, community infrastructure, and socio-demographic context on business survival. Insights from this analysis guide business interviews to deepen our understanding of how neighbourhood and external influences shape business recovery experiences.
By examining the underexplored role of neighbourhood influence on business recovery, this study aims to contribute valuable insights to disaster recovery literature and offer actionable knowledge for local policymakers, urban planners, and organizations involved in disaster recovery planning. These insights could drive more resilient and context-specific strategies for Vancouver and other communities facing similar challenges.
“This work deepens our understanding of how businesses recover from disruptions and contributes to strategies for building more resilient neighbourhoods in the face of future disasters.”
SCARP Associate member Dr. Alexander Bigazzi (Lead PI), SCARP Professor Dr. Kelly Clifton,
alongside Dr. Todd Handy and De. Eli Puterman
Winner of the Team Faculty Awards
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for their project:
Human-centered design for sustainable transportation in British Columbia:
An inclusive approach to infrastructure design based on diverse experiences of walking and cycling
For BC to meet its aggressive targets of a 25% reduction in driving and a 30% share for sustainable travel modes (walking, cycling, transit) by 2030, structural change in how we design transportation systems is necessary. The current tools used to design infrastructure for active travel (primarily walking and cycling) lack grounding in empirical evidence and consideration of diverse individual experiences. This project will develop recommendations for transportation infrastructure design that equitably attracts people to use sustainable modes of travel and fosters positive experiences. The goal is to address the critical need for sustainable transportation systems by developing new methods for researchers worldwide and transforming active transportation design guidance in BC and globally.