Celebrating Success in the Comox Valley: The role of the Real Estate Foundation in bringing together champions
Tim Pringle elaborates on “Investing in Expertise – Ecological Stewardship and the Built Environment”
The Real Estate Foundation of British Columbia was a primary sponsor of Resilient Cities: Urban Strategies for Transition Times, a major international conference held in October 2009 in Vancouver.
Investing in Expertise
This event provided the Foundation with a timely opportunity to host an information session and reception. Karin Kirkpatrick, Executive Director, along with Tim Pringle, Director of Special Programs, reviewed the Foundation’s legacy of support for initiatives addressing sustainable management of the built environment.
“The Foundation is known for encouraging innovative approaches to responsible land use,” stated Karin Kirkpatrick. “Over the years the Foundation has gained a bird’s eye view of emerging issues related to the land through investment in the work of non-profits, government agencies, associations and post-secondary institutions.”
“The information session at the Resilient Cities Conference highlighted the leading-edge work of Convening for Action on Vancouver Island, presenting a unique example of how strategic investments of cash and expertise can move communities toward more sustainable land use,” added Tim Pringle.
Celebrating Success in Comox Valley
“Convening for Action on Vancouver Island, or CAVI as its known, is funded through the Foundation’s Communities in Transition program. The focus of this program is on the non-metro areas of the province, and provides communities with access to resources to address their planning challenges,” explained Tim Pringle at the information session.
“CAVI is the Foundation’s most successful example of patient investing in building the capacity of the conservation and stewardship sector. This has taken place in the Comox Valley of Vancouver Island; and involves two longstanding strategic collaborations that the Foundation was able to bring together in 2008.”
Comox Valley Learning Lunch Seminar Series
“Through an educational service called the Vancouver Island Learning Lunch Seminar Series, CAVI is addressing issues relating to water sustainability as identified by local government practitiioners. Commencing in 2008, the Foundation has facilitated the formal involvement of the Comox Valley Land Trust.”
“By bringing together champions from the local government and stewardship sectors to collaborate under the CAVI umbrella, these champions are seeing the context differently; and they are aligning their efforts to achieve a shared vision for the Comox Valley. They call this shared vision An Integrated Watershed Approach to Settlement.”
Link to You Tube Video
A video clip has been uploaded to YouTube to provide a record and capture the flavour of how Tim Pringle told the story of what is unfolding in the Comox Valley. To watch the video, click here.
About the Resilient Cities Conference
Sustainability imperatives, the call for climate action, and the pressure for new approaches in almost every urban system have North American cities scrambling to manage the shift toward ecological practices and greater resilience.
To provide solutions to these challenges, three organizations – the Center for Urban Innovation, Smart Growth BC,and the Canadian Society of Ecological Economics (CANSEE) – combined forces to co-host the Resilient Cities Conference.
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Posted November 2009