LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “Do we have the intelligence and will to impel change? Can convention be busted open again to develop sustainably? This book encourages sustainable change agents to make fundamental, systemic change. Please go implement. Now,” stated Kim Fowler, local government planner and author of Dockside Green, the story of the world’s most sustainable development
Note to Reader:
More than a decade ago, Dockside Green piloted the standards for the LEED for Neighbourhood Development program as the first project do do so. Dockside Green went on to become the most sustainable development in the world and has a platinum rating under LEED-NC. In her recent book, Kim Fowler shares three aspects of the “story behind the story” so that others may benefit from and build upon her lessons learned.
Dockside Green, World’s Greenest Neighbourhood
“How did a 15-acre contaminated harbour area in Victoria, BC, once nicknamed “Darkside”, become Dockside Green, the world’s most sustainable development? Kim Fowler’s book explains how community and sustainability can be achieved by an inclusive, responsible, innovative, and self-sustaining development,” stated Kim Stephens, Executive Director, Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia.
“From its inception in 2001 through its ongoing development, Kim Fowler shares the successes and failures of Dockside Green’s design, construction, operations, and lessons learned. Fowler, the original project manager and sustainability planner, was guided by visionary principles based on the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) model that successfully integrated a New Urbanism mix of residential and commercial use with its adjoining industrial working harbour.”
“Kudos to Kim Fowler for having the passion, perseverance and commitment to write the story of Dockside Green as a how-to-guide. Making things happen in the real world requires an appreciation and understanding of human behaviour, combined with a knowledge of how decisions are made. It takes a career to figure this out. In her book, Kim Fowler builds a bridge of understanding and passes the baton from the past to the present and future.”
How to Bust Convention and Develop Sustainably
“The poem that I wrote and published on the preface of my 1990 Masters of Science in Planning thesis at the University of Toronto has guided my career in local government. It provides my personal context for the Dockside Green project in Victoria, British Columbia.”
“Humans have tried to control the uncontrollable, master the unmasterable, and conquer the unconquerable. We have failed. Do we have the intelligence and will to impel change?”
“Dockside Green is an example of a project that did just that with three key aspects that busted convention wide open. Dockside Green is a 15-acre Brownfield site redevelopment located adjacent to downtown Victoria, BC. It was redeveloped to achieve the highest sustainability rating in the world under the LEEDTM green building rating system in 2008 and again in 2009.”
“Dockside Green used the LEED-NC (new construction) standard in 2008 and 2009. It piloted the draft ND standards as the first project to do so. The ND standards were finalized and made available after the first two phases of Dockside Green were constructed.”
TO LEARN MORE:
Download a PDF copy of Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Dockside Green, the World’s Greenest Neighbourhood.
