Making sustainability happen.

• Author: Bird, Carl
• Position: Solutions

For three straight years, from 2007-2009, the Corporate Knights named the City of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, the Most Sustainable Small City in Canada. Sustainability doesn't just happen--it takes sound strategy and a lot of effort. Yellowknife's recognition was based on a combination of factors the city has been working on for a number of years.

Yellowknife has developed three initiatives over the past six years that are intended to guide all future planning for the city, including daily decisions, intermediate plans, and long-range strategic planning. These initiatives are the city's "three pillars of sustainability": the Integrated Parks, Trails, and Open Space Development Study; the Community Energy Program; and the Smart Growth Development Program. These studies and programs are used to inform long-term capital and operational planning, and their interrelated principles are integrated into the overall decision-making process for all projects the city initiates.

INTEGRATED PARKS, TRAILS, AND OPEN SPACE DEVELOPMENT STUDY

The city's strategic direction was developed by a committed group of individuals who came together to ensure that Yellowknife's park system preserves environmentally sensitive areas, protects lands for active transportation nodes, and helps residents be active in the outdoors year round. The city council, along with its administration and residents, teamed up to put policies and guidelines in place, and the first of the three initiatives, the Integrated Parks, Trails, and Open Space Development Study, was completed in September 2005. The study presents a 10-year forward-looking vision to protect green spaces, develop gathering spaces, and integrate park and trail planning in the city's development.

Plan goals include:

* Ensuring that bylaws and agreements consider park and trail design as an integral part of community design and development decisions.

* Creating safe and interesting active transportation options (e.g., biking, walking) that would make the City of Yellowknife a leader in Canada's green commuting plan.

* Ensuring the protection of lakes and environmentally sensitive areas by creating buffers for development and ensuring public access.

* Creating a contiguous multipurpose pathway that would highlight the city's gold mining history.

* Ensuring that planning and development standards incorporate easy access to green spaces and to protect wildlife.

* Ensuring that parks are accessible to people of all...