Cherise Burda, former executive director of Toronto Metropolitan University’s City Building Institute, has directly shaped housing, city-building, and local climate and energy policy in Ontario and British Columbia over a 25-year career. Beginning in 2012, she worked to bring concepts like missing middle housing, gentle density and transit-oriented development from the margins to the mainstream as an author, researcher and strategic communicator.
More recently, Burda is known for her efforts to advance solutions for climate and housing affordability, including as an active member of the Affordability Action Council and the Task Force for Housing and Climate.