Gaining Ground: Resilient Cities Conference

GGRC09: Resilient Cities ~ Day 1, Part 1

October 20, 2009 at 7:55 pm LIFT Startups Leave a comment

OK. Almost 4 hours into the 2009 version of Gaining Ground, Resilient Cities.

Highlights? Too many to count right now. The presentation we just got from #teamadams (that’s the tag that Portland Mayor Sam Adams is using to track comments about what he and is team are doing with one of the most sustainable cities in the US) was inspiring. I especially liked the “friendly rivalry” being generated between Portland (“most sustainable city”) and Vancouver (“greenest city”). This was also appreciated by lots of twitter folks in the crowd. Here’s one from @NaomiDevine: “Mayor of Portland: My challenge is 2 make sure my city doesn’t think we’ve made it yet. There’s more 2 do. http://yfrog.com/0p3w1j”

Earlier, Cam Brewer of SmartGrowth BC did a great job of rolling out some Smart Growth success stories, particularly the enthusiasm of Prince George City Council for the downtown plan. Here’s @jamesglave quote, a pithy synopsis by Brewer: “We cannot effectively address climate change if we do not get the land-use planning piece right.”

I also like that @jamesglave caught this one and posted it (let me grind my axe here about my town’s desire to build yet another bridge!): “We are bemoaning high cost of healthcare + spending millions on highways /bridges.” It’s also exciting that the Canadian Green Building Council is working with Smart Growth BC to connect the dots on things like buildings, transportation, land use. Together these areas account for about 80% or more of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) – what we have to reduce substantially in the next few years to mitigate some of the impact of climate change. Or, as @granvillemag put it: “Smart Growth BC partner w Canada Green Building Council 2 reduce silos btwn building, planning & infra”

Paul Hawken‘s presentation before the morning break was wonderful. I was near to tears. I’m not familiar with this guy. Maybe a bit of a reaction to the kind of popularity he’s generated. Now I know why. As @granvillemag said, “totally inspired after Paul Hawkin’s speech! Very human focused http://bit.ly/XCB6s ”

Here are a few other twitter-bits that relate some of my remembrances of Hawken. @phillipdjwa: Hawken’s summary – We are using more of what we have less of to use less of what we have more of…

@foglio: Hawken praises Nobel for Ostrom as recognition of ecological economics. Hopefully Herman Daly will be next.

@mediathtmatters: Hawken talking about singing reminding us that we define one another. Process, communication, dialogue will transform us.

@planningpool: Paul Hawken ~ Cities are the most effective context for addressing climate change!

@ryanrutley:”We could have save it but we were too goddamned cheap.” Vonnegut

@CITinfoResource weighed in by connecting local planner Janine de la Salle’s comments to a CIT post: Hawken on urban agriculture – connects to Janine de la Salle’s comments on our recent post on food/sustainability http://ow.ly/rLsS.

And, one of my favourites:

@michelerule: Paul Hawken “Cities are good birth control”! [Hawken’s comment was that increasing quality of life in high-density living situations reduces birth rates, to the point that we’re expecting to have “only” 2 billion humans on earth by mid-century… Did I get that right? Seems a short time to see such reduction.]

Before the tour de force that was Hawken, we had His Worship Mayor Gregor Roberston, captured by @foglio: Me and “his worship” mayor Gregor Robertson http://twitpic.com/m9gur. Mayor R’s 10 year plan to make YVR the “greenest” city inspired lots of tweets. @zannalyons summed it up with this: Vancouver will be a mecca for green enterprise, eliminate dependence on fossil fuels, lead green building design n construction.

Finally, before I break for a much-needed lunch (nothing to eat since late last night when I had a very, very lovely meal at Campagnolo on Main Street), a couple of reminders via twitter:

@hummingbird604: While we are having the smart growth conversation at #ggrc09 I would LOVE if Canadians stopped thinking that they have lots of water!

@NaomiDevine: Sustainability. Not just for hippies anymore

hasta luego sustainabilitistas!

hpm

Related articles

• Climate Change 2: Re-Valuing Natural Systems for a “New Business as Usual” (hanspetermeyer.blogspot.com)
• Climate Change 3: Planning for “Positive Settlement Choices” (development-issues.blogspot.com)
• Imagining a Bucolic Retreat on the Banks of the Rio de la Willemar… 1000 Trees at a Time (development-issues.blogspot.com)
• The $100 Investment in Climate Change Challenge (hanspetermeyer.blogspot.com)
• Community and Sustainability: The Conversation Today (communitytransition.blogspot.com)
• Current Cit Project Overviews (communitytransition.blogspot.com)
• Resilient Cities (Vancouver, Oct): Gaining Ground on Realities that Threaten to Grind You Down (development-issues.blogspot.com)

Entry filed under: Uncategorized. Tags: #GGRC09, Cam Brewer, Canada Green Building Council, climate change, Green Buildings, hanspetermeyer, Mayor Gregor Robertson, Paul Hawken, real estate, sustainability, Uncategorized, Vancouverism.