Convening for Action in British Columbia

The Partnership for Water Sustainability originated as a network in the 2000s as an outcome of the provincial “convening for action” initiative. This multi-year program demonstrated the power of peer-based learning, collaboration and partnerships in combination with a regional team approach that spans jurisdictional boundaries. “When you bring the appropriate people together in constructive ways with good information, you look to them to create authentic visions and strategies for addressing the shared concerns of their organizations and community,” stated Derek Richmond.

In his 1969 book, Design With Nature, Ian McHarg pioneered the concept of environmental planning: “So, I commend Design with Nature to your sympathetic consideration. The title contains a gradient of meaning. It can be interpreted as simply descriptive of a planning method, deferential to places and peoples, it can invoke the Grand Design, it can emphasize the conjunction with and, finally it can be read as an imperative. DESIGN WITH NATURE!.” His philosophy was rooted in an ecological sensibility that accepted the interwoven worlds of the human and the natural.

The election of Donald Trump to the US presidency opened a Pandora’s box. The cascading impact of his uncivility spilled across the US-British Columbia border and has poisoned our well. Over the past decade, the consequences of incivility have been playing out in the world of local government. Now what? Local government is at a tipping point. “History reminds us that seasons of civic decay and renewal are not new,” writes Diane Kalen-Sukra. Could her book, Lead with Civility, be the spark that catalyzes action to turn the cultural tide in British Columbia?

“Lead with Civility is a phoenix-like rising from the ashes of toxic culture. Diane Kalen-Sukra brilliantly threads together time-tested civic wisdom with hard-won insights from years in the fray,” stated Professor Emeritus Ron Dart. The phoenix does not rise on rhetoric. It rises on embers tended: memory restored, standards reset, trust rebuilt, truth told, compassion enacted, responsibility shared. That is the work before us. That is why this book matters. It is a book to be studied, applied, and returned to often. Renewal is a craft, learned by doing again and again.”

“The asset management process does not include futures. Only when an asset is newly constructed is it added to the register. That disconnect got me thinking. Infrastructure must one day be replaced. In the meantime, what do we do with the futures stuff? Where does the process and plan fit into the big picture for municipal councils? Councils have dealt with the futures stuff and the need for master plans for decades. But what is missing from the futures agenda is an equal master plan dealing with the future condition of existing infrastructure,” stated Wally Wells.

“We put all our energies into planning for the future to accommodate growth. It is almost to the point where infrastructure is an afterthought. Then we create an extreme variety of demands and high levels of service that we cannot possibly sustain. Local government is dealing with a double-edged sword. The demand for services and quantity of services is going through the roof. But there is a clash with the willingness of residents to pay for those services. But the revenue from development cost charges and user rates is not enough to cover asset renewal,” stated Bill Sims.

The Chronicle of Green Infrastructure Innovation brings to life an exciting period in local government “convening for action” history. The Chronicle weaves quotable quotes by those who were in the frontlines of the green infrastructure movement to tell their story. “Creating change is not easy. We talk a lot about barriers that must be overcome. But the real issue is inertia. It takes effort and energy to get everyone moving in the right direction. And it requires a willingness to take calculated risks. By 2012, we had good reasons for optimism when we looked ahead,” stated Richard Boase.

“What can we learn from the period 2012 through 2017? What takeaways and insights should we apply in 2026? Will we? Context is everything. Polarization, COVID and AI. This harmful combination impacted the trajectory for what might otherwise have been achieved through peer-based learning and collaboration across boundaries. Deep knowledge is being ignored or dismissed at an alarming rate. Our world seems to be getting more wobbly, more unstable, more uncertain, and for all sorts of reasons. Storytelling is needed more than ever,” stated Kim Stephens.

“As individuals, under deadlines and demands for expediency, we can easily forget to look beyond local resources. Accepting and sharing concepts and points of view becomes part of a synergistic process that promotes others above self and focuses on the mission at hand. Constructive collaboration with others creates a powerful tool that is far greater than the sum of its parts. Because of transformational events, such as COVID, we have rapidly shifted to an era where trusted knowledge sharing has become more important than ever,” stated Derek Richmond.

“In this issue, authors Derek Richmond and Kim Stephens begin by saying that ‘networks are a way to get greater leverage on your scarce resources and move forward together with other likeminded, values-aligned colleagues.’ However, they fear that human to-human connection is being lost,” wrote Steve Davey in his editorial comment. “Recently, the Partnership hosted the Convening for Action Forum, as part of a strategy to help reverse this situation. Reading about this event brought back my early memories of face-to-face networking.”

Maureen Connelly founded and led the Centre for Architectural Ecology at the BC Institute of Technology from inception. She recruited a team of engineers, architects, and researchers to establish a world-class research facility. The Centre addressed the lack of performance data for green roofs in the Pacific Northwest. BCIT became an important hub for green roof research, education, and policy development, as the movement grew and evolved across North America. When the Centre suspended operation, out of the ashes emerged GRIN to provide a voice for green roofs.

“If we can at least grow the literacy of the population, who can then confidently demand certain things from their councils, that is bottom-up and very organic. We are using the upcoming tour for World Green Roof Day as a way to test where Vancouver civic political parties stand on green roofs. World Green Roof Day is on June 6 every year. It is basically a social media wave that starts in Australia, with the hashtag #WGRD following the sun around the world, ending here, more or less! It is a great way for anyone to generate green roof pride in our region,” stated Christine Thuring.