by Karin Kirkpatrick
The Real Estate Foundation is involved in a wide range of projects and activities, all of them related to land use. In these notes I will talk a little about why we are involved with the leadership work being done through the Gaining Ground summits, my reflections from my recent time in China, and the positive work being done through an initiative funded in part by the Foundation.
The Real Estate Foundation is involved in a wide range of projects and activities, all of them related to land use. In these notes I will talk a little about why we are involved with the leadership work being done through the Gaining Ground summits, my reflections from my recent time in China, and the positive work being done through an initiative funded in part by the Foundation.
The Real Estate Foundation and Resilient Cities
Between 1981 and 2001, Greater Vancouver experienced population growth of nearly 60%. If similar rates of growth continue, we will see a doubling of population in the next 40 years. This presents all of us living here with significant challenges. Vancouver is known for its vibrancy and quality of life. How do we sustain these in the face of the kinds of changes that are projected? We think that the Resilient Cities conference, the 6th in the Gaining Ground Summit series, speaks to this challenge. As a theme, "Resilient Cities" is timely and appropriate for this year's Gaining Ground summit, the first here in Vancouver. The key elements of the conference align with the goals and values of the Real Estate Foundation:
- innovation in sustainability governance and best current practices for managing sustainable urban systems;
- capturing opportunities in the green economy;
- strategies for building widespread sustainability collaborations that engage the community level.
The Foundation has been a leader in supporting projects with a focus on better, more sustainable land uses and practices. Resilient Cities is, in many ways, an excellent example of where our experiences with project partners over more than 20 years has brought us as an innovative granting organization. It represents important, cutting edge ideas and practices that are being used to make communities more sustainable, more resilient.
Because of the word "real estate" in our name, and perhaps also because we do much good work in communities on housing issues, the Foundation is sometimes seen as being primarily concerned with housing. But that misses our primary focus: a concern over that place where the built environment meets the natural environment, and the delicate balance between settlement and nature that is required for our communities to thrive. We're involved in this year's Resilient Cities conference because it speaks to that focus.
UBC Design Centre for Sustainability
An example of how the Real Estate Foundation works with innovative organizations to meet society's growing need for better land use and development practices is the Design Centre for Sustainability at UBC. It is, to put it simply, a widely recognized academic leader in applying sustainability concepts to the development of land, cities, and community. An example of how this can be applied to our communities is the recent City of North Vancouver 100 Sustainability Vision, which I'll describe later.
An example of how the Real Estate Foundation works with innovative organizations to meet society's growing need for better land use and development practices is the Design Centre for Sustainability at UBC. It is, to put it simply, a widely recognized academic leader in applying sustainability concepts to the development of land, cities, and community. An example of how this can be applied to our communities is the recent City of North Vancouver 100 Sustainability Vision, which I'll describe later.
We are fortunate at the Real Estate Foundation to be able to make different "investment" decisions than many public and private funders. Innovative projects often require long-term investment in order to reach the level of maturity at which they flourish and give the kind of ROI our communities need. In some cases, the Foundation Governors have chosen to make these kinds of investments. This is the case of with the multi-year, multi-project Sustainability by Design initiative at the Design Centre for Sustainability.
The project's operating principle is that sustainable solutions, applied at the scale of the neighbourhood, if widely replicated, may be the crucial ingredient for a sustainable region. This fits closely to the overall purpose of the Real Estate Foundation.
The Design Centre helps partner communities provide context to their planning and design process by framing sustainability collaboratively. They work with communities to identify or review: an overarching, long-term sustainability vision; guiding principles; general goals and more specific objectives in each issue or theme area (for example, transportation, energy, water, climate change, etc); associated indicators and targets; and, finally, implementable strategies and actions. These are then expressed in relevant policy and planning documents, such as the community's Official Community Plan.
Through a charrette process, the Design Centre engages a wide diversity of community members, municipal staff, professionals, and representatives from public, private, and not-for-profit organizations in the planning and design-process—from developing the community-specific sustainability framework to selecting appropriate indicators and targets and developing the concept plan.
Through a charrette process, the Design Centre engages a wide diversity of community members, municipal staff, professionals, and representatives from public, private, and not-for-profit organizations in the planning and design-process—from developing the community-specific sustainability framework to selecting appropriate indicators and targets and developing the concept plan.
The return on investment? As I mentioned, the City of North Vancouver's 100 Sustainability Vision is one of the ROI. The City is one of the first municipalities in BC to investigate the feasibility of meeting the province's GHG emission target established by the 2007 Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets Act (80% GHG emission reduction from 2007 levels by 2050). The 100-Year Sustainability Vision illustrates how an 80% GHG reduction target may be met, and explores how the City will move towards net zero GHG emission by 2107, its 200th birthday. This project recently won the UBCM's Community Excellence Award. That's an ROI for us at the Foundation to be proud of!
Learning from China
Over the past few years I've had the pleasure and privilege of travelling to China as part of my previous teaching work through UBC. I recently got home from spending 10 days there in Beijing, Xi'an, and Shanghai. These 10 days, in these rapidly changing cities, brought home to me the value of what I see the Foundation supporting: the need to take an integrated approach to community planning, to consider transportation, food security, energy consumption, water supply, livability, parks, and healthy lifestyles all as important elements in our quality of life. It helped me appreciate even more the purpose and importance of the Resilient Cities conference that many of you will be participating in over the next several days. It also helped me appreciate even more deeply the work of the many organizations and projects – like the work being done by the Design Centre for Sustainability, for example – that we support through the Foundation.
I visited the Shanghai Urban Planning Center. It was rather amazing, in light of what we are doing in Vancouver, to see their focus on designing interesting (and big!) buildings catering to a rapidly emerging car culture. My personal experience was a little unsettling: sidewalks that abruptly end in the middle of going somewhere; not being able to cross the simplest of streets without the fear of being run down. Roads are getting wider and more abundant – while walking routes are being blocked or not considered. All of it contrary to what we are seeing as elements in more sustainable cities, particularly as it is being exemplified by our local brand, sometimes referred to as "Vancouverism."
And the irony for me is the visual quality of a place like Shanghai. The architecture in this city is some of the most interesting I have seen in the world. However, much of the beauty of building design is concentrated at the very top, where it is invisible because of the ever-present smog in Chinese cities today. The use of coal for heating, the rapidly increasing use of cars (SUVs are popular), over-farming causing dust storms – the reasons for poor air quality and visibility are endless, and the need for an integrated approach and long term vision of sustainable growth is imperative. Looking around, I could see so many examples of how dramatically and how quickly our environment can be negatively effected by our human development and settlement choices.
Happy to be home!
Each time I travel, I learn. I see things done well; and I see things done not so well. Regardless of where I am, however, there's no place like home. I recognize how lucky I am to live where I do. As I step into my second year with the Real Estate Foundation of BC I am also grateful that I get to work with so many interesting and innovative people and organizations, all whom are striving in their different ways to find that balance between settlement and nature that brings quality of life to our neighbourhoods and communities.
Each time I travel, I learn. I see things done well; and I see things done not so well. Regardless of where I am, however, there's no place like home. I recognize how lucky I am to live where I do. As I step into my second year with the Real Estate Foundation of BC I am also grateful that I get to work with so many interesting and innovative people and organizations, all whom are striving in their different ways to find that balance between settlement and nature that brings quality of life to our neighbourhoods and communities.
about the author:
Karin Kirkpatrick is the Executive Director of the Real Estate Foundation of BC. Prior to her appointment to that position by the Foundation's Board of Governors in November 1, 2008 she was Director, Centre for CEO Leadership at the Sauder School of Business at the University of BC.
Karin Kirkpatrick is the Executive Director of the Real Estate Foundation of BC. Prior to her appointment to that position by the Foundation's Board of Governors in November 1, 2008 she was Director, Centre for CEO Leadership at the Sauder School of Business at the University of BC.
©Real Estate Foundation of BC / 2009
We strongly encourage the reproduction of articles on this website non-profit educational purposes. Please notify the Foundation and the author of all reproductions, including in-house uses.
We strongly encourage the reproduction of articles on this website non-profit educational purposes. Please notify the Foundation and the author of all reproductions, including in-house uses.
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