Overview: As an interdisciplinary environmental social scientist, my research combines theory-building with empirical case studies to understand how societies can better govern complex environmental challenges. I use insights from critical realism, systems theory, and ecological political economy to develop conceptual tools to understand society-nature relationships and how they can be transformed. My empirical work studies and provides practical insights into climate politics, forest policy, water governance, and urban transitions. I combine these tools and insights with environmental ethics to interrogate the foundations of modern societies.
Research Projects
The Future of Sustainable Cities in Canada
Cities and communities in Canada are leading the way towards a sustainable future. However, there is a gap between the radically transformed climate-resilient and sustainable city of the future and the initiatives being proposed and implemented. This research seeks to document and evaluate this gap between future visions and existing initiatives; identify how communities use theories and pathways to bridge this gap between future visions and existing initiatives; and convene a community of practice to envision a transformative future and path to sustainable cities and communities in Canada.
ClimateCitiesData Project
I am principal investigator on a project called Building global capacity for city climate data governance (CityClimateData or CCD) funded by a SSHRC Connection Grant. This project brings together Canadian and international academics and practitioners to build global capacity for city climate data governance. This project develops global city climate data governance capacities and mobilizes knowledge to support and inform city climate action in Canada and internationally.
Related outputs:
CCD workshop website: https://uwaterloo.ca/complexity-innovation/events/international-workshop-building-global-capacity-city-climate
Read the Workshop Synthesis Report
ClimateCitiesRecovery Project
I am co-Investigator, Sustaining and Strengthening City Climate Action in the COVID-19 crisis for a green and climate-resilient recovery (ClimateCitiesRecovery), 2020, Volkswagen Foundation 120 000 euros
https://www.die-gdi.de/en/research/description/details/sustaining-and-strengthening-city-climate-action-in-the-covid-19-crisis-for-a-green-and-climate-resilient-recovery-climatecitiesrecovery/
Related publications:
Orr, C.J., Deneault, A, Chan, S. and O’Garra, T. (2025). Scaling city climate action requires closing North-South research divides and interventions tailored to regional contexts. npj Climate Action. 4 (118): 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44168-025-00323-5. Open Access
O’Garra, T., Kuz, V., Deneault, A., Orr, C.J., and Chan, S. (2024). Early engagement and co-benefits strengthen cities' climate commitments. Nature Cities. 1: 315-324. doi: 10.1038/s44284-024-00052-6. Open Access
Enabling Sustainability Transformations of Business Ecosystems and Communities Through Transdisciplinary Research
As a postdoctoral fellow with the TRANSFORM global partnership at the University of Waterloo, I research and advance policy for sustainability transformations of cities and business communities in Canada, Latin America, and globally. Developing partnerships, supervising graduate research assistants, and delivering workshops, I lead capacity-building and experimentation to catalyze conversations and community initiatives to implement transformative sustainability projects with real-world impacts.
As part of this work, I coordinated the SSHRC-funded High-level Sustainability Summit: Building Transformative Capacity to Support Ontario SMEs (HLSS). While Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) possess great potential to transform the communities in which they operate, they lack the enabling business community and policy environment to transition to a resilient, net-zero society. The HLSS convened key business and community leaders to envision what a business ecosystem looks like that supports sustainable SMEs in 2040 and identify priority actions to realize that vision.
Related publications:
Orr, C.J. and Burch, S. (2025). Transformative capacities for navigating system change: a framework for sustainability research and practice. Sustainability Science. 20 (3), 975-992. doi.org/10.1007/s11625-025-01658-y. Open Access
Burch, S., DiBella, J., Farrelly, M., Lang, D., McCormick, K., Ness, B., Orr, C.J. and Wiek, A., (2026). Building capacity for sustainability transformations through transdisciplinary experimentation: Empirical evidence from a novel methodology deployed in 7 countries. Environmental Science and Policy. 179 (2026) 104364. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2026.104364. Open Access
Transforming Canadian Climate & Environmental Policy
My Ph.D. with the Economics for the Anthropocene project at McGill University focused on governing the transition from an unsustainable economy to an ecological and climate-resilient economy in Canada. How can Canada navigate the transition from a deeply unsustainable political-economic system to an ecological economy oriented towards sustainable wellbeing? My dissertation entitled The paradox of growth and the promise of unsettled times: Canadian politics of the economy and the environment 1867-2017 developed a novel theoretical framework to understand and navigate the socio-political dynamics of this problem. I used this framework to explain the paradox of growth. Two of my original contributions were published in Environmental Politics and the Canadian Journal of History. This research reveals important insights for how Canada can achieve more ambitious climate policy.
Related publications:
Orr, C.J. and Fyles, J.W. (2023). Progressive selection and the erosion of Canadian environmental governance: evidence from elite interviews. Environmental Politics. 32 (5), 838-860. doi: 10.1080/09644016.2022.2146936.
Orr, C.J. (2022). Environmental Aspirations in an Unsettled Time: Pierre Elliott Trudeau, the Club of Rome, and Canadian Environmental Politics in the 1970s. Canadian Journal of History. 57(2): 246-279. doi: 10.3138/cjh-57-2-2021-0101. Open Access.