Waterfront Initiative: Developing Social-Ecological Indicators of Waterfront Health in a Cross Sector Collaborative Framework
Presentation Abstract
At the interface of land and water, the waterfront of Vancouver, BC shows the stresses of increasing urban densification, heightened climate change and growing land-use conflicts as a result of increasingly competing needs of stakeholders. As these stresses grow, integrated and innovative planning becomes ever more important. As of 2013 the city did not yet have an agreed upon vision for the use or protection of its waterfront nor did it have an appropriate structure to engage or work with a broad range of stakeholders to create a vision that reflected the diversity of land-use needs. In 2013, the Georgia Strait Alliance (GSA) launched the “Waterfront Initiative” establishing an innovative framework and strategy to build a collaborative vision for Vancouver’s waterfront and to ensure that vision becomes a reality.
Since it launched, the Initiative has worked diligently to build a shared vision, define a common agenda, and gain trust of stakeholders and citizens through hosting discussions, increasing both inter and intra-sector communication. Guided by the advice and needs of network members, our work in 2015 focused on data gathering and identifying gaps in knowledge about the waterfront. Following our most recent forum in March 2016, we have identified key measurable indicators that collectively reflect the state of Vancouver’s waterfront across five themes and act as the basis for setting shared goals, critical steps to achieving our vision. The five themes include: living (residential), working (industry and commerce), moving (transportation and shipping), playing (recreation and access to nature), and environment (healthy ecosystems and climate change). Dan Straker, GSA’s Waterfront Initiative Lead, will provide a brief overview of this innovative and collaborative approach to planning for social-ecological resilience in an urban context and outline the process of translating a data gathering exercise into measurable indicators in an open and collaborative framework.
Session Title
Softening Borders through Information Exchange: Monitoring and Indicator- Efforts Within and Across Boundaries in the Salish Sea
Conference Track
Policy and Management
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2016 : Vancouver, B.C.)
Document Type
Event
Start Date
2016 12:00 AM
End Date
2016 12:00 AM
Location
2016SSEC
Type of Presentation
Oral
Genre/Form
conference proceedings; presentations (communicative events)
Contributing Repository
Digital content made available by University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Waterfronts--British Columbia--Vancouver; City planning--British Columbia--Vancouver; Land use, Urban--British Columbia--Vancouver
Geographic Coverage
Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.); Vancouver (B.C.)
Rights
This resource is displayed for educational purposes only and may be subject to U.S. and international copyright laws. For more information about rights or obtaining copies of this resource, please contact University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225-9103, USA (360-650-7534; heritage.resources@wwu.edu) and refer to the collection name and identifier. Any materials cited must be attributed to the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference Records, University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Type
Text
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
Waterfront Initiative: Developing Social-Ecological Indicators of Waterfront Health in a Cross Sector Collaborative Framework
2016SSEC
At the interface of land and water, the waterfront of Vancouver, BC shows the stresses of increasing urban densification, heightened climate change and growing land-use conflicts as a result of increasingly competing needs of stakeholders. As these stresses grow, integrated and innovative planning becomes ever more important. As of 2013 the city did not yet have an agreed upon vision for the use or protection of its waterfront nor did it have an appropriate structure to engage or work with a broad range of stakeholders to create a vision that reflected the diversity of land-use needs. In 2013, the Georgia Strait Alliance (GSA) launched the “Waterfront Initiative” establishing an innovative framework and strategy to build a collaborative vision for Vancouver’s waterfront and to ensure that vision becomes a reality.
Since it launched, the Initiative has worked diligently to build a shared vision, define a common agenda, and gain trust of stakeholders and citizens through hosting discussions, increasing both inter and intra-sector communication. Guided by the advice and needs of network members, our work in 2015 focused on data gathering and identifying gaps in knowledge about the waterfront. Following our most recent forum in March 2016, we have identified key measurable indicators that collectively reflect the state of Vancouver’s waterfront across five themes and act as the basis for setting shared goals, critical steps to achieving our vision. The five themes include: living (residential), working (industry and commerce), moving (transportation and shipping), playing (recreation and access to nature), and environment (healthy ecosystems and climate change). Dan Straker, GSA’s Waterfront Initiative Lead, will provide a brief overview of this innovative and collaborative approach to planning for social-ecological resilience in an urban context and outline the process of translating a data gathering exercise into measurable indicators in an open and collaborative framework.
Comments
Find more about the Waterfront Initiative at http://georgiastrait.org/work/waterfront-initiative/
Hard to tell exactly what session this presentation best belongs under, but I hope these two choices fit. If there are additional sessions that it may be better suited I'm open to submitting for those.