Expert answer:The Capable City
Answer & Explanation:The Capable City, Vancouver’s Gift to Governance at the World Urban Form (WUF): Turning Ideas into ActionIn preparation for the 2006 United Nations World Urban Forum (WUF), the Vancouver Working Group (VWG) was created as a partnership of public and private agencies and civil society. It was mandated to initiate a series of research inquiries resulting in the Vancouver Working Group Discussion Papers for the World Urban Forum.These papers were prepared by members of the VWG with relevant experience and well-developed resources. It is hoped that these papers will contribute to the development of a thematic framework for WUF 2006 by articulating the concept and content of urban sustainability.Canada Capable city.pdf 1) What is a capable city? Explain. What does governance mean? Who are the key parties and partners involved and how is the Capable City structured and carried out in Vancouver and the surrounding area? What does each party contribute.2) What is the impact of governance (the concept) on development of intergovernmental relations? Explain.
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THE WORLD URBAN FORUM 2006
Vancouver Working Group
Discussion Paper
Dr. Don Alexander, Dr. Nola-Kate Seymoar,
Dominica Babicki and Jennifer Ferguson
International Centre for Sustainable Cities
Copyright Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada
and the International Centre for Sustainable Cities, 2004
March 2005
Aussi disponible en français
Turning Ideas into Action
In preparation for the 2006 United Nations World Urban Forum (WUF), the Vancouver
Working Group (VWG) was created as a partnership of public and private agencies and
civil society. It was mandated to initiate a series of research inquiries resulting in the
Vancouver Working Group Discussion Papers for the World Urban Forum. These
papers were prepared by members of the VWG with relevant experience and welldeveloped resources. It is hoped that these papers will contribute to the development of a
thematic framework for WUF 2006 by articulating the concept and content of urban
sustainability.
WUF will focus on urbanization as an all-encompassing global phenomenon and attempt
to recommend effective actions to achieve a sustainable process of global urban
transformation by balancing social, economic, environmental and political goals: Turning
Ideas into Action.
The Vancouver Working Group Discussion Papers for the World Urban Forum are openended segments of a conceptual whole. Each of them will strive towards sustainability
thereby transforming urban life into a productive, inclusive and environmentally balanced
range of activities. These segments taken together will characterize sustainable human
settlements. Sustainable urbanization can only be achieved through a mosaic of
sustainable components that will add up to more than the sum of their parts.
All papers received comments from independent peer reviewers and this contribution is
gratefully acknowledged.
H. Peter Oberlander, O.C.
Professor Emeritus,
Community and Regional Planning,
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, British Columbia
Editor
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
These papers continue the international dialogue on human settlements that began with
the first UN Human Settlements Conference in Vancouver in 1976. They provide an
initial analysis of diverse aspects of the current urban situation and create a basis for an
informed discussion and development of ideas and relevant issues leading up to WUF
2006.
The purpose of the Forum is to engage people worldwide in discussions about urban
issues and to stimulate significant change across generations in the field of sustainable
urban development. The United Nations has challenged Canada to develop a more
interactive and participatory Forum. Consultation, dialogue and conclusions formed prior
to and during the World Urban Forum will also contribute to Canada’s urban agenda and
will help to create a long-term legacy of knowledge and action around sustainability
issues in Canada and the World.
The papers contributed to Canadian efforts in Barcelona at the 2004 WUF. Ministers and
Canadian officials held informal consultations with domestic and international
stakeholders while in Spain. The WUF 2006 Secretariat will take into consideration all
input received from interested stakeholders to ensure that Canada meets the challenge
from UN Habitat in making the WUF 2006 more interactive and participatory.
These papers have been developed with the financial support of Western Economic
Diversification Canada. The views expressed herein are solely those of the authors of
this paper and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Government of
Canada.
Jane McRae, Ken Cameron, Johnny Carline, Hugh Kellas and the Division Managers of
the GVRD who participated in two workshops to identify the practical applications of the
citiesPLUS 100 year plan have shaped the insights presented in this paper; Tina Penney;
Bob Paddon of TransLink; Bob Purdy and David Marshall of the Fraser Basin Council;
Mike Harcourt, Ann Dale, Gene Nyberg, Luke Peloquin, Chad Day and Ken Calbick.
The financial contribution of SaskEnergy and their interest in disseminating the lesson
from citiesPLUS is very much appreciated.
ii
FOREWORD
This paper is part of Turning Ideas into Action, a themed series created in preparation for
the 2006 World Urban Forum. Together, this series forms a mosaic that sheds light on a
common focus: the city. On a global scale, cities have become the dominant form of
human settlement, socially, economically, environmentally and politically. The papers
begin to examine how cities can continue to be dynamic and inclusive places in which to
live and thrive. By illustrating explorations of the city with powerful stories of promising
practices, the papers emphasize the assets from which cities draw their strength, and
highlight dynamic participatory processes in action. Research for each paper draws on
extensive experience in planning and managing cities. Selected lessons provide
knowledge to achieve locally relevant solutions and supportive policies at the regional,
national and global levels. They demonstrate the complexities of how cities evolve and
transform, and challenge assumptions that are often taken for granted. Finally, the papers
encourage the reader to view the world from different perspectives and discover
successful and innovative solutions appropriate to their relevant conditions.
WUF 2006 will build on Canada’s historic leadership in bringing the UN Conference on
Human Settlements to Vancouver in 1976. It will also benefit from Canadian experience
in improving human settlements at home and abroad. The 1976 UN meeting pioneered a
participatory process of member nations and NGO’s, and created a worldwide focus for
human settlements issues through the establishment of the UN Centre for Human
Settlements in Nairobi, now known as UN-HABITAT. WUF 2006 is part of an historic
trajectory of UN Conferences and represents the 30th anniversary of HABITAT ’76.
These papers are intended to initiate an informed dialogue on the scope and scale of the
evolving urban agenda through Turning Ideas into Action locally, regionally, nationally
and across the world.
iii
This paper is one of a series of discussion papers prepared in anticipation of the World
Urban Forum 2006.
The papers in this series include:
The Capable City
The International Centre for Sustainable Cities
This paper examines non-traditional forms of governance with an emphasis on consensus
that has emerged in a Canadian context and responds to three questions. Are there models
of cooperation across jurisdictions that might provide lessons for city regions that do not
require mergers? Are there models for management of global common goods – such as
watersheds, that do not involve legislative powers? Are there models based on consensus
and voluntary agreements across sectors that show promise for influencing decision
making related to sustainability? Three Canadian cases are presented: the Greater
Vancouver Regional District; the Fraser Basin Council; and the National Round Table on
the Environment and Economy. The models are assessed using UN-HABITAT’s criteria
for good governance. The findings, along with pertinent literature and experience on
governance and capacity building, yield observations and recommendations about their
application to other cities.
The Ideal City
Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory, University of British Columbia
This paper explores the history and force of ideal city planning and the related literary
and visual genres of Utopian — and Dystopian — speculation. The Ideal City represents a
highly significant aspect of human thought and endeavour, usually conceived in response
to actual problems as well as intended to effect substantive improvement in the daily
social lives of individual citizens. Linked to a thematic knowledge resource intended to
establish an interactive website, this paper reviews the main constituents of the Ideal City
tradition, examines its impact on the design of urban settlement, including across
Canada and in Vancouver, and indicates how such conceptual approaches to the building
of a better civic environment and society can contribute to the creation of more
sustainable, habitable and civilized cities in the 21st century.
The Learning City
Simon Fraser University
The learning city is a city that approaches sustainable development as an ongoing
educational process. This paper focuses particularly on the role of universities and
colleges in the learning city, examining the different dimensions of sustainability
education and best practices from British Columbia, across Canada and internationally.
Lessons from this are applied to envisioning a new Centre for the Learning City in
Vancouver’s new Great Northern Way Campus.
The Livable City
The International Centre for Sustainable Cities
This paper is a case study of the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) in
Canada, the host region for the World Urban Forum 2006. Drawing on the literature on
livable cities and the region’s efforts to bring this concept into practice, the paper poses
two central questions: What key factors affect the livability of a city and how does
livability relate to sustainability? Livability is defined as “quality of life” as experienced
by the residents within a city or region, and the paper concentrates on a case study of
iv
planning for Greater Vancouver including the Livable Region Strategic Plan, the
Sustainable Region Initiative, and the citiesPLUS 100-year vision for the GVRD. The
paper provides lessons for other cities and regions, and concludes that for Greater
Vancouver, livability, sustainability and resiliency are three intertwined elements that
together will define the quality of life of current and future residents.
The Planning City
The Canadian Institute of Planners
This paper looks at sustainability as a dynamic, continuous process of sharing and
exchanging knowledge and experiences, and of learning through action. It contributes to
this learning process by reviewing key trends and challenges that confront those
responsible for planning cities in Canada and overseas. Examples of urban planning
innovations and experimentations are drawn from a sample of cities and taken from the
perspective of the urban planner who is usually a central actor in efforts to articulate, plan
for and implement urban sustainability. The paper concludes with key findings, and
offers direction about processes, structures and methods that could enhance the effort to
achieve urban sustainability.
The Resilient City
Ministry of Community, Aboriginal and Women’s Services, Government of British
Columbia
This paper explores the resiliency of small Canadian communities dependent upon single
resource industries by examining how they have coped with the economic and social
pressures arising from the closure of their industries. It summarizes how they have
managed their transition from communities existing to serve resource exploitation
exclusively to communities based on a different, broader economy and suggests lessons
from the Canadian experience that may be transferable to resource-based communities
around the world.
The Secure City
Liu Institute for Global Issues, UBC
This paper focuses on three key issues: traditional pillars of urban security, threats and
forces shaping cities in the 21st Century, and a research agenda to explore relationships
between adaptive security, preventive security and human security. Action is called for to
advance current concepts of capacity building, resilient design and adaptive planning.
Integrated risk assessment that is responsive to community needs for prevention and
precaution is recommended, and an enhanced role for individual responsibility and
community participation to expand social capital is advocated. The Secure City sets a
context for Canada’s emerging national urban agenda and a policy framework for global
strategies to improve human security in cities throughout the world.
The Youth Friendly City
The Environmental Youth Alliance
This paper explores what opportunities exist for the greater recognition of the rights and
needs of children and youth in urban settings through a significantly enhanced role in
urban governance and community building. By enabling children and youth to participate
fully in their own development and environment, this paper demonstrates the potential
among youth for building capacity, and for becoming insightful resources in developing
strong and thriving local neighbourhoods and cities.
v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary
1
1.
Introduction: The Context for the Capable City
2
2.
The Capable City in the Context of Sustainability and Governance
3
3.
Introduction to the Models
4
4.
The Greater Vancouver Regional District
6
5.
The Fraser Basin Council
13
6.
The National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy
21
7.
Overall Reflections on the Models
29
8.
Implications for Others
29
9.
Implications for Capacity Building
32
10.
Conclusions
34
Endnotes
36
References
42
Appendix A
UN HABITAT Criteria for Good Governance
46
Appendix B
Organizational Charts
47
Appendix C
TransLink
50
vi
The Capable City
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
One of the significant challenges facing local authorities is their ability to work with
others in their region to tackle issues related to sustainability. Water, air, transportation
and pollution are among many issues that do not respect political boundaries.
Competition between neighboring cities may lead to decisions that undermine their own
environmental or social interests. Duplication of administrative services can prevent the
most efficient use of resources. In response, provincial or state jurisdictions often force
mergers of cities and the cities, towns and villages that are immediately adjacent to them.
Whether these mergers have solved the problems or simply created new ones is a matter
for continuing debate. In this paper we distinguish ‘governance’ from ‘government’ as
involving a collaboration of the public, private, and civil society sectors. The paper is
limited to the examination of non-traditional forms of governance with an emphasis on
consensus that have emerged in a Canadian context and respond to three questions.
Are there models of cooperation across jurisdictions that might provide lessons for
city regions that do not require mergers? Are there models for management of
global common goods – such as watersheds, that do not involve legislative powers?
Are there models based on consensus and voluntary agreements across sectors that
show promise for influencing decision making related to sustainability?
In this paper, we begin examining these questions by focusing on three Canadian case
examples: the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD); the Fraser Basin Council
(FBC); and the National Round Table on the Environment and Economy (NRTEE). The
models are assessed using UN HABITAT’s criteria for good governance and also with
respect to process attributes and lessons.
The findings, along with pertinent literature and experience on governance and capacitybuilding, yield observations and recommendations about their application to other cities.
The three cases offer much that is instructive but attempts to adapt them to other
circumstances and locations must be respectful of local traditions and contexts.
1
The Capable City
THE CAPABLE CITY
1. Introduction: The Context for the Capable City
Cities in all parts of the world face mounting challenges such as population shifts, water
shortages, air pollution, inadequate or aging infrastructure, sprawl, the spread of informal
settlements, and traffic congestion. They are also increasingly viewed as the best vehicles
for achieving sustainability because they represent the public institutions closest to the
people and the problems. As the United Nations’ Centre for Human Settlements argues,
cities are becoming the “test bed for the adequacy of political institutions, and the
effectiveness of programs to combat social exclusion, protect and repair the environment,
and promote human development.”1 Meeting these mounting challenges and negotiating
the path to sustainability in the coming decades will require significant advances in urban
governance.
One of the significant challenges facing local authorities is their ability to work with
others in their region to tackle issues related to sustainability. Water, air, transportation
and pollution are among many issues that do not respect political boundaries.
Competition to attract new businesses and industries can lead neighboring jurisdictions to
provide tax breaks or bid so low that they undermine one another and their own
environmental or social interests. Duplication of administrative services can prevent the
most efficient use of resources. These and other factors have led many provincial or state
jurisdictions to force mergers of central cities and the cities, towns and villages that are
immediately adjacent to them. Whether these mergers have solved the problems or
simply created new ones is a matter for continuing debate.
Are there models of cooperation across jurisdictions that might provide lessons for
city regions that do not require mergers? Are there models for management of
global common goods – such as watersheds – that do not involve legislative powers?
Are there models based on consensus and voluntary agreements across sectors that
show promise for influencing decision making related to sustainability?
In this paper, we begin examining these questions by focusing on three Canadian case
examples: the Greater Vancouver Regional District; the Fraser Basin Council; and the
National Round Table on the Environment and Economy. In the words of Tom Carter,
Urban Research Chair of the University of Winnipeg, “In developing models of regional
and inter-stakeholder cooperation, which is so crucial in achieving urban sustainability, it
is important to examine non-traditional forms of governance, or those that are different
from traditional government institutions, community organizations and legislative
frameworks. There is a considerable emphasis on consensus building in the case study
models portrayed, as opposed to a more legislated or formal process of decision making.
Moving forward on regional, local and even international issues associated with
2
The Capable City
sustainability will require a consensus building approach, particularly as more formal,
traditional and legislated approaches in the past have often failed.”
All three models grew organically in response to issues or ideas and later were formalized
with legal status. Each has strengths and weaknesses. All three work by a variation on a
consensus model. All three have lessons that are relevant to cities and regions facing
tough issues and lacking legislative mechanisms to force coordination.
The cases and the models they embody are evaluated from the perspective of criteria
articulated by the UN-HABITAT. These criteria includei:
•
Sustainability
•
Subsidiarity
•
Equity
•
Efficiency
•
Transparency and accountability
•
Civic engagement and citizenship
•
Security of individuals and their living environments
The paper briefly examines a working definition of the capable city, then explores the
three case studies and their strengths and weaknesses, and draws some conclusions from
the lessons learned with special reference to their practical implications. The paper
concludes by speculating about what kind of capacity building would be required by
cities and regions that decide to try out the models in their own jurisdictions.
2. The Capable City in the Context of Sustainability and
Governance
In the context of sustainability, a capable city is one that is able to meet the present and
future needs of its citizens for social, economic, cultural and environmental well-being
while …
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