Green Infrastructure

This paper investigates the value travelers place on qualitative factors such as comfort and convenience, and practical ways to incorporate these values in project evaluation. This information helps identify cost-effective transit service improvements that can increase transit ridership and reduce automobile travel.

The Water Balance Model Partners Forum hosted by the Greater Vancouver Regional District in March 2007 provided a timely opportunity to roll out ‘Beyond the Guidebook', a runoff-based approach to drainage modeling that connects the dots between source control evaluation and stream health assessment.

The District of West Vancouver has constructed its first green lane adjacent to St. Francis in the Woods Church in historic Lower Caulfeild.

The Water Balance Model for Canada is being integrated with QUALHYMO in order to provide practitioners with a ‘runoff-based tool’ for source control evaluation and stream health assessment. The ‘runoff-based approach’ holds the key to assessing environmental impacts in watercourses and the effectiveness of mitigation techniques. The desire to mitigate environmental impacts has provided a driver for the “Water Balance Model powered by QUALHYMO”.

Senior executives from the most influential bodies responsible for international valuation standards came together for the first time with key industry stakeholders, heads of global green building councils, top level surveyors, appraisers, international agencies and senior government policy makers to discuss the critical importance for communities and economies as a whole of integrating sustainability into valuation and appraisal practices.

The District of West Vancouver has constructed its first green lane adjacent to St. Francis in the Woods Church in historic Lower Caulfeild.

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.