
The New York Times ran an article this week highlighting the "controversy" over the investments of eco-champion Al Gore. Apparently, some perceive a conflict of interest between the Nobel Laureate’s environmental fervor and his wide-ranging financial stakes in green industry. ...

Over the course of a few decades, a neighbourhood’s demand for school infrastructure can change dramatically. Changes in population size or composition fuel the need for new schools or erode the viability of existing ones. ...

Millions of dollars are collaboratively allocated each year according to the priorities of residents in Toronto’s public housing units. This participatory budgeting process was invented 20 years ago in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and is now transforming budgeting processes in cities around the world. ...

Last night I went to see “Where the Wild Things Are” at the Scotiabank Theatre on Burrard Street in Downtown Vancouver. During a pause between scenes, you could hear the tittering of a baby somewhere in the back of the theatre. Th...

Bill Reed, Principle of the Integrative Design Collaborative, began his lecture by talking about the problematic structure of the English language and how this has influenced the way english-speaking cultures conceptualize nature and approach development...

Nola-Kate Seymoar, social psychologist and President and CEO of Sustainable Cities, spoke today about the psychology of change.She began her talk by addressing three elements that contribute to human behavioral change: structure, process and attitude...

Nicole Boyer facilitated a panel of speakers that includedyesterday at Gaining Ground. Bill Rees, Vanessa Timmer, and Vincent Tan spokeabout why we need to rethink cities and what cities of the future could look like...

The first morning of the Gaining Ground, Resilient Cities conference concluded with a presentation by Paul Hawken, renowned author of Natural Capitalism, the Ecology of Commerce, and Blessed Unrest...

Who will be the most sustainable city in the world? Vancouver, British Columbia, unveiled its Greenest City Initiative today, which sets 10 ambitious targets for resource use reduction, to achieve by 2010...

The APA has announced the results of its 2009 Great Places in America awards. I was really pleased to see Main Street in Greenville, SC celebrated as a 2009 Great Street! Greenville’s Main Street was one of the reasons I chose to go to university in the city. ...

During the coming week, Planning Pool will be liveblogging theGainingGround Summit from Vancouver, BC...

Planning Pool
Gaining Ground Summit: CALL for LIVEBLOGGERS (Vancouver)
Ever thought it would be fun to write a post for Planning Pool? Want to attend part of the 2009 Gaining Ground Conference in Vancouver next week on our press pass? This call for writers is going out first on the Facebook group, so if you're interested please reply... here or email vanessa_at_planningpool.com before this Friday!
The conference theme is "Resilient Cities: Urban Strategies for Transition Times", and many fantastic speakers are scheduled. We seek a limited number of planning enthusiasts to use the Planning Pool press pass to attend one or more sessions at the conference and publish a post or two about what they learned. Have a look at the conference program to see what's on offer: http://www.gaininggroundsummit.com/progr am.htm
(Materials needed: enthusiasm, access to a laptop computer and duct tape. Don't worry if you don't know how to use Wordpress - we'll help you out with that in advance. Just kidding about the duct tape.)Read More
Ever thought it would be fun to write a post for Planning Pool? Want to attend part of the 2009 Gaining Ground Conference in Vancouver next week on our press pass? This call for writers is going out first on the Facebook group, so if you're interested please reply... here or email vanessa_at_planningpool.com before this Friday!
The conference theme is "Resilient Cities: Urban Strategies for Transition Times", and many fantastic speakers are scheduled. We seek a limited number of planning enthusiasts to use the Planning Pool press pass to attend one or more sessions at the conference and publish a post or two about what they learned. Have a look at the conference program to see what's on offer: http://www.gaininggroundsummit.com/progr
(Materials needed: enthusiasm, access to a laptop computer and duct tape. Don't worry if you don't know how to use Wordpress - we'll help you out with that in advance. Just kidding about the duct tape.)Read More
Program for Gaining Ground, Resilient Cities, Urban Strategies for Transition Times, Vancouver, Cana
Source: www.gaininggroundsummit.com
Resilient Cities will take place at the Vancouver Convention & Exhbition Centre (East), "under the sails," 999 Canada Place.

Last month, we updated you about Vancouver’s Open City Initiative and the Beta Open Data Catalogue that had just come online. In a similar fashion, New York City is opening up its public databases, ranging from traffic data to restaurant health inspections and property sales. ...

Planning Pool
Vancouver's background chicken guidelines have been released! Up to 4 chickens per household, with coops least 10 feet from a dwelling. While apartment patios are obviously excluded, maybe chickens will be feasible in townhouses and rowhouses!
This article from CityCaucus features a picture of a guy in a chicken costum...e, and the terrible pun "Ecohensity". What's not to like?
http://www.citycaucus.com/2009/10/ecohen sity-trademark-pending-coming-to-vancouv er http://www.citycaucus.com/2009/10/ecohen sity-trademark-pending-coming-to-vancouv erRead More
This article from CityCaucus features a picture of a guy in a chicken costum...e, and the terrible pun "Ecohensity". What's not to like?
http://www.citycaucus.com/2009/10/ecohen
Source: www.citycaucus.com
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