diff --git a/heat/engine/dependencies.py b/heat/engine/dependencies.py
index d38ace08d4..a57a13432d 100644
--- a/heat/engine/dependencies.py
+++ b/heat/engine/dependencies.py
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ class Node(object):
 
     def __unicode__(self):
         '''Return a human-readable string representation of the node.'''
-        text = '{%s}' % ', '.join(unicode(n) for n in self)
+        text = '{%s}' % ', '.join(six.text_type(n) for n in self)
         return encodeutils.safe_decode(text)
 
     def __repr__(self):
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ class Graph(collections.defaultdict):
 
     def __unicode__(self):
         '''Convert the graph to a human-readable string.'''
-        pairs = ('%s: %s' % (unicode(k), unicode(v))
+        pairs = ('%s: %s' % (six.text_type(k), six.text_type(v))
                  for k, v in six.iteritems(self))
         text = '{%s}' % ', '.join(pairs)
         return encodeutils.safe_decode(text)
@@ -245,7 +245,7 @@ class Dependencies(object):
         '''
         Return a human-readable string representation of the dependency graph
         '''
-        return unicode(self._graph)
+        return six.text_type(self._graph)
 
     def __repr__(self):
         '''Return a string representation of the object.'''
diff --git a/heat/engine/resource.py b/heat/engine/resource.py
index 4277efd039..f6e2826ae5 100644
--- a/heat/engine/resource.py
+++ b/heat/engine/resource.py
@@ -391,10 +391,10 @@ class Resource(object):
             if self.resource_id:
                 text = '%s "%s" [%s] %s' % (self.__class__.__name__, self.name,
                                             self.resource_id,
-                                            unicode(self.stack))
+                                            six.text_type(self.stack))
             else:
                 text = '%s "%s" %s' % (self.__class__.__name__, self.name,
-                                       unicode(self.stack))
+                                       six.text_type(self.stack))
         else:
             text = '%s "%s"' % (self.__class__.__name__, self.name)
         return encodeutils.safe_decode(text)
@@ -1014,14 +1014,14 @@ class Resource(object):
         :results: the id or name of the resource.
         '''
         if self.resource_id is not None:
-            return unicode(self.resource_id)
+            return six.text_type(self.resource_id)
         else:
-            return unicode(self.name)
+            return six.text_type(self.name)
 
     def physical_resource_name_or_FnGetRefId(self):
         res_name = self.physical_resource_name()
         if res_name is not None:
-            return unicode(res_name)
+            return six.text_type(res_name)
         else:
             return Resource.FnGetRefId(self)
 
diff --git a/heat/engine/scheduler.py b/heat/engine/scheduler.py
index dde536011b..7fd3532656 100644
--- a/heat/engine/scheduler.py
+++ b/heat/engine/scheduler.py
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ class ExceptionGroup(Exception):
                         for ex in self.exceptions]).encode('utf-8')
 
     def __unicode__(self):
-        return unicode(map(unicode, self.exceptions))
+        return six.text_type(map(six.text_type, self.exceptions))
 
 
 class TaskRunner(object):