Ali Katal: Future Proofing our Cities
- BeSpatial Ontario
- Apr 29
- 3 min read
When Paradise Becomes a Warning
Ali Katel grew up in a city filled with rivers, trees, and perfect weather. As a child in Iran, he'd spend hours by clear streams, watching the water dance between green banks. The air was clean, and the summers were comfortable. His city felt like paradise.
Then, slowly, everything changed.
Uncontrolled development swallowed the rivers, industrial activities choked the air, and trees disappeared beneath concrete. Within decades, his beautiful homeland had transformed into something resembling a desert.
Years later, now living in Canada, Ali watched Toronto's skyline and felt a chill of recognition. "I think the same pattern is happening again," he reflects. What happened next changed his life's direction completely.
The Pattern Cities Can't See
Ali's story reveals something most city dwellers never notice: our urban environments are changing faster than we realize. Heat waves hit more frequently. Wind patterns shift unexpectedly. Rainfall arrives in overwhelming bursts instead of gentle showers.
The problem isn't just climate change—it's that cities keep planning as if the climate isn't changing.
"Cities are right at the centre of this challenge," Ali explains. "They contribute to climate change, but they're also where real change can happen."
Traditional city planning treats sustainability as an afterthought. Architects design buildings, engineers plan roads, and developers build communities. Environmental impact is assessed later, if at all. By then, it's too late to fix fundamental flaws.
Ali discovered something striking during his research: planners wanted to create better cities, but they lacked the tools to understand how their designs would actually feel to people walking the streets.
From Academic Research to Real-World Solutions
That realization sparked Ali's transformation from researcher to entrepreneur. Along with his partner Mohammed, he decided to build what didn't exist: a platform that could predict how city designs would actually affect human comfort.
"We had to learn everything from scratch," Ali admits. "How to build a business, find clients, and explain our ideas to people outside our technical field."
Their first attempts failed spectacularly. At a startup program in Montreal, mentors listened to their technical presentations and said bluntly: "We don't understand what you're saying."
The rejection stung. But instead of defending their approach, Ali and Mohammed stepped back and asked a different question: How do we make this valuable to the people who need it most?
That question changed everything.
Building Cities That Feel Better
Today, Ali's company PGL creates "digital twins" of entire cities—virtual replicas that can predict how different designs will affect wind, temperature, and human comfort at street level. What used to take city planners weeks of analysis now happens in hours.
The impact reaches beyond efficiency. Planners in Toronto, New York, and Boston now use Ali's platform to test design scenarios before building. They can see how a new development might create wind tunnels, predict which areas will become uncomfortably hot, and design solutions before problems emerge.
Toronto has already adopted thermal comfort guidelines that require this type of analysis for new developments, and other cities are following suit.
"Every choice—planting more trees, using better materials, creating more shaded spaces—can have a big impact on how livable and sustainable our cities are," Ali explains.
Your City-Shaping Pathway
For changemakers reading this, Ali's journey offers both warning and hope. His story demonstrates how personal experience with systemic problems can become the foundation for scalable solutions.
Ali's path reveals four key principles for environmental changemakers:
Start with what you've witnessed personally. Ali's childhood experience of environmental decline gave his work emotional weight and authentic urgency that purely academic research couldn't provide.
Focus on the decision-makers who shape systems. Rather than trying to change individual behaviour, Ali built tools for the planners and architects whose decisions affect thousands of people.
Make complex problems simple to understand. Ali's breakthrough came when he stopped explaining the technology and started showing the human impact—comfort, health, livability.
Build bridges between expertise and implementation. Ali succeeded by translating academic research into practical tools that busy professionals could actually use.
Consider these reflection questions:
What environmental changes have you witnessed personally that might signal broader patterns?
Who are the key decision-makers in your community who could benefit from better tools or information?
How might you simplify complex environmental issues to make them actionable for non-experts?
What bridges could you build between research and real-world application in your area of expertise?
Ready to explore more of Ali's insights?
Discover his strategies for building technical platforms that serve real human needs, plus practical approaches for helping cities plan for climate resilience from the ground up.
Explore the full episode or audio summary using the links provided below.
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