Water-Centric Planning

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    LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “In 2022, BCIT suspended green roof programming. Because green roofs no longer had a voice in BC, a group of us decided to do something about that. We created GRIN,” stated Dr. Christine Thuring, Executive Director of the Green Roof Infrastructure Network


    “Twenty years after inception, BCIT suspended green roof courses until further notice. BCIT green roof programming was an early victim of an ebbing tide. Part of the vision for GRIN is the N for network. We have the tools. We just need political will, and critical mass,” stated Dr. Christine Thuring. Her claim to fame is that she is the first person in North America to obtain a green roof-focused master’s degree! The “story behind the story” of GRIN as told by Christine Thuring is a great story. It links past to present and future and to where GRIN wants to take a re-energized green roof movement.

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    LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “I consciously use the word GOOD rather than PERFECT because good is normative,” stated Patrick Condon, UBC professor emeritus, author of Broken City, and sustainable design thought leader


    “You cannot absolutely verify the solution during the short period of time for a charrette. So you are operating on intuition. You are operating on experience. Collective experience and collective intuitive ability to say, this is a good idea. Oh yes, that is a good idea! GOOD is adjudged collaboratively by society. Good versus bad is not an absolute. But perfect is an absolute which depends on mathematics. That is why we should strive for a GOOD SOLUTION rather than a PERFECT SOLUTION. You are operating on intuition. You are operating on experience,” stated Patrick Condon.

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    LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “Mike Matejka and I organized the forum because local government people need a safe space to share their stories of struggle. Attendance was by invitation,” stated Gracelyn Day, co-chair of the Asset Management BC Community-of-Practice


    Gracelyn and Mike put the word out about the safe space forum idea. By making it by invitation only for local government employees, those attending would then be able to talk about the tough things that needed to be talked about. We wanted it to be a learning session. We did not want it to be a bitch session. We wanted everyone to think through how we contribute and how we add to the solution to help the conversation be productive for everyone involved. We spent time talking about the ground rules and that contributed to people opening up,” stated Gracelyn Day.

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    LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “By 2012, all land and water managers will know what makes a stream healthy, and therefore be able to help land and water users factor in new approaches to securing stream health and the full range of stream benefits,” wrote Premier Gordon Campbell in 2008


    When Premier Gordon Campbell penned this lynchpin objective for Living Water Smart, it became the Partnership focus for outreach and peer-based learning. “Look long term. Think about what is best for the future. Not for you, but for those who will follow you. Think about how we can create a better environment that others can live in and benefit from. We get to make our own choices. We get to make our own future. We just have to have the vision to imagine, and the tenacity to pursue it. Collaboration is essential. We also have to bring people together,” he stated.

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    LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “In the three decades since the creation of the Livable Region Strategic Plan, the focus and content of regional planning have evolved in response to change,” wrote Ken Cameron, regional planning trailblazer, in Metro Vancouver Planning Principles


    “In the early 1980s, the Province took the draconian step of legislating the elimination of planning as a function of all regional districts and cancelling all Official Regional Plans. In a defining moment of our history, Metro municipalities pushed back, saying they wanted to continue to have the benefits of the Livable Region Strategic Plan, the knowledge and data the region could provide to help in their work, and the policy dialogue that is at the heart of regional planning. The Livable Region Strategic Plan was approved by the Province in 1996,” stated Ken Cameron.

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    LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “Cities are all about choices – choices that become reality very quickly, with lasting consequences. Over the 21st century – the urban century – much will depend upon getting the choices right,” stated Mike Harcourt, former Premier of British Columbia


    When he was Premier, Mike Harcourt was the political champion for a TOP-DOWN AND BOTTOM-UP network approach to collaboration in BC. A defining moment for local governments during his time as Premier was the launch of the transformational Georgia Basin Initiative in 1994. At the Partnership for Water Sustainability Forum in January 2026, Mike Harcourt said: “I would like to put a call to action on the record to do with land use planning and ecological and economic sustainability. We need to integrate all the disparate changes now taking place.”

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    LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “It matters how we share information to ensure concepts are conveyed to, and understood by, the people who need to know,” stated Rémi Dubé, moderator for the Ambassadors of the Partnership Forum


    “The Partnership for Water Sustainability is hosting a forum in January 2026 that will provide a safe space for current frontline staff to tap into insights from alumni who are retired from leadership positions. The forum theme is that we can support each other to make everyone’s work easier by creating a knowledge network. When we are part of a network, everyone goes further! Solutions to the issues of our time lie in WHAT stories we tell and HOW we tell those stories. Stories that help us understand historical context and policy frameworks also point the way forward,” stated Remi Dube.

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    POWER OF BLUE ECOLOGY AS A GUIDING PHILOSOPHY: Michael Blackstock bridges two worlds, Indigenous and Western. His work on Blue Ecology interweaves Indigenous and Western ways of knowing. This is a foundational idea for achieving Water Reconciliation in British Columbia.


    “As the world gets more complex, we just simplify it to two dimensions. It is EITHER-OR. There is no complexity. I think that is a human reflex. My response to that is the concept of Natural Intelligence. There is untapped intelligence out there in nature. It is on our doorstep, but we are not even talking about. As I was writing my chapter for the Bloomsbury Handbook, I came up with this idea of Natural Intelligence. My hope is that the book will elevate the idea within academia and perhaps start a global conversation that trickles down and triggers a re-think,” stated Michael Blackstock.

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    POWER OF BLUE ECOLOGY AS A GUIDING PHILOSOPHY: “My focus on building networks by investing in relationships and community is rooted in values that closely align with those of many indigenous communities. It is about getting the flywheel going. And that is why I am collaborating with British Columbia’s Michael Blackstock,” stated Jane Wei-Skillern, network leadership thought leader


    “It is all about storytelling. Keeping things simple; not getting caught up in academic theory or jargon. Making things simple and accessible is what is going to resonate. The more we can help people understand they have the power to do what we are talking about, right now, in whatever role they are in…and the more they open their minds to it, and the more they practice and exercise those muscles…their work will become easier. It will become more effective. And it will become more fun. Shining a light on that path is what we can help to do,” stated Jane Wei-Skillern.

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    POWER OF BLUE ECOLOGY AS A GUIDING PHILOSOPHY: “If we are more unified with nature, we will be more unified with each other,” concludes Dr. Zbigniew Grabowski. He left the University of Connecticut in 2024 to put his ideas into action as the first executive director of the Mystic River Watershed


    “I did my PhD in the Pacific Northwest to get educated about indigenous world views. I drew a lot of inspiration from Michael Blackstock’s Blue Ecology work on how we can intertwine indigenous knowledge with western scientific methods. Now I am trying to figure out what that means in the context of the US Northeast. I became familiar with Michael’s Blue Ecology framework paper when I was at Portland State University. The PhD program was about doing experiments in interdisciplinary fellowships that tackled real-world problems, not just academic problems,” stated Zbigniew Grabowski.

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