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After many years of the SF Environment’s path-breaking accomplishments, including the formative 1996 Sustainability Plan whose foundation is still at the leading edge, SF Planning is also accelerating sustainability with completion of recent plans, formation of a multi-agency sustainability-ecodistrict program, and exploration of promising frameworks. Over the past five years, some of San Francisco’s major projects have […]

Are Canadian cities at a sustainability tipping point after 12 years of on-going innovative integrated community sustainability planning? And if so, what’s the secret?  That was the topic of TNS Canada’s Exchange Network of sustainability practitioners monthly Dialogue on September 24, 2012. The webinar was entitled, The Emerging Vision for Canadian Municipalities – Reflections and

The Natural Step International (TNSI), after several years of strategic planning, has formulated a powerful, new, 5-year strategic direction 2012-2017. The new direction addresses the cumulative insufficiency of global efforts to date, the increasing urgency and magnitude of the challenge, and the shrinking window of opportunity. The new approach builds on 22 years of success

by John Punter, (2002) is a history of urban planning and design through the experience of Vancouver and the eyes of a European scholar. For anyone interested in the theory and practice of urban placemaking, this is an excellent resource.

of the University of Curtin, Sustainability Policy Institute, Australia, will be granted for research projects that highlight the need for smart, sustainable urban planning. The students, Joe Kott from San Francisco, Annie Matan from Fremantle and Roman Trubka from Vancouver, have completed studies that focus on public transport, pedestrian access in cities and the importance of city

SustainAbility, the international independent sustainability think tank, produced a report on Citystates as “ground zero for the collision of economic, environmental and social imperatives that define sustainability.” Download the full report or watch the video.

In 2008, FastCompany published this article on William McDonough that is well rounded and a great example of good reporting. It exposed some gaps between the talk and the walk. However, is the issue really McDonough’s personal-professional challenges or society having the capacity to recognize the larger value he produced and runnng with it, with or without

Although forecasting the timing of peak oil has been less predictable than the phenomenon itself, allowing business as usual in the energy sector may undermine any capacity for a rational and successful transition to a low/no carbon, renewable-energy-based economy. If so, the sectoral market dysfunction (the scarcity-investment-production dynamic to wring out the last drop of

One need not look far to find a passionate argument that the compact city is the green city. Having more people in a smaller area results in less energy use for transportation purposes, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and greater efficiencies in the use of various resources. Cramming more people into a smaller space makes our

(BBC) Estimated to start in early August, New York City will unveil its first public bike scheme, Citi Bike, medalled as the largest in North America. The initial rollout will consist of 7,000 bicycles and 420 stations, peppered throughout the lower half of Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn and Queens; the program will be expanded in the