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Keagan Hudson Rankin

I'm a PhD candidate and Vanier Scholar with the sustainable systems group at University of Toronto. I'm studying the resource demands of human society; I think about how we can design material & energy systems that meet our collective needs within planetary limits. I'm also interested in how we use and interpret computational models (like machine learning, energy system optimizations, stochastic simulations) in applied sciences. I spent part of my PhD at the University of Cambridge Centre for Sustainable Development, and before Toronto I completed a BScEng at the University of New Brunswick.

Keagan Rankin

Research and selected papers

All papers →

1 in 10 humans live in extreme poverty, and 3 billion people lack adequate housing. We need essentially double the amount of housing and infrastructure on Earth if we want to address this issue. If we build this infrastructure the way we always have, the environmental impacts (esp. climate change) will be global and possibly catastrophic. How do we build the housing and infrastructure we need within climate limits? My PhD wrestles with this question.

I'm supervised by Shoshanna Saxe and Daniel Posen. So far, our research has helped inform housing and zoning policy in the City of Toronto and other municipalities across Canada. Our work won Canada's top award for housing research in 2024. Our most recent project, aiming to inform thousands of cities across the world, has been covered by media outlets like Forbes and picked up attention as far away as Iceland.

Beyond my main research, I'm also involved in collaborations with international colleagues. Several ISIE members and I are researching how rapid developments in AI are affecting the reproducibility of sustainability science and life cycle assessment. I'm working with the United Nations IRP to model the sustainable growth pathways for cities in developing countries. You can see some of my recent papers below:

Other stuff

  • I try to read recreationally when I get the chance. I like classics and niche non-fiction. Here are some books I am currently part way through or recently finished:
    Imperial Twilight: The Opium War and the End of China's Last Golden Age - Steven Platt
    One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
    Game Wizards: The Epic Battle for Dungeons & Dragons - Jon Peterson
    Lincoln in the Bardo - George Saunders
    Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie (this one is collecting dust on my shelf)
  • I used to live in and sit on the board of directors for CCRI, Canada's oldest housing cooperative. CCRI provides housing to >200 students in downtown Toronto at well-below market rate. Helping run CCRI showed me that people, with enough buy-in and hutzpah, can create stable, altruistic institutions.
  • I'm a lightweight rower. I took a long break before picking up the sport again in Cambridge, but I'm currently erging solo a few times a week in between running and playing squash.
    My last 2k was: 6:50 in Jan 2025.
  • I'm a vegan for ethical, environmental, and health reasons.
  • I have this substack, where I might write someday.