National Visioning Forum

The National Visioning Forum held on November 25 and 26, 2009 was a great success with over 100 participants and a key step in building a renewed vision for the National Capital Greenbelt.  A panel of eight international and Canadian guest speakers described their perspectives on the Greenbelt and helped to engage a wide range of workshop participants representing environmental groups, government agencies, businesses and other stakeholders in constructive discussions regarding the development of an appropriate vision for the National Capital Greenbelt.  Workshop participants were asked to imagine a future vision for the Greenbelt, and they discussed whether the 1996 Greenbelt Master Plan’s fundamental premises and roles require revision to remain relevant over time.

A number of common themes emerged from workshop discussions over the course of the two-day event.  These potential building blocks of a renewed vision included:

• improving ecological connectivity within and outside of the Greenbelt;
• activating citizen participation and stewardship of the Greenbelt;
• providing opportunities for sustainable agriculture and local food production;
• use the Greenbelt as an environmental showcase for sustainable best practices;
• maintaining ongoing partnerships through open communication between Greenbelt tenants, government agencies, municipal partners, the public and other interested stakeholders.

Click here for more information on the common themes that emerged during the National Visioning Forum.

DAY 1  Wednesday November 25, 2009, 8:30-5:00 pm Greenbelt Perspectives for Our Future
Welcoming Remarks - Marie Lemay, NCC	8:30 am
Introduction to the Visioning Workshop - Michelle Comeau, NCC	8:45
Greenbelts Worldwide i) Four Principles for Building Ecological Legacies - Dr. Paul Keddy, Carleton Place, Ontario ii) Perspectives on Greenbelts Worldwide - Maureen Carter-Whitney, Toronto, Ontario iii) Balancing Natural, Social and Economic Needs through Ontario’s Greenbelt - Barb Konyi, Toronto, Ontario iv) From the Ground Up: Building Ann Arbor’s Greenbelt - Ginny Trocchio, Ann Arbor, Michigan v) Sustaining Nature: Exploring Colorado’s Natural Areas - John Stokes, Fort Collins, Colorado	9:00
Questions and Discussion	11:45
Existing Conditions in the National Capital Greenbelt - Greenbelt Master Plan Review Project Team	1:00
Workshop #1: Greenbelt 2060: Imagining the Future Greenbelt (not webcasted)	2:15
Panel Discussion: The Future Greenbelt	4:15
Closing Remarks	4:50
DAY 1 Wednesday November 25, 2009, 7:00-9:15 p.m. (OPEN TO THE PUBLIC) Our Future National Capital Greenbelt – Public Forum Panorama Room, National Arts Centre, 53 Elgin Street, Ottawa
Introduction: The Future of the Greenbelt - Marie Lemay, NCC	7:00 p.m.
Greenbelts Worldwide i) Perspectives on Greenbelts Worldwide - Maureen Carter-Whitney, Toronto, Ontario ii) Sustaining Nature: Exploring Colorado’s Natural Areas - John Stokes, Fort Collins, Colorado Trends and Perspectives on Greenbelt Functions iii) Community Perspectives and Experiences of the Metro London Greenbelt - Paul Miner, London, U.K. iv) Role of Greenbelts in Community Sustainability - Christopher R. Bryant, Montréal, Québec	7:15
Panel Discussion: An Evolving Green Landscape in an Urban Environment	8:15
Closing Remarks	9:10
DAY 2 Thursday November 26, 2009, 8:30-5:00 p.m. Defining the Future National Capital Greenbelt
Opening Remarks	8:30 am
Further Exploring Worldwide Greenbelts and Their Roles i) Community Perspectives and Experiences of the Metro London Greenbelt - Paul Miner, London, England ii) Role of Greenbelts in Community Sustainability - Christopher R. Bryant, Montréal, Québec iii) Planning for Growth and Environmental Integrity through Ontario’s Places to Grow Act - Brad Graham, Toronto, Ontario iv) Planning for a Future Greenbelt - David Gordon, Kingston, Ontario	8:45
Questions and Discussion	11:00
Workshop #2: Greenbelt 2060: Fundamental Premises and Roles (not webcasted)	11:30
Workshop #3: Greenbelt 2060: The Vision Statement (not webcasted)	2:00
Panel Discussion: An Evolving Green Landscape in an Urban Environment	3:45
Draft Vision Options – Results of Workshop #3	4:25
Closing Remarks and Next Steps	4:45

Presentations

1. Paul Keddy (pdf - 1.5 Mb)
2. Maureen Carter-Whitney (pdf - 1 Mb) 
3. Barb Konyi (pdf - 804 Kb)
4. Ginny Trocchio (pdf - 1.5 Mb)
5. John Stokes (pdf 3.7 Mb)
6. SENES (pdf 4.8 Mb)
   • Sequence
7. Paul Miner (pdf 2.9 Mb)
8. Christopher Bryant (pdf - 377 Kb)
9. David Gordon (pdf 5.5 Mb)

National Visioning Workshop
November 25th & 26th, 2009
Ottawa, Ontario

Planning for a Future Greenbelt
Dr. David Gordon, Kingston, Ontario
Professor and Director at the School of Urban and Regional Planning at Queen’s Universtiy, David Gordon teaches planning history, community design and urban development at Queen's. He twice shared the Canadian Institute of Planners' National Award of Distinction. David has written widely on urban planning including, Planning Twentieth Century Capital Cities (Routledge 2006) and Planning Canadian Communities (Nelson 2008 with Gerald Hodge.)    His latest research includes a book on the history of Canada's capital city and exploration of Canadian suburbs.

Perspectives on Greenbelts Worldwide
Ms. Maureen Carter-Whitney, Toronto, Ontario
Research Director of the Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy, Maureen Carter-Whitney is an environmental lawyer with a background in legal research and environmental public policy analysis, with strong interests in sustainable land use planning and public engagement in environmental decision-making. She recently produced the document, Ontario’s Greenbelt in an International Context for the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation. Prior to joining CIELAP in September 2005, Maureen worked as a legal analyst with the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario. She is the author of Environmental Regulation in Canada, published by LexisNexis Butterworths.

Role of Greenbelts in Community Sustainability
Dr Christopher R. Bryant, Montréal, Québec
Professor at the University of Montréal, Dr. Christopher R. Bryant completed his graduate studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science at the University of London, and holds a Ph.D. from that institution (1970). He was appointed to the Faculty of Environmental Studies at the University of Waterloo, Ontario in July 1970. He has given lectures and led workshops at many universities abroad, including Joseph Fourier (Grenoble), Poitiers, Paris X, Maine and Lille (France) and Barcelona (Spain), as well as the Universitidat del Sur in Bahia Blanca (Argentina) among others. His main areas of interest include peri-urban farmlands, local and regional economic development, sustainable development and the adaptation of human activities to climate change.

Sustaining Nature:  Exploring Colorado’s Natural Areas
Mr. John Stokes, Fort Collins, Colorado
John Stokes is the Director of the Natural Resources Department of the City of Fort Collins.  Fort Collins is well-known in the United States as a mid-size city engaged in progressive efforts to plan its urban form, attack climate change at the local level, and to provide a high-quality civic environment conducive to economic sustainability. The Natural Resources Department manages the City’s Natural Areas program which stewards 13,000 hectares of land, provides environmental quality services and leads various City-wide sustainability efforts. Prior to his work in Fort Collins, John spent ten years with The Nature Conservancy, an international non-profit conservation group.  Before The Nature Conservancy, John worked with the Appalachian Trail Conference, a non-profit entity responsible for managing and maintaining the Appalachian National Scenic Trail. John earned a Masters in Planning from the University of Virginia and a B.A. in English from the University of Texas.

Four Principles for Building Ecological Legacies
Dr. Paul Keddy, Carleton Place, Ontario
Dr. Paul Keddy’s first job lecturing was to audiences in an outdoor theatre in Algonquin Provincial Park. He has lectured on the science of ecology and the conservation of biodiversity across North America and overseas.  Keddy was a professor of ecology for 30 years, and taught at the University of Guelph, University of Ottawa, and University of Louisiana. He has published over 100 scholarly papers and six books and has been cited for several scholarly prizes. Dr. Keddy has recently published a guide to the natural areas of Lanark County, works on a new edition of his book on wetland ecology and continues to be involved in research and management on the Louisiana coast, in the Everglades, and in Georgian Bay.

From the Ground Up:  Building Ann Arbor’s Greenbelt
Ginny Trocchio, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ginny Trocchio is a Program Manager for The Conservation Fund, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Current job includes administration and implementation of the City of Ann Arbor’s Open Space and Parkland Preservation Program, commonly referred to as the Greenbelt Program.  Ginny has experience working for non profit organizations focusing on land protection, international development and public outreach.  Ginny has a B.S. degree in Biology and Environmental Science from Baylor University and a M.S. degree in Natural Resource Policy from the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources and Environment.  Ginny’s past affiliations include the City of Ann Arbor, Export Council for Energy Efficiency, and Global Green USA.  Ginny also served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Russia, focusing on environmental education.

Community Perspectives and Experiences of the Metro London Greenbelt
Paul Miner, Metro London, UK
Paul has worked at the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) since 2002; his current position is Senior Planning Campaigner. He has a BA in Politics from the University of Nottingham, an MA in Town & Country Planning from the University of the West of England in Bristol and is a chartered member of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI). Paul co-authored the report Future Planners jointly with the RTPI, Demos, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, and English Partnerships, and was responsible for CPRE's work around the UK Planning Act 2008. Paul has also served on the RTPI Young Planners' Network steering group and the regional activities committee of RTPI London.  In 1998-1999, Paul spent a ‘gap year’ in Canada working in Banff and as a volunteer at a number of organic farms, including ones at Killaloe Station near Pembroke and at Uxbridge in what is now the Ontario Greenbelt.

Balancing Natural, Social and Economic Needs through Ontario’s Greenbelt
Barb Konyi – Toronto, Ontario
Barb Konyi is the Manager in the Planning Policy Branch at the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MMAH), leading implementation of the Greenbelt Plan. Barb has held numerous positions at MMAH in both operations and policy planning over the past 18 years. Prior to that she was a planner with several municipalities in the Greater Toronto Area. She was the lead manager on the legislative aspects of the Ontario Greenbelt initiative and the project manager for the policy and legislative aspects of the Oak Ridges Moraine initiative. She has an Honours BA from McMaster University and Master in Environmental Studies degree from York University.

Planning for Growth and Environmental Integrity through Ontario’s Places to Grow Act
Brad Graham, Toronto, Ontario
Brad Graham is Assistant Deputy Minister and has led the Ontario Growth Secretariat since its inception. He is an economist by training and has held a number of positions within the Ontario Public Service over the past 20 years, including Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Ministry of Health and Long Term Care as well as several Director positions in Health Policy and Research.  Brad Graham has extensive experience in fiscal and economic policy, having worked with the Ministry of Finance in the Office of the Budget. He has also worked in the Nova Scotia Government, dealing with Federal-Provincial relations.  Brad has also been an economic consultant in private practice, specializing in economic development, modeling and cost-benefit