Steven Del Duca
Mayor,
City of Vaughan
As one of Canada’s fastest-growing and most diverse
municipalities, advancing cutting-edge urban innovation is crucial to quality of life in Vaughan.
The City of Vaughan takes a design-thinking approach to solving complex urban challenges — a problem-solving framework that prioritizes user-centred solutions and creativity. It does this through a three-step process. First, the City identifies and defines key challenges across municipal services and operations. Next, it scans for best practices, technologies, and solutions that address key problems by engaging in partnerships, conducting market research, or launching initiatives like the Transportation Innovation Program/Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network (OVIN) Demonstration Zone. Finally, it rigorously tests these technologies to ensure that they’re tailored to Vaughan’s specific needs.
“In Vaughan, innovation is in our DNA,” says Mayor Steven Del Duca. “Whether it’s our ambitious Vaughan Healthcare Centre Precinct, with a vision to create an epicentre of health excellence, or the Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network Demonstration Zone, which showcases the future of transportation innovation, we’re committed to elevating Vaughan’s quality of life through innovation.”
We’re committed to elevating Vaughan’s quality of life through innovation.
From improving infrastructure and roads to advancing recreation and healthcare, this approach is central to maintaining a high standard of living and quality of life for our residents.
“As Mayor, I’m proud to lead our collective efforts in building a community that accommodates our growing population while laying the groundwork for success for our future as a city,” says Mayor Del Duca. “Our economy is strong, our community is vibrant, and we have no intention of slowing down.”
Here are five standout examples of Vaughan’s innovative city-building efforts:
1. Transforming the way we move
The Transportation Innovation Program/OVIN Demonstration Zone positions Vaughan as a testbed for smart mobility innovations. Funded by the OVIN, the initiative provides companies with real-world environments to test and demonstrate automotive and smart mobility solutions, including electric vehicle technologies, shared and integrated mobility solutions, robotics, and connected and autonomous vehicle technologies. By leveraging access to City assets and infrastructure, as well as municipal support and stakeholder feedback, companies can validate and refine their solutions to address current and future mobility challenges. Six companies were selected to demonstrate their mobility solutions within the City of Vaughan in the first cohort.
2. Enhancing the sustainability of winter operations using AI
The City of Vaughan uses an innovative AI-driven Maintenance Decision Support System to optimize winter road maintenance. The technology integrates weather forecasts, real-time road condition data, and Vaughan’s operational best practices to recommend effective road treatment and optimal salt usage. Since adopting this innovative AI technology in 2020, the City has reduced salt usage by 30 per cent and saved approximately $400,000 annually — all while enhancing road safety and environmental sustainability.
3. Making City facilities more accessible
In partnership with CNIB Access Labs, the Wayfinding Pilot Project uses innovative technology to increase accessibility with the help of a free specialized app called GoodMaps: Indoor Navigation, which helps accommodate people with vision-related disabilities and other diverse visitors, including people using wheelchairs or mobility devices. This pilot project will make it easier for people who are blind or partially sighted to navigate their way independently around six City facilities, prioritizing inclusivity and setting a new standard for creating welcoming, accessible spaces.
4. Enhancing road quality using automated detection
The City of Vaughan uses Iris’ Road Patrol Manager, an AI-powered tool installed on City vehicles, to streamline the identification of road-related issues. As staff drive around and work throughout the community, the system detects road deficiencies like potholes and automatically opens work orders in the City’s system using the data it collects. Quick detection of road deficiencies means the City can complete repairs faster, extending the lifespan of local road infrastructure and freeing up resources to be used elsewhere. Since launching the Road Patrol Manager in 2021, crews have been able to detect 10 times more signs obstructed by branches compared to manual road inspections. Additionally, road crack detection has increased by 300 per cent.
5. Saving water using Smart Hydrants
The Smart Hydrants kits provide the City with useful insights into the water system, such as drops in pressure, acoustic data, temperature information, and more. These devices have real-time system monitoring, data storage, and analytics to identify potential leaks within infrastructure and their locations while generating alerts to operations staff for follow-up actions in the field.
For more information, visit vaughanbusiness.ca.
