By Elisabeth Girgis-McEwen

Last week of July, our team had the privilege of joining the international CSCE/ISARC/MOC 2025 conference in Montréal—a gathering of about 500 interested in both technical excellence and a widening circle of innovation. Our formal presentation, Advancing Knowledge Mobilization through Road Mapping, focused on the knowledge repository model and emerging logic for structuring a robust, responsive database.

The surrounding conversations, questions, and side sessions reminded us of the plurality within the building system. Discernment to move data to knowledge comes from how we work and learn as much as the database we are building.

A heartfelt thanks to Dr. Thomas Froese (photo) who carried our project forward in the presentation room. Dr. Froese walked through an overview of the project, the logic of the knowledge model and our shift toward emergent, rather than rigid, roadmapping – a direct challenge to the often-reductive impulse in systems change. Rigid roadmapping, while effective in stable contexts, can become a structural barrier in complex systems change.

by Elisabeth Girgis-McEwen

You might not expect a housing strategy to start with philosophy—but when you’re trying to solve complex problems across many sectors, disciplines, and timelines, it turns out ideas matter. A lot.

As someone who works at the intersection of systems, policy, and implementation, I spend a lot of time asking: How do good ideas spread? What makes change stick? Why do some solutions scale while others stall out, even when they work? These aren’t just technical questions—they’re questions about how people think, relate, and act in systems that are always shifting.

To explore that, I’ve pulled together this interactive map. It brings to life the hidden logic behind our work: how knowledge is created, how decisions are made, and how we might accelerate what works—without forcing what doesn’t. Some of these ideas come from philosophy or cognitive science. Others are rooted in everyday practice—listening to builders, planners, residents, and policymakers as they navigate real-world constraints and opportunities.
This isn’t about academic theory for its own sake. It’s about sharpening the tools we use to coordinate across silos, tailor solutions to context, and recognize those key moments when the system is ready to shift. It’s the kind of behind-the-scenes sensemaking that makes strategies more adaptable, partnerships more fruitful, and outcomes more aligned.

These concepts relate as constellations : structures that help us navigate complexity while staying grounded in purpose. They illuminate paths toward alignment, but they also acknowledge the tension and quiet grief that often accompany meaningful shifts in direction. In my experience leading multi-stakeholder initiatives, the real work of transformation isn’t just technical; it’s relational. It requires us to move with both decisiveness and care, recognizing that growth often involves loss: of familiar processes or tools, of timelines that no longer fit, or of the unspoken comfort of the status quo. By examining the concepts at play, we can guide adaptation thoughtfully, without losing what makes individual contributions matter.

If you’re working at how to better connect insight to action, or how to build structures that are both rigorous and responsive—this may help.

Elisabeth Girgis-McEwen, Strategic Outcomes Lead

BPiBS, University of Victoria

BPiBS project team was excited to take part in the CHBA Home Building Week in Canada 2025, a national gathering of industry leaders, policymakers, innovators, and researchers focused on the future of housing in Canada.
Our participation reinforced and deepened the strategic direction of the BPiBS initiative, which aims to accelerate whole-system alignment across the housing sector. The themes explored, such as Net Zero innovation, modular pathways, code reform, municipal benchmarking, equity, and Indigenous partnerships directly correspond with BPiBS’s interdisciplinary and iterative approach to knowledge mobilization.