Students research how to make Vancouver a leader.
As a child growing up in Brampton, Ontario, Sara Orchard loved water. She swam at her family’s cottage and lounged around swimming pools. Like every carefree kid, she ran through sprinklers on hot summer days.
Getting Orchard to admit that last detail is not easy now that she has spent the summer as a Greenest City 2020 Scholar working on water conservation issues with the City of Vancouver. “We’re not supposed to be using sprinklers anymore,” Orchard, a UBC graduate student pursuing a Master of Landscape Architecture, says with a smile. “But every kid loves water.”
Such refreshing honesty—as well as solid sustainability expertise—are just two of the qualities that nine UBC graduate students brought to their summer work at the City, where they collaborated with staff to develop plans to implement the long-term goals of the Vancouver 2020 Greenest City Action Plan. The project is one of the initiatives arising out of the memorandum of understanding signed between UBC and the City of Vancouver on May 11, 2010.
Each student was responsible for researching global best practices to meet one of the 10 goals, which include green economy and green jobs, greener communities and human health.
Orchard focused on the City’s clean water goal. She researched metering programs and water consumption and organizations and says the program offered the perfect setting to apply her knowledge in water conservation, environmental education and design. “It has been really satisfying to bring my expertise to the job.”
Peter Navratil, Orchard’s program supervisor and manager of the City’s Waterworks Design Branch, agrees. “Our department is used to having engineering students and we’re normally showing them the ropes,” Navratil says, “but with Sara’s previous work in water conservation and demand management, she was to some degree showing us the ropes. We learned from her.”
Navratil says Orchard’s contributions have helped the City to move one step closer to meeting its Greenest City goals. “Sara picked up the research by three or four other people and pulled it together. She has written our draft implementation plan that we’re now nailing down. It’s really her legacy piece, and we’re going to be able to take this to council,” he says.
Making academic knowledge relevant in the world outside academia is what appeals to program participant Malcolm Shield, a PhD student in Mechanical Engineering. His work focused on the City’s climate leadership goal and addressed carbon-neutral operations, carbon accounting and reduction pathways, and funding for electric-vehicle charging infrastructure field tests.
“It’s very different being outside the ivory tower,” says this British native who came to Canada in 2004 to study at UBC.
Scholars like Shield are key to ensuring that the City implements its action plan successfully, says Brian Beck, a Project Manager in the Sustainability Group at the City, and Shield’s supervisor in the program.
“The problem we as practitioners in city government have with a lot of the work we do is that we have very little time to work in each of these areas. With leading edge initiatives like this that aren’t being done anywhere, or are not being done to the degree that they’re easily repeatable, we rely on someone like Malcolm to get through some of the work, to get to the essence of what we need to be able to communicate to our stakeholders,” he says.
Although program participants like Orchard and Shield have contributed to serious issues and established professional contacts, all the hard work took place in an inclusive and supportive setting—with great people.
“The City of Vancouver is a very welcoming place, this has been a very positive experience for me,” Orchard says.
This summer, UBC students worked alongside City of Vancouver staff to address the municipality’s Greenest City goals
GOAL 1
Green Economy Capital: Secure Vancouver’s international reputation as a mecca of green enterprise
Abhijeet Jagtap, Sauder School of Business, pursuing a Master of Business Administration
Documented, categorized and surveyed green companies in Vancouver. Analyzed two different methodologies for estimating the green jobs in the city. Recommended strategies to double the number of existing green jobs.
GOAL 2
Climate Leadership: Eliminate Vancouver’s dependence on fossil fuels
Malcolm Shield, Faculty of Applied Science, pursuing a PhD in Mechanical Engineering
Researched and recommended best practices for municipal carbon neutral operations; as well as development of infrastructure planning aimed at encouraging and field-testing the early up-take of plug-in electric vehicles.
GOAL 3
Green Buildings: Lead the world in green building design and construction
Jay Worthing, Faculty of Applied Science, pursuing a Master of Architecture
Contributed to the groundwork for widespread building energy labelling throughout Vancouver and for an outcomes-based energy code pilot project. Worked to integrate these items into a strategic plan for carbon neutrality in new construction by 2020.
GOAL 4
Green Mobility: Make walking, cycling and public transit preferred transportation options
GOAL 5
Zero Waste: Create zero waste
Valerie Presolly, Sauder School of Business, pursuing a Master of Business Administration
Developed guidelines for waste management project evaluation based on triple-bottom line analysis. Analyzed best practices for corporate waste reduction and municipal waste management and gave recommendations for Vancouver’s Zero Waste plan
GOAL 6
Easy Access to Nature: Provide incomparable access to green spaces, including world’s most spectacular forest
Lindsay Bourque, School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, pursuing a Master of Landscape Architecture
Conducted an inventory of Vancouver’s current parks, greenways and bikeways to create a comprehensive map of Vancouver’s green network as well as investigating the impact of lane houses on the urban canopy cover.
GOAL 7
Lighter Footprint: Achieve a one-planet ecological footprint
Cornelia Sussmann, School of Community and Regional Planning, pursuing a PhD in Urban Planning Examined the challenges and opportunities of pursuing a one-planet ecological footprint target for the City of Vancouver, determining the City’s scope of jurisdiction and how ongoing progress can be measured.
GOAL 8
Clean Water: Enjoy the best drinking water of any major city in the world
Sara Orchard, School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, pursuing a Master of Landscape Architecture
Researched metering programs, water consumption and conservation rates in other cities and organizations. Examined metered homes for seasonal differences in water use. Researched precedents for IC&I water programs in other cities and conducted interviews with Vancouver businesses that have reduced water in the last two years.
GOAL 9
Clean Air: Breathe the cleanest air of any major city in the world
Adam Hyslop, School of Community and Regional Planning, pursuing a Master of Science in Planning
Assessed the implications of biomass combustion for district energy within urban areas and reviewed regulatory frameworks for emission control and international standards for air quality.
GOAL 10
Local Food: Become a global leader in urban food systems
Tegan Adams, Integrated Studies in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems, pursuing a Master of Science Worked to define “local food” and “low carbon food.” Brought together members of the public sector to explore what standard food procurement policy guidelines might be implemented across public food outlets in Vancouver. •
To learn more about the 2020 Greenest City Action Plan, and see the City’s 10 long-term goals and the students who worked on them, visit: http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/2010/09/10/the-greenest-city/
Vancouver 2020 Greenest City Plan: http://vancouver.ca/greenestcity
