GEORGIA BASIN INTER-REGIONAL EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVE: “We framed a Design With Nature approach to community development in terms of six objectives that would reduce risk and liability,” stated Ray Fung, a retired Director of Engineering in local government, and former Chair of the Green Infrastructure Partnership
Note to Reader:
Published by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia, Waterbucket eNews celebrates the leadership of individuals and organizations who are guided by the Living Water Smart vision. The edition published on May 14, 2024 featured Ray Fung, a Past-Chair of the Green Infrastructure Partnership in British Columbia. In the 2000s, the Green Infrastructure Partnership played a prominent role in leading changes in local government attitudes in the Metro Vancouver region. Between 1996 and 2020, Ray Fung sat at several local government regional tables in Metro Vancouver. This lived experience provides context for his reflections.
STORY BEHIND THE STORY: Green infrastructure innovation in the Metro Vancouver region – extracts from a conversation with Ray Fung
“When we brought four groups together in 2003 and founded the Green Infrastructure Partnership, the term green infrastructure was not in the local government lexicon, whether in BC or beyond. Chuck Gale brought instant credibility as chair because of his stature among local governments and with the Province,” recalls Ray Fung.
“It was 2005 when the nascent Green Infrastructure Partnership broadened the context for local government innovation. We framed a Design With Nature approach to community development in terms of six objectives that would reduce risk and liability.”
“These objectives embrace yet transcend engineered infrastructure to provide a comprehensive view. It is a systems lens that stands the test of time.”
“When we refer to designing with nature, we are borrowing from Ian McHarg and the title of his 1969 book. We are consistent with what McHarg intended in terms of ecological planning and letting the landscape inform development.”
Reimagining green infrastructure within an integrated system
“Designing with nature captures the essence of climate change adaptation. Adaptation is about responding to the changes that will inevitably occur. Adaptation is at the community level and is therefore about collaboration.”
“We essentially adapted Smart Growth principles, albeit in action-oriented soundbites, to create a new mind-map with the six objectives. We introduced it at the green infrastructure consultation workshop in 2005.”
“Hosted by the City of Surrey, the workshop launched our Convening for Action in Metro Vancouver program. It truly was a dynamic and inspirational event. That is when we first realized the power and impact of storytelling.”
The motivational power of peer-based learning and celebrating successes
“The 2005 consultation workshop influenced everything that followed, including on Vancouver Island,” continues Ray Fung. “The energy in the room inspired a complete revamping of the GIP approach to creating an environment for accelerated implementation of green infrastructure.”
“We went into the workshop with a work plan for a Model Subdivision Bylaw and green infrastructure standards for British Columbia. It was clear, however, that practitioners did not need another guidance document that would go on a shelf.”
“Rather, they needed to network and learn from each other. So, we tore up our work plan and proceeded in a radically different direction. We created settings and opportunities for storytelling.”
“We witnessed the motivational power of celebrating successes. We also recognized the need to get the story out about the leadership being shown by local governments. Our goal was to share experience and lessons learned as an outcome of designing with nature.”
“That 2000s period was marked by experimentation in terms of the actual techniques themselves for designing with nature. And that 2005 workshop led directly into the Showcasing Green Infrastructure Innovation Series from 2006 through 2008 so that we could learn from each other.”
Comparison with the state-of-practice in North America
“At the time, we did not realize how far in front and ahead of our time we were with our Green Infrastructure Partnership world view. This would not become clear until almost two decades later,” states Ray Fung.
A grain of systems thinking
The report by the Cary Institute is the first systematic review of the use and definition of the green infrastructure concept in local government plans in the United States. The findings are applicable to Canada. Lead author Dr. Zbigniew Grabowski explained their findings this way:
“Green infrastructure is broadly understood to be a good thing, but many city plans lack a clear definition of what it actually is. Hydrological definitions dominate. This narrow view can cause cities to miss out on vital social and ecological services that more integrative green infrastructure can provide.”
The authors had a “moment of realization”, as they described it, which inspired them to develop a systems-oriented definition that they hoped would guide future research and help cities. Amazingly, their definition echoes the Design With Nature framing by BC’s Green Infrastructure Partnership in 2005!
Lost opportunities for more expansive benefits
The researchers identified a total of 153 unique definitions, indicating that green infrastructure means different things to city planners across the United States. They found that many plans fail to explicitly define green infrastructure. When they do, they tend to focus on stormwater management.
“How green infrastructure is defined guides the types of projects that local governments implement, with enduring impacts to people and the urban environment,” said Dr. Steward Pickett, Distinguished Senior Scientist and co-author.
After 2010, everything got stuck
“By 2010, we were beyond the innovation stage,” continues Ray Fung. “The prevailing attitude was let’s get it done. We were action-oriented. And then something happened. We just seemed to lose momentum in the 2010s. With the benefit of hindsight, others have made the same observation.”
“We got bogged down in the implementation plan. We just talked about the burden on local governments from all the capital items that were arising from the completion of ISMPs. Coincidentally, this was just as the region’s needs became dominated by transportation, transit, active transportation and cycling.”
“Is that the reason why everything just slowed to a grind? After all this new, exciting policy stuff, the challenge became how to implement green infrastructure that reduced risk and liability. That never really got solved.”
Knowing what we know now, learn from and build on past experience
“If you are talking about learnings, so what is the organizational learning? I would frame it this way. When we were trying to do stuff, we did not build in robust enough processes that would survive changes in personnel.”
“It is human nature to revisit things when you are new. Can we not create movement on something that simply builds on what people in the past have done? Essentially handing off the baton without us having to hit re-set every 5 years?”
“In the 2020s and going forward from now, and for those in local government, what does it look like for them? Never before has there been such a need for the knowledge keepers and storytellers.”
“In that regard, we can learn from the Indigenous peoples of BC, who hold a spiritual experience of water that goes beyond technical knowledge of how to manage the resource,” concludes Ray Fung.
TO LEARN MORE:
To read the complete story, download a copy of Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Green Infrastructure Innovation in the Metro Vancouver region.
DOWNLOAD A COPY: https://waterbucket.ca/wcp/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2024/05/PWSBC_Living-Water-Smart_Ray-Fung-about-Green-Infrastructure-Partnershp_2024.pdf