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How to grow natural.
Clean Air is one of ten goal areas of the greenest city initiative. This is part of Vancouver's vision to be the greenest city in the world by 2020.
- Long term goal: breathe the cleanest air of any major city in the world
- Target: meet or beat the most stringent of British Columbian, Canadian, and international air quality standards and guidelines
Watch this video to learn more.
Building a Better City
A fundamental change is occurring in Vancouver in every aspect of how we build our city. We are building in a way that reduces our energy emissions, accommodates active and public transportation and ensures future quality of life.
All new commercial and multi-family buildings are required to meet the strictest energy efficiency requirements in Canada. The City approved the creation of a sustainable community energy system for Southeast False Creek that will reduce heating related greenhouse gas emissions by more than 50%. Methane gas captured from the Vancouver Landfill is being used to generate heat and electricity.
Vancouver has established a forward-thinking Transportation Plan for the city. The City has designed for a variety of road users by supporting transit, creating greenways and incorporating bicycle lanes. The result is a 44% increase in walking, a 180% increase in bike trips and a 10% reduction in vehicle trips since 1997. Transit ridership has increased by 50% in the last decade.
In addition, Vancouver is working on the EcoDensity initiative. Building on the work of the CityPlan process that promotes the development of complete, mixed use urban communities in all the City's neighbourhoods; EcoDensity is a way to plan our growing city while reducing our ecological footprint. It is the City's vision for how Vancouver will grow in a way that is green, as well as livable and affordable.
Early 2009, Mayor Robertson launched the Greenest City initiative, with a goal to map out how we can earn that title by 2020. A Greenest City Quick Start Recommendations report was published in the spring, and in the fall the Vancouver 2020: A Bright Green Future Action Plan was introduced. The fall report also linked the initiative to the recently introduced Vancouver Green Capital business strategy. Vancouver's goal is to be the greenest city in the world by 2020 -- in 2010 engaged in a public consultation process to inform the action plans.
In 2010, Vancouver was named Canada's most sustainable city by the Corporate Knights survey. Vancouver was not only the top of the medium city category but highest in overall rankings.
Part of a livable Vancouver is building cultural legacies in sport and recreation, arts, literacy, and volunteerism.
Click on the links to the left to find out more.
