Details
Host: British Columbia Co-operative Association
Date: Friday, November 23, 2012
Time: 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM (PST)
Location: SFU Woodwards, 149 West Hastings Street (map)
Conference registration: $75 (students $50) Register online
The City of Vancouver is engaged in an unprecedented effort to make sustainability the driving force that will define what the city aspires to and how the city operates. This vision has prompted the City to rise to the front rank of cities promoting sustainability and to declare that by the year 2020, Vancouver will be recognized as the world’s Greenest City. It is a bold and inspiring vision and one that rests, in large part, on the means by which the City engages its citizenry in realizing this ambitious goal.
A key element in making this vision a reality is the adoption of social technologies that both embody and advance the social values and relationships that are implicit in the City’s sustainability goals. Co-operation is chief among these.
The purpose of the Co-operative City conference is to showcase the ways in which co-operatives can make sustainability the basis for strengthening key sectors and essential services and also for improving the quality of life for citizens. The objective of the conference is to generate strategic partnerships between the co-op sector and the City to advance sustainability goals in such areas as:
- Arts and culture
- Local food systems
- Affordable housing
- Green industry
- Community energy
In recognition of 2012 as the UN International Year of Co-operatives, the Co-operative City conference is a bold attempt to place co-operation at the heart of a city’s sustainability efforts.
In addition to showcasing outstanding examples through the presentations and workshops, the conference will feature site visits with projects that exemplify what is possible through the strategic use of co-operative models.
Speakers include: Penny Ballem, City Manager, City of Vancouver; Catherine Clement, VP of Community Engagement, Vancouver Foundation; Peter Couchman, Chief Executive of the Plunkett Foundation, UK; and Mike Harcourt, CoV Greenest City Action Team
For more information, please vist the conference EventBrite page; download the PDF with all the conference details; or contact Rita Farkas at ritazitafarkas@gmail.com or Brad Boyce at general@bcca.coop.