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| Registration
is now closed
For more information about this workshop
please click
here.
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| Presented by Design
Exchange in partnership with the Sustainable Innovation
Network, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA)
and the Canada Green Building Council. |
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| Sponsored by Sustaining Design Fund of Tides
Canada Foundation. |
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Date: February 23,
2007
Time: 9:30am – 5:30pm
Location: Design Exchange, 234 Bay Street, Toronto
Cost $75 per person; $60 for DX members, students, TRCA,
CaGBC |
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The growing impact
of cities on the natural environment is an increasingly
critical issue. Given that we have no viable alternative
for cities, we need to develop new strategies for integrating
the urban and the natural environment in a cooperative
and sustaining fashion. These and other increasingly complex
and far-reaching environmental challenges require inter-disciplinary
approaches. At the same time, the research and design
disciplines are trending towards even greater specialization,
inhibiting communication and collaboration amongst professionals.
The public has largely been left out of the dialogue.
This workshop will bring together a broad range of design
professionals, industry representatives, civic leaders,
students and members of interested organizations to discuss
how the urban and natural environments can sustain each
other. It will explore an emerging approach to bioregional
planning that emphasizes the symbiosis between:
• dense, ecologically sensitive, convivial development
• sustainable commerce and governance
• connected, healthy green spaces
We will provide frameworks and case studies of both “eco-density”
and multi-functional landscapes providing a wide range
of ecosystem services. We will explore the institutional
and financial models that might enable an ecological design
for the Toronto region. Participants will have a chance
to test these ideas using the Conservation Economy Pattern
Language and “open space” dialogue, resulting
in a vivid and compelling vision for the greater Toronto
region as it adapts to a carbon constrained, post fossil
fuel world.
During the morning session, we will present the Conservation
Economy Pattern Language, develop broad goals for green
development, and discuss specific urban/environmental
issues and opportunities in the Toronto region. After
lunch, multi-disciplinary teams will tackle specific issues
of common interest. The teams will have an opportunity
to present preliminary and final results to the larger
group.
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| Agenda |
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9:30-10:00am |
Open workshop; update on the “Ecological
Design for the Toronto Region” initiative |
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| 10:00-12:45pm |
Presentations and case studies
on the Conservation Economy
Pattern Language, Ecological Design, broad goals for green
development, and urban/environment constraints and opportunities
in the Toronto Region (includes 15 minute break) |
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| 12:45-1:45pm |
Lunch |
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| 1:45-3:30pm |
Form working groups around specific,
tangible and relevant issues.
First round of discussions followed by presentations of
preliminary results. |
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| 3:30-3:45pm |
Break |
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| 3:45-5:15pm |
Second round of working group discussions
followed by presentations of final results. |
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5:15-5:30pm
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Workshop wrap-up
and discussion of next steps. |
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| Workshop
presenters include: |
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Andrew Bowerbank
Manager of Sustainable Development, Toronto and Region Conservation
Authority
Executive Director, Greater Toronto Chapter, Canada Green
Building Council
Andrew Bowerbank regularly draws from his diverse background
in his efforts to engage community leaders and encourage
"green" development strategies. He is a Ministry
certified professor of design and a member of the Ontario
College of Teachers. Andrew is also a certified industrial
designer, operating his own Toronto based design form from
1994 to 2000. As a published author, Andrew has had two
of his books on the Canada "best sellers" list
in their subject matter. His most recent publication was
produced for the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority
titled "Green Building Strategies for High-Rise Residential
Development." |
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Carmela Canzonieri
Assistant Professor, Environmental Studies, York University,
Urban design and landscape ecology
Carmela Canzonieri’s research looks at the broad range
of conditions related to the integrity of the ecosystem.
It deals with the process of revealing and maintaining the
qualities of endangered landscapes in areas of rapid transformation.
A significant part of this approach is to rediscover systems
that are no longer in the immediate consciousness of people
so that the consequences of their losses are not foreseen.
This applies to features of the natural landscape when they
are just taken for granted, and to cultural landscapes when
more recent changes erase the previous ones, instead of
layering and integrating cultures. Her research is action
oriented and offers paths for planning and design decisions
to communities that might otherwise lack access to resources.
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Stuart Cowan
General Partner, Autopoiesis LLC
Portland, Oregon
Stuart Cowan is a General Partner of Autopoiesis LLC, which
offers design, development, and finance services internationally
for large-scale sustainability projects. The firm has worked
with a wide range of financial institutions, municipalities,
state and federal agencies, non-profits, utilities, companies,
and religious orders. Current projects include a biomass
energy facility utilizing restoration forestry by-products
for a tribal entity and several green mixed-use infill projects
in Portland, Oregon.
Stuart Cowan served as Research Director at Ecotrust (www.ecotrust.org),
an innovative sustainability non-profit in Portland. He
led the development of a comprehensive framework for local
living economies and bioregional sustainability available
at www.conservationeconomy.net. This framework provides
a fractal integration of natural, social, and economic capital,
and has been used internationally for strategic planning
purposes. |
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| Facilitator: |
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Norbert Hoeller
Principal, Sustainable Innovation Network
After a varied career at IBM, most recently as an Information
Technology Architect and technical project manager in charge
of major infrastructure implementations, Norbert Hoeller
started a consulting practice in organisational innovation.
He has been working closely with the Biomimicry Guild and
Biomimicry Institute on improving communications within
the Biomimicry community as well as coordinating university
education activities throughout North America. |
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| Partners:
Sustainable Innovation Network
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| Sponsor: |
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Acknowledgements: |
| Earth Angels (Adopt a Stream Crossing images) |
| Environmental Youth Alliance (Urban Agriculture in Vancouver images) |
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For more information
contact:
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Catherine Molnar
Professional Development
Coordinator
catherine@dx.org
(416) 216-2120
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