The District has embraced ‘design with nature' as a philosophy for achieving integration of rainwater management and green infrastructure. Two projects in North Cowichan will be profiled as part of the Showcasing Innovation Series: the Echo Heights neighbourhood in Chemainus and the Stonegate subdivision.
Consistent with the direction provided by the 'Cowichan Basin Water Management Plan', the City of Duncan in June 2007 adopted a new Official Community Plan that establishes expectations for implementation of green infrastructure standards in conjunction with redevelopment and densification.
According to Marcy Sangret, Sunstone Community at Delsom in Delta will be a mixed use, pedestrian friendly community which will include, a neighbourhood commercial centre, park areas and a pathway system. This development illustrates how the Sustainable Template for Development has been applied through a collaborative process to achieve a ‘design with nature' outcome.
About 1/3 of the urban landscape is typically covered by road rights-of-way. This creates opportunities to capture rain where it falls and restore it to natural hydrologic pathways. Delta is planting an urban forest to mitigate climate change. Delta has set a goal to plant 20,100 trees by the year 2010.
In 2002, the Regional District of Nanaimo and the City of Nanaimo joined the Partners for Climate Change Program. This innovative program to address climate change at the local level is led by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives-Local Governments for Sustainability.
There are reasons galore for planting more trees and they are all around us. Trees not only beautify and stabilize neighborhoods, they're also investments.
A kinder, gentler generation of playgrounds is slowly taking root. They're user-friendly and green, showing how environmental sustainability can be built into the most modest chunks of urban infrastructure.
Lancashire Economic Partnership hosted a seminar that explored how residents can maximise the benefits of living and working within a stone’s throw of the outstanding countryside that is unique to Lancashire. The seminar looked at how the countryside can be made more accessible to Lancashire’s residents and visitors and also what the economic as well as social and environmental benefits would be from creating a more linked network of green spaces.
We get energy from water, and we use energy to supply, treat and use water. Water use involves significant energy inputs which must be considered. The solutions to water and energy management issues require that decision-makers, policy leaders, and the public better understand the relationship between water and energy and take the necessary steps to ensure the sustainable supply and use of these resources.
Compact, complete communities provide people with opportunities to live, work, learn and play in vibrant, mixed-use neighbourhoods. By creating compact communities, we can absorb new residents and jobs without sacrificing our quality of life, environment, or the fiscal health of our towns and cities.
