Green Infrastructure

Smart Growth on the Ground is an innovative program to change the way that development is done in BC, by creating real, built examples of smart growth. This unique program helps BC communities to prepare more sustainable neighbourhood plans – including land use, transportation, urban design, and building design plans. Extensive follow-up ensures that the plans become reality. SGOG is a partnership of the Design Centre for Sustainability at UBC, the Real Estate Institute of BC, and Smart Growth BC. Together, these three organizations work with a select group of communities in BC.

By 2025, Greater Vancouver’s current population of 2 million will increase by 50%, to 3 million. It will double to almost 4 million people by 2050. How will the region accommodate that growth? How will housing, land use, jobs and transport be designed, delivered and distributed? How do we ensure continued livability in the region? The Design Centre for Sustainability is leading a collaborative effort to produce a compelling visual representation of what Greater Vancouver region might look like in 2050, at neighbourhood, district and region-wide scales. We call this project Sustainability by Design (SxD). It is one of UBC's World Urban Forum activities.

Partnerships between those who plan and those who invest have the potential to result in better decisions for local governments and also benefit provincial areas of interest. Facilitating these partnerships is an integral part of the Ministry of Comnmunity Servcices' work to support local governments in their efforts to plan and make land-use decisions to benefit their communities.

Integrated Community Sustainability Planning is a process for envisioning and planning for the long-term well-being of communities. Approximately five million dollars over the next five years will be available for local governments outside the Greater Vancouver Regional District to engage in ICSP.

The Ministry of Community Services' mandate is to promote sustainable, livable communities that provide healthy and safe places for British Columbians. The Ministry implements this mandate by providing the legislative, policy and governance framework for local governments; and providing advice and resources to local governments to plan for sustainable development and address issues related to communities' social, economic and environmental well-being.

The purpose of the Urban Forest Research Project is to provide planners, developers and municipal engineers with the tools and research they need to approach rainwater management in a more integrated and sustainable manner. Th University of British Columbia has established a website to showcase the project results and link to web stories on the Rainwater Management Community-of-Interest.

The University of British Columbia (UBC) is the lead organization for a national initiative that is intended to facilitate a paradigm-shift from a single-function stormwater management to a multi-objective rainwater management way-of-thinking. The objective is to create a national network of experts that collaborate and share their experiences. To make things happen, earlier this year the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at UBC received a grant from the Canadian Water Network to promote a 'knowledge translation strategy'.

Green Value is an independent research study that looked at green buildings in Canada, the USA and the UK. It concludes that a clear link is beginning to emerge between the market value of a building and its green features. Green Value brought together 11 sponsors in three countries including both governments and the private sector, with teams on two continents.

The Victoria Transport Policy Institute is an independent research organization dedicated to developing innovative and practical solutions to transportation problems. It provides a variety of resources available free at its website to help improve transportation planning and policy analysis.

Nature's Revenue Streams (NRS) is a 3-year public-private pilot project, based in Saanich BC, that will link rainwater infrastructure to the restoration of stream and watershed function. The project will show how urban development can be used as an opportunity to improve watershed and stream health, build/restore aquatic habitat and reduce infrastructure costs for developers and the municipality while also addressing rainwater runoff.