Gaining Ground 2010 Conference
“Eco-Logical” The Power of Green Cities to Shape the Future
Vancouver, BC October 4-7, 2010
Conference Location: downtown Vancouver campuses of BCIT, SFU and SFU Woodwards. www.gaininggroundsummit.com, info@gaininggroundsummit.com
This year's Gaining Ground Conference, Eco-Logical, will emphasize practice, execution and innovation in policy, urban-system and community design, green economy, education…and the full integration of sustainability in professional practice.
Gaining Ground celebrates sustainability practice and its innovators: practitioners and advocates across a range of fields working to advance and accelerate urban sustainability in Vancouver and North America.
Each day of the conference is devoted to a different theme—sustainability innovation and next practices in governance and policy; green economy; and community engagement and well-being. Given Vancouver’s mission to become the world’s greenest city, we can’t think of a better place or time for exploring these themes.
Register now for the full conference experience or choose from a pre-conference day and 3 theme-focused days offered as stand-alone programs:
- Pre-conference Program: Monday, Oct. 4th Pre-Conference shoulder program featuring the debut presentation of the International Ecocity Standards, BCIT development and construction industry engagement program, presentation of the Gaining Ground Open Directory.
- Governance Innovation: Tuesday, Oct 5th “Vancouver Turns Deep Green.” How fast and how far can political leadership and new policy direction move? Building on Monday’s preconference activity, Tuesday will focus on how a city and region (Vancouver) can advance the green city agenda with the greatest possible speed through its policies, leadership and partnerships.
- Business and Professional Practice Innovation: Wednesday, Oct. 6th “Real Value Thinking About Urban Systems”—A One-Day Business Summit for leaders and decision-makers in: Cleantech, alternative energy, innovative infrastructure planning, urban systems planning, valuation and true value/true cost analysis, and related capital markets. It emphasizes the need to refine the ‘value story’ and expand ‘value literacy’ as a way of reinforcing the business case for sustainable options and approaches.
- Social Innovation: Thursday, Oct. 7th “Healing Cities” addresses first, the powerful intersection of urban design/planning/architecture/complete communities and personal and community health and well-being; second, the role of media and social media in community-building; and third, the best strategies for expanding the scope and scale of ‘ecological citizenship’ at the community level.
We at HB Lanarc especially encourage participation in one of the most exciting and integrative conferences of the year – “Healing Cities” – Day 3 of the larger “Gaining Ground” summit, held in Vancouver in early Oct.
There is an emerging desire and need for people in a variety of professional fields to be talking and determining new ways to move forward in designing and planning our urban living spaces so that they can be healed, and also BE healing places for all of us to inhabit. This combination of perspectives grounds, in a very concrete way, the great work so many of us are doing in our planning, healing and spiritual practices and personal journeys. Imagine that - a city, a community, that heals. This day of conference will help us learn how and explore new ways to approach this task. We certainly don't have all the answers or even all the questions, and we need your input!