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Under the umbrella of the Celebrating Green Infrastructure Program, the first in the Showcasing Innovation Series was hosted by the District of North Vancouver in May 2006. The focus was on what the District believes it can systematically accomplish on-the-ground, at a community scale, through Eco-Industrial Networking. The emphasis in “showcasing innovation” was on the approach the District is developing through the Maplewood Community Plan to facilitate changes in how land is developed and/or redeveloped.

The second in the Showcasing Innovation Series was hosted by the City of Surrey in June 2006. The focus was on what the City believes it can systematically accomplish on-the-ground, at a watershed scale, now and over the next 50 years by building on the East Clayton experience.

Launched in May 2006, the goal of the Celebrating Green Infrastructure Program is to build regional capacity through sharing of green infrastructure approaches, experiences and lessons learned as an outcome of ‘designing with nature'.

At a GVRD Sustainability Community Breakfast, Susan Rutherford provided an overview of a guide that West Coast Environmental Law is developing. “The guide focus is on case studies / examples that demonstrate how local governments have addressed liability/risk concerns, and are moving forward with monitoring and adaptive management consistent with the approach/methodology laid out in Stormwater Planning: A Guidebook for British Columbia”, stated Susan Rutherford.

“We wished to present as a group so that you would see that the province, local government, and practitioners are working together, helping one another, and working hard to reach out to you. You can trust these people. Their only goal is to turn local governments on to the practical reality that designing with nature – particularly water – is underway, is working, and holds out hope for communities and cities to function better, to our lasting benefit” stated Mayor Pam Goldsmith-Jones.

“The Showcasing Innovation Series is a provincial pilot. When we talk to practitioners in local government, it doesn’t matter what the region, the message is the same…they tell us that they are too busy to communicate with their colleagues in neighbouring municipalities. Yet the irony is that there is much to learn by sharing information with each other. At the end of the day, it seems that it takes a third party to bring people together,” states Paul Ham.

Three projects were featured – a lane, a highway and a local community. Participants were taken by bus to see how these projects have been implemented. “Selection of porous pavement to infiltrate rainwater runoff was an outcome of an inter-departmental design charrette where the Water Balance Model was a key decision tool,” reported Richard Boase.

“The focus was on what the City believes it can systematically accomplish on-the-ground, at a watershed scale, now and over the next 50 years by building on the East Clayton experience. The emphasis was on the approach the City is developing under the umbrella of the Fergus Creek ISMP to facilitate changes in how land is developed and/or redeveloped,” reported Remi Dube.

Held in December 2006, the workshop was attended by municipalities from throughout the Peace River region.

“The Country Lanes Demonstration Project originated from community desire for the City to provide a more environmentally friendly and visually attractive alternative to Vancouver’s existing asphalt lanes. The initiative was further propelled by a policy directive from the City’s Corporate Management Team which encouraged staff to incorporate enhanced sustainability into all the City Operations as a way of doing business,” reports David Desrochers.