Canadian city planners and urbanists have been active in the discussion and debate over the last few weeks, regarding the Federal government's decision to change the mandatory long form census to a voluntary approach. As un-sexy as the census might seem to many (I myself never thought I'd be writing a post about the census), the national media has been all over this, giving extensive coverage to the numerous experts and professional organizations who have been unanimously critical of this move, and the effects it will have on the planning and management of cities and communities.
Contributor Blog
Brent ToderianBrent Toderian, MCIP, is the Director of Planning for the City of Vancouver, British Columbia.
Vancouver Olympics a Living Laboratory for Urbanism!
Among the countless stories being written on the successes and challenges of these 2010 Olympic Winter Games, not surprisingly the most interesting stories to me are those that speak to the challenges of great urbanism. As a host city, Vancouver has become a massive urban laboratory, with so many opportunities to learn, and we’re soaking it all up.
As we are coming to the end of the final week, a few examples of big experiments and learnings come to mind.
In Olympic year, Vancouver chooses LEED™ Gold for private buildings!
Followers of Vancouver city planning will remember that in 2008, as part of the approval of the EcoDensity Initiative, our Council approved what remains (we think) the highest green standard for private sector building design in North America. The 2008 policy requires that buildings that go through rezonings (representing most buildings built in Vancouver) must establish that their design, at approval, is capable of achieving LEED™ Silver. We actually nick-named it "Silver Plus", because we mandated that there be a minimum of 3 energy points, 1 water point, and 1 storm water point, emphasizing the things that matter most to us.
Prince Charles, Vancouverism, and the search for Sustainable Urbanism
This past Saturday, I had the honour of joining a group of invited urbanists and sustainability experts, in a special dialogue put on by The Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment, and Vancouver's Simon Fraser University. Among other things, the event was to launch a new partnership between these two innovative organizations around research and curriculum for sustainable urbanism.
The 2010 Winter Olympics Athletes Village: Vancouver's Next City-Building Model, Part 1
I'm sure much will be written on the observations and learning's from the 2010 Vancouver-Whistler Winter Olympics and Paralympics process - at least once all those working tirelessly on it have had some time to catch our breath after next year's monumental event. As you can imagine, we're already inundated with visitors, questions and critiques, and we still have months to go and much hard work to do.

















