An Environmental Plan for the New City of Toronto: How to Make It ...

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trends, environmental impacts, sets out a number of targets and viable actions for government, business and the public deemed to be achievable within a generation which would reduce the ecological footprint, increase diversity of land use, create jobs and stimulate community enterprise. (For example key targets include reducing CO2 emissions, clustering urban form, reducing energy demand of buildings by 30-40%, reducing road traffic by 25%, tripling public transport; and creating 50,000 jobs in environmental and related industries) (Smith et al, p. 23). The plan takes a systems approach to planning, combining elements of the Healthy City, Natural Step and Ecological Footprint frameworks (Salsberg, 1998). City-Region 2020 Vision - urban centres will be vibrant, diverse, green and safe - inner cities will continuously regenerate and steer towards eco-efficency and the unlocking of the third sector - the suburbs will reinvent local economies and neighbourhood centres - the urban fringe and rural areas will be a diverse and green landscape for humans and wildlife (Ravetz, 1998) 2.6.2 Process: Plan Development The plan was prepared as a test case of an integrative sustainable development planning approach which has been developed by the TCPA. The community was only indirectly involved through participation on the Sustainable City-Region Working Group. 2.6.3 Implementation As this document is still in draft form, it is too early to tell what impact this document will have on the Greater Manchester area. The document is intended to be used as a resource, with the actions to be adopted at the appropriate level by the appropriate public or community sector. The ten local authorities, as the ‘primary stewards and guardians of the city’ (Ravetz, 1998) will operationalize (and may already be doing) many of the short, medium and long term actions suggested. According to the author, some recent actions can be attributed to this document, including the 'Regional Visions Strategy' which is essentially a new framework of sustainability for, not the city region of Greater Manchester, but the larger region (population seven million) proposed under the recent government restructuring. It has also resulted in a sustainable action strategy for the airport, and a series of 'Futures Workshops' with mutli-level stakeholders focusing 23
how developing/implementing long term sustainability policy for the City –Region (Ravetz, pers.com.). 2.6.4 Key elements of Success Vision: the vision and targets are well developed and evocative and provided inspiration for the larger (new) region’s vision statement. International recognition: this is a well researched document that, even in draft form, has credibility and international recognition as a blueprint for application of sustainable development to a city-region (Smith, Maf et al,1998). Multi-framework approach: City-Region 2020 incorporates different conceptual frameworks - Healthy City, Natural Step and the Ecological Footprint. Community / corporate ownership: the local authorities participated as members on the Sustainable Development Working Group and sponsored the project. City–regions and the world Greater Manchester is a world city and a thriving centre for finance, education, sport and culture. And yet a million people live in fear of unemployment, poverty or exclusion, amidst crumbling buildings and derelict land. As world city, it also contributes 1/700 th of the world climate change effect. Air pollution is high, surrounding hills and rivers run with acid rain, and the waste mountain of 12 million tonnes per year spills over. The city casts a huge ‘footprint’ on the global ecology, and just to stand still, relies on continuous growth in ‘affluence and effluence’. Other cities and regions in the developed world cast a similar shadow. As they each struggle and compete for investment and jobs, it seems more urgent than ever to generate true wealth through sustainable development – combining economic growth, social justice and environmental protection. (Ravetz, 1998) 2.7 Goteborg, Sweden: On our way to a better environment! Environmental Policy of the City of Goteborg, 1996 and Towards a Healthy City: Strategies and objectives to realize the vision of The Healthy City Goteborg, 1997. Goteburg is the largest industrial centre in Sweden, comprised of 21 municipal districts with a population of approximately 450,000. This City was selected for review because of its broadly focused approach to sustainable development and its use of a number of different frameworks (Local Agenda 21, Healthy City, the Natural Step) to promote sustainability to a variety of audiences. The municipal government was restructured in 1994 to include a Public Health Commission (Board of Health) and an Environmental Commission (Environmental Committee) which produced the Towards a Healthy City 24
Page 1 and 2: An Environmental Plan for the New C
Page 3 and 4: Executive Summary The new Environme
Page 5 and 6: address implications for applicatio
Page 7 and 8: The United Nations defines sustaina
Page 9 and 10: the principles of the Natural Step
Page 11 and 12: to engage people in a discussion of
Page 13 and 14: commitment to “follow the princip
Page 15 and 16: Political commitment is everything
Page 17 and 18: 2.3.4 Key elements of Success Poli
Page 19 and 20: 2.4.3 Implementation The Comprehens
Page 21 and 22: 2.5.2 Process: Plan Development The
Page 23: 2.5.4 Key elements of Success Poli
Page 27 and 28: The Environmental Policy is to appl
Page 29 and 30: criteria were identification of a p
Page 31 and 32: towards sustainability. As actions
Page 33 and 34: is not legally binding, but is an i
Page 35 and 36: 4 CONCLUSIONS 34
Page 37 and 38: 17. Ravetz, Joe, City-Region 2020:
Page 39 and 40: Appendix 1 Interview Questions 1. W

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