Convening for Action in British Columbia

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Patrick Condon

    “WATERBUCKET eNEWS” IS A HISTORICAL POLICY RECORD (SEASON RECAP): “Ten storylines. Ten defining moments. From infrastructure gaps to workplace civility, this master index maps BC’s path forward,” stated Kim Stephens, Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia


    “We learn through stories. This is how we pass on our oral history. Storytelling is the way we share intergenerational knowledge, experience and wisdom. This is why each and every edition of Waterbucket eNews is built around a conversational interview. The Partnership shares the ‘stories behind the stories’ of community innovators and champions in the local government and stewardship sectors with this outcome in mind: That successive generations will be inspired by can-do leaders and will grow the knowledge network. Learn. Do. Adapt. Tell the story,” stated Kim Stephens.

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    DOWNLOAD A COPY OF: “Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Storytelling to share deep knowledge” – released by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in June 2026


    “Knowledge-sharing stories tend to be about problems and have a different pattern from the traditional well-told story. They are told with context, and have something traditional stories lack: an explanation,” wrote Stephen Denning, author of The Springboard: How Storytelling Ignites Action in Knowledge-Era Organizations. “Telling stories that build on real knowledge sharing situations, enables individuals to gather in some of the understanding of the storyteller as well as recast the story into their own contextual work environment; hence adding their own understanding to the process”.

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    RESILIENT REGION DESIGN CHARRETTE TACKLES NEW HOUSING LEGISLATION: “Now that Metro region mayors have called on the Province to repeal ill-conceived housing legislation, this creates a unique opportunity for a course correction,” stated Patrick Condon, author of Broken City, and sustainable design thought leader


    “In this year of the election, I am particularly encouraged by the fact that the mayors in the Metro region have spoken out. The mayors are hearing it and their constituents are now hearing it because their constituents are in the neighbourhoods and they are affected by it. It is a unique opportunity because it hits everybody literally where they live, literally where they live! That creates a very dynamic crucible politically for us because livability is on the table, definitely on the table. Everybody is thinking about this now. So everybody is going to be interested,” stated Patrick Condon.

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    DOWNLOAD A COPY OF: “Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Resilient Region Design Charrette tackles housing legislation – regional livability is on the table…again!” – released by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in March 2026


    “Regional livability is definitely on the table again. So, I am reviving with Derek Lee the idea of a regional charrette prompted by a lot of the same kinds of housing, transportation, and ecological issues that informed the original Sustainability by Design series. Metro Vancouver faces increasing resistance to provincially mandated Transit-Oriented Area (TOA) development amid concerns over the impacts of rapid densification. Without coordinated planning, this growth risks producing fragmented, unaffordable, and poorly serviced communities,” stated Patrick Condon.

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    DOWNLOAD A COPY OF: “Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Storytelling to share deep knowledge – preview of stories in the pipeline “– released by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in January 2026


    “The Partnership for Water Sustainability is hosting a forum in January 2026 that will provide a safe space for current frontline staff to tap into insights from alumni who are retired from leadership positions. The forum theme is that we can support each other to make everyone’s work easier by creating a knowledge network. It matters how we share information to ensure concepts are conveyed to, and understood by, the people who need to know. Solutions to the issues of our time lie in WHAT stories we tell and HOW we tell those stories,” stated Remi Dube.

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    GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE INNOVATION IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “A large cast of characters was involved. We were venturing into uncharted territory. We pushed the boundaries of knowledge and experience. We learned together,” stated Kim Stephens


    “Zooming out to view the past three decades as a whole, the period 1997 through 2005 was the crucible for the golden period that followed from 2006 through 2011. The era is bracketed by the passage of the Fish Protection Act in 1997 and the Green Infrastructure Consultation Workshop held in May 2005. These were literally watershed moments. Leaps of faith and calculated risks – that succinct statement defined the approach and way of thinking that guided and made innovation possible,” stated Kim Stephens of the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia.

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    CHRONICLE OF GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE INNOVATION: “You work with the politics of the day, and you have to be savvy. You must read your politicians. What are their pressures? Try to make what you need to do fit their pressures,” advises Carrie Baron, former Drainage Manager with the City of Surrey


    “Work with the system to move good ideas forward,” stated Carrie Baron. The third installment of the Chronicle of Green Infrastructure Innovation in Metro Vancouver covers the period 1997 through 2005. In the 2000s, leaders ventured into uncharted territory. Great changes took place. These were possible because individuals took personal risks to innovate. This sweeping narrative weaves quotable quote to tell the story of what led up to publication of BC’s Stormwater Planning Guidebook in 2002, and the impact of what followed in the wake of publication.

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    DOWNLOAD A COPY OF: “Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Leaps of faith and calculated risks – convening for action in Metro Vancouver” – released by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in October 2025


    “Transformation is often fraught with danger for both the change agents themselves and their organizations. It is like dancing with a tiger – with the outcome frequently uncertain. How does one dance with the tiger? You do it carefully, skillfully, courageously, in tune to the same music, advancing step by natural step,” wrote Brian Nattrass and Mary Altomare, authors of Dancing with the Tiger. Their analogy provides relevant context for the third installment of the Chronicle of Green Infrastructure Innovation in Metro Vancouver. This covers the period 1997 through 2005.

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    DOWNLOAD A COPY OF: “Overcoming fear and doubt to build a community atop Burnaby Mountain” – released by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in March 2025


    Many individuals have played important roles in the green infrastructure movement in British Columbia. But whose efforts have truly been make or break? Seven individuals stand out as first-order champions. They rose to the moment in ways that were complementary. They changed the game in profound ways when British Columbia was at forks in the road. Michael Geller is one of the seven whose leadership circa Year 2000 fuelled the early green infrastructure movement.A supporter of innovation, he put his stamp on the UniverCity sustainable community atop Burnaby Mountain

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