Green Infrastructure message resonates with British Columbia engineers at “2007 Beyond the Guidebook Seminar”
Integration of Rainwater Management & Green Infrastructure
Under the umbrella of the Water Sustainability Action Plan for British Columbia, the Green Infrastructure Partnership rolled out Beyond the Guidebook at a Vancouver seminar in November 2007. The seminar was structured in three parts to deal with the Why, What and How in going Beyond the Guidebook.
Released in June 2007, “Beyond the Guidebook” refers to a runoff-based approach to drainage modeling that connects the dots between source control evaluation and stream health assessment.
The seminar also enabled the Green Infrastructure Partnership to report out on provincially funded programs and tools that are being developed and implemented through partnerships.
To Learn More:
To read the complete story on, click on Beyond the Guidebook Seminar.
Province-wide Audience
“The response by the engineering community and others was overwhelming, and came as a welcome surprise,” reports Paul Ham, Chair of the Green Infrastructure Partnership .
Attendance was capped at 72 and there was a waiting list. “We were at capacity two weeks before the event. If we had the option to switch to a larger venue, we would have filled it,” adds Kim Stephens, the seminar moderator and the Program Coordinator for the Action Plan,
“We squeezed as many people as we could into the room,” continues Stephens, “Clearly, there is a strong practitioner interest in learning more about rainwater management and green infrastructure, and understanding the emerging regulatory framework.”
Although the majority of attendees came from Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, the seminar attracted a province-wide audience. There was a large contingent from Vancouver Island. Attendees also came from as far away as Prince George and the Okanagan.
A Transformational Event?
Kim Stephens provided this perspective on what he believes was accomplished by the seminar: “We started the day with high expectations that the Beyond the Guidebook Seminar would prove to be a transformational event, and we exceeded those expectations as the day unfolded. Further, my prediction is that this event will become part of our green infrastructure folklore, much as the 2005 REAC Consultation Workshop and the 1997 Union of BC Municipalities focus group workshop were defining moments in moving British Columbia down a pathway that led to the Beyond the Guidebook Seminar.”
“It is the telling of the story about an event that takes on importance in moving practitioners from talk to action,” added Stephens, “A key is that those who were there come away inspired and start doing things differently in their day jobs as a result of what they learned by being part of the moment.”
Original story posted on the Green Infrastructure Community-of-Interest in November 2007