Milton Friesen

 

Milton Friesen was Program Director, Social Cities for Cardus from 2008 to 2020.

"Core ideas that orient a significant amount of my work include the exploration of complexity science by means of various network approaches. Network dynamics are a persistent feature of our human interactions including the organizations, institutions and societies that Cardus is working to support and make sense of.

"Urban planners are in constant interaction with these social structures at a wide variety of levels. I have found that computational modeling  is valuable for these explorations alongside traditional statistics, machine learning, and spatial statistical approaches.

"I am very interested in how organizations adapt to change (or fail to adapt) and cities are key players in this dynamic. Resilient enterprises at all scales invest energy in designing and nurturing intelligent processes that allow room for surprise, novelty and feedback. These reflect the social infrastructure dynamics that the Social Cities program actively explores.

"Research development themes include a nearly completed Ph.D. at the University of Waterloo School of Planning that is focused on new ways to measure the social fabric of neighbourhoods, as well as participating in the Waterloo Institute on Complexity and Innovation .

"I have written a number of articles for Municipal World and serve on the Steering Committee of the Thriving Cities Project (Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture) at the University of Virginia. I am a member of the Computational Social Sciences Society of the Americas as well as the Congress for the New Urbanism.

"I have served a three-year term as an elected municipal councillor and run in two other municipal campaigns (including a mayoral race) that did not lead to election. The Social Cities program has been a regular participant in the annual Federation of Canadian  Municipalities Trade Show where new research, policy, and city building ideas are presented.

"Michelle and I have four children ages 15, 18, 21 and 23. We live in a three-storey brick house in East Hamilton."

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Writings

Headquarters: Social Cities
Sep 1, 2017
Comment Article
Religion and the Good of the City: Report 2
Aug 17, 2017
Research Report
The Devil You Don't Know
Jun 8, 2017
Comment Article
Harmony Of A Thousand Differences
Jun 5, 2017
Convivium Article
City Soul Explorer Toolkit
May 31, 2017
Research Report
Religion and the Good of the City: Report 1
May 1, 2017
Research Report
Planning for Social Environments
May 1, 2017
Research Report
Building the Social City
Mar 21, 2017
Convivium Article
The Commons: Explorations in Social Capital
Mar 1, 2017
Comment Article
Is God Good For Cities?
Jan 30, 2017
Convivium Article
Charity and Social Capacity
Nov 28, 2016
Research Report
The Long Chain of Care
Nov 28, 2016
Convivium Article
Headquarters: Social Cities
Sep 1, 2016
Comment Article
Additional Resources for Social Capital
Sep 1, 2016
Research Article
Additional Resources for Subsidiarity
Sep 1, 2016
Research Article
Additional Resources for Charity
Jun 1, 2016
Research Article
Cambridge City Soul: Context Report April 2016
Apr 29, 2016
Research Report
Can Data Standards Improve Our Common Lives?
Mar 4, 2016
Research Report
Sustainable Cities and Social Capital: Common Dilemmas and Hopes
Feb 17, 2016
Convivium Article
Opening the Soul of the City: Talking About Cities with Noah Toly and Milton Friesen Part II
Jan 13, 2016
Comment Article
Urban Drama: Talking about Cities with Noah Toly and Milton Friesen, Part I
Jan 7, 2016
Comment Article
Giving is a Group Project
Jan 6, 2016
Convivium Article
Networks Need a Deeper Read
Oct 1, 2015
Convivium Article
Headquarters
Sep 1, 2015
Comment Article
Common Good & The Classroom
Aug 1, 2015
Convivium Article
Law, Design, and the Human Habitat: Part II
May 13, 2015
Convivium Article
Law, Design, and the Human Habitat: Part I
May 12, 2015
Convivium Article
Tapping on the Glass
Mar 1, 2015
Comment Article
Cities at a Human Scale: An Interview with Andreas Dalsgaard
Jul 24, 2014
Cardus Audio
Cardus Case Study: Innovations in Mental Health Housing
Jul 23, 2014
Research Report
The City is Complex: Lessons from "The Wire"
Jun 1, 2014
Comment Article
Andrew Selee: What Think Tanks Do
Apr 24, 2014
Cardus Audio
Renewing Canadian Public Policy: Can Subsidiarity Provide the Framework?
Apr 17, 2014
Research Report
Edmonton City Soul
Mar 1, 2014
Research Report
Strengthening Vital Signs Through Urban Religious Communities
Feb 11, 2014
Research Report
Enrique Medizabal: Developing Think Tanks
Feb 10, 2014
Cardus Audio
David Greusel: The Work of Architects and the Common Good
Sep 16, 2013
Cardus Audio
3D Cities: Tower, Slum, and Sprawl
Aug 16, 2013
Convivium Article
Remembering How to Innovate
Jul 31, 2013
Convivium Article
Habits of Engagement: Faith Based Organizations and the Life of Cities
Jun 21, 2013
Comment Article
Persistence, Underwritten by Hope
Jun 14, 2013
Convivium Article
Dancing with Data: Fewer Sequins, Bigger Payoffs
Apr 10, 2013
Convivium Article
Disruptive Innovation or Passing Oddities?
Mar 11, 2013
Convivium Article
Geoff Mulgan: The Death and Life of Institutions
Nov 6, 2012
Cardus Audio
Becoming Socially Incompetent
Aug 31, 2012
Convivium Article
Glorious Adaptation: Institutions that are Future Ready
Aug 24, 2012
Convivium Article
Clear Cutting Social Landscapes
Aug 17, 2012
Convivium Article
Models Behaving Badly
Aug 17, 2012
Comment Article
Wendell Cox: Imposed Urban Density is Not the Answer
Aug 10, 2012
Cardus Audio
Richard Bridge: Thriving Charitable Sector is Vital to Canada
Jul 25, 2012
Cardus Audio
Al Etmanski: The World Can Be Changed
Jul 10, 2012
Cardus Audio
Does a Family Road Trip Qualify as a Vacation?
May 30, 2012
Comment Article
Writing Life
May 17, 2012
Convivium Article
Mobs: None of us is as bad as all of us
Feb 29, 2012
Comment Article
Mathematics and social architecture?
Dec 2, 2011
Convivium Article
Interview: Physics, Faith and Reductionism
Nov 25, 2011
Cardus Audio
Skills of the Future—Can we read the crystal ball?
Nov 7, 2011
Convivium Article
How Institutions are Born (sort of)
Nov 4, 2011
Convivium Article
Interview: Charles Leadbeater on Innovation in Canada
Oct 3, 2011
Cardus Audio
Science vs. Religion: An Interview with Elaine Howard Ecklund
Feb 14, 2011
Cardus Audio
What scientists believe
Jan 21, 2011
Comment Article
Review: Munk Debates
Dec 22, 2010
CPiP Article
Social Enterprise in Canada: An Interview with Paul Martin
Oct 12, 2010
Cardus Audio
The Business of Re-Weaving a Good City
Sep 17, 2010
Comment Article
Hannah's Child: An Interview with Stanley Hauerwas
Sep 13, 2010
Cardus Audio
Technical Ingenuity: Our Social Fabric Needs More Than Wires
Jun 18, 2010
Comment Article
Short Changed: Jonathan Wellum on Recession and Looking Long-Term
Mar 1, 2010
Comment Article
Fee or free, people or profit?
Feb 12, 2010
Comment Article
Mediums and Meditations
Jun 15, 2009
CPiP Article
Conversations: David Goa, "Cultural Amnesia"
Jun 8, 2009
Cardus Audio
Business creativity and the common good
Jun 5, 2009
Comment Article
Emergence
May 22, 2009
Comment Article
Q&A with Milton Friesen, "Director of Operations, Cardus"
Nov 21, 2008
Comment Article

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