'VANCOUVER CAN LEAD THE WAY'
Philippine mayor panelist
in Cities Summit 2012
By Alex P. Vidal
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Mayor Herbert Bautista of Quezon City, Philippines joined as panelist Grosvenor Americas CEO Andrew Bibby, EDF Senior Vice President Pascal Terrieh, and AVECOM SVP on Design Planning+Economics Americas Stephen Engblom in the topic about "The Future Cities: The New Century's Neighborhood" in the final day of the two-day Cities Summit 2012 at the Vancouver Convention Center from February 1-2.
Vancouver has been recognized for zoning and development models that have created a livable, sustainable city.
The session explored the questions about the future development innovations, land-use decisions, building codes and technologies that will define the 21st Century city.
It also outlined the business of development within cities and explored the creative approaches necessary to build thriving and affordable city neighborhoods.
Meanwhile, here's the speech of Vancouver City Mayor Gregor Robertson in relation to the city's hosting of the Cities Summit 2012:
Picture 180,000 people packing up their possessions, leaving their rural homes and moving to a city.
That's what happens around the world every day. Over the next year, the planet's cities will see an influx of 65 million people.
It's the largest and fastest migration in human history: the urbanization of the human race.
It's in this context that Vancouver will host the first Cities Summit. We welcome a delegation of over 400 participants, with senior executives from Google, Cisco and IBM joining participants from 31 cities, including London, Vienna, Copenhagen and Singapore, at the Vancouver Convention Centre.
GOAL
Our goal with the Cities Summit is to bring together international urban and business leaders to find creative, workable solutions that can secure a sustainable future for the world's cities - and create new economic opportunities in the process.
Our city is uniquely suited not just to host this conversation, but to lead the change it will spur. This is a chance to showcase Vancouver's talent in city-building and leadership in sustainability, to promote our local businesses and connect them with new opportunities around the world.
But we can only grasp the opportunity we're facing if we understand how enormous this urban change really is. Over the next two generations, the world's urban population will double in size, with three billion more people making their homes in our cities. We will have to duplicate a scale of housing and infrastructure that took centuries to build - in only 40 years.
INVEST
All told, cities will need to invest $350 trillion over the next three decades on infrastructure alone. And that's only part of the mammoth political, economic, social and environmental upheaval such a massive, rapid change imposes.
This is change with the scope of the Industrial Revolution - only world-wide, and switched to fast forward. How we deal with it will shape the future of every person on the planet for generations to come.
Failure is not an option, because it's in our cities that many of our biggest opportunities and most potent challenges are playing out.
Cities are the source of 70 to 80 per cent of greenhouse gas pollution today; doubling that would be disastrous. We must dramatically reduce our carbon footprint.
Communities and local economies that can withstand our current levels of energy consumption and waste will find them far more damaging as cities scale up rapidly. Cities that deplete their resources and degrade their environments in a race to build the tallest or fastest or biggest will find their victories short-lived as global demand shifts toward efficiency and sustainability.
HOPE
It is this shift that offers real hope that we can still get it right.
Because rapid urbanization holds tremendous promise alongside that risk. Done right, it creates jobs, con-serves resources and improves quality of life.
We can build the cities we need to build for future generations, and create economic opportunity in today's climate of uncertainty.
Our cities can grow in a way that strengthens our economy, with opportunities for entrepreneurs and good-paying jobs.
We've spent the past three years working together to craft a strategy to make Vancouver the world's greenest city. We're home to a thriving clean technology hub with globally competitive companies. No city on Earth can top the innovative spirit and sustainability expertise in our businesses,
neighbourhoods, community organizations and non-profits.
Hosting the Cities Summit will put us at the centre of the conversation about the future of the world's cities, as we bring business, political and urban thought leaders together to catalyze investment, job creation and new urban ideas.
No city is better positioned than Vancouver to lead this change and to prosper from that opportunity.
Vancouver has been recognized for zoning and development models that have created a livable, sustainable city.
The session explored the questions about the future development innovations, land-use decisions, building codes and technologies that will define the 21st Century city.
It also outlined the business of development within cities and explored the creative approaches necessary to build thriving and affordable city neighborhoods.
Meanwhile, here's the speech of Vancouver City Mayor Gregor Robertson in relation to the city's hosting of the Cities Summit 2012:
Picture 180,000 people packing up their possessions, leaving their rural homes and moving to a city.
That's what happens around the world every day. Over the next year, the planet's cities will see an influx of 65 million people.
It's the largest and fastest migration in human history: the urbanization of the human race.
It's in this context that Vancouver will host the first Cities Summit. We welcome a delegation of over 400 participants, with senior executives from Google, Cisco and IBM joining participants from 31 cities, including London, Vienna, Copenhagen and Singapore, at the Vancouver Convention Centre.
GOAL
Our goal with the Cities Summit is to bring together international urban and business leaders to find creative, workable solutions that can secure a sustainable future for the world's cities - and create new economic opportunities in the process.
Our city is uniquely suited not just to host this conversation, but to lead the change it will spur. This is a chance to showcase Vancouver's talent in city-building and leadership in sustainability, to promote our local businesses and connect them with new opportunities around the world.
But we can only grasp the opportunity we're facing if we understand how enormous this urban change really is. Over the next two generations, the world's urban population will double in size, with three billion more people making their homes in our cities. We will have to duplicate a scale of housing and infrastructure that took centuries to build - in only 40 years.
INVEST
All told, cities will need to invest $350 trillion over the next three decades on infrastructure alone. And that's only part of the mammoth political, economic, social and environmental upheaval such a massive, rapid change imposes.
This is change with the scope of the Industrial Revolution - only world-wide, and switched to fast forward. How we deal with it will shape the future of every person on the planet for generations to come.
Failure is not an option, because it's in our cities that many of our biggest opportunities and most potent challenges are playing out.
Cities are the source of 70 to 80 per cent of greenhouse gas pollution today; doubling that would be disastrous. We must dramatically reduce our carbon footprint.
Communities and local economies that can withstand our current levels of energy consumption and waste will find them far more damaging as cities scale up rapidly. Cities that deplete their resources and degrade their environments in a race to build the tallest or fastest or biggest will find their victories short-lived as global demand shifts toward efficiency and sustainability.
HOPE
It is this shift that offers real hope that we can still get it right.
Because rapid urbanization holds tremendous promise alongside that risk. Done right, it creates jobs, con-serves resources and improves quality of life.
We can build the cities we need to build for future generations, and create economic opportunity in today's climate of uncertainty.
Our cities can grow in a way that strengthens our economy, with opportunities for entrepreneurs and good-paying jobs.
We've spent the past three years working together to craft a strategy to make Vancouver the world's greenest city. We're home to a thriving clean technology hub with globally competitive companies. No city on Earth can top the innovative spirit and sustainability expertise in our businesses,
neighbourhoods, community organizations and non-profits.
Hosting the Cities Summit will put us at the centre of the conversation about the future of the world's cities, as we bring business, political and urban thought leaders together to catalyze investment, job creation and new urban ideas.
No city is better positioned than Vancouver to lead this change and to prosper from that opportunity.
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