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Ecocity World Summit 2019 – Vancouver, Canada
10/07/2019 - 10/11/2019
CAD1995,00The World Gathers for Ecocity World Summit 2019
The 2019 Ecocity World Summit brings together a diverse mix of researchers, policymakers, city-building professionals, business innovators, and civil society leaders who share a commitment to creating socially just and ecologically sustainable cities. Join participants from over 75 countries to explore solutions and opportunities to:
- reshape cities to radically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect the natural habitat
- create urban spaces to enable access to employment, shelter, and services at any income level
Everyone who is passionate about building and living in sustainable cities is welcome.
Building the Bridge to Socially Just and Ecologically Sustainable Cities
The Summit will help to build an infrastructure of ideas, strategies, and actions we can all use to promote cities that are socially inclusive and ecologically healthy. This year’s primary theme is “socially just and ecologically sustainable cities.” Important sub-themes include climate action, circular economy, and informal solutions for sustainable development. These themes weave through the conference tracks. The 2019 conference brings focus to the International Ecocity Standards (IES) by using its four pillars as the conference tracks:
- Urban design
- Bio-geophysical conditions
- Socio-cultural features
- Ecological imperatives
Learning Outcomes
Ecocity World Summit 2019 will engage participants in the critical conversations of our time. Through plenary, presentations, workshops, field trips, and informal discussion, participants can expect to engage with each other to gather information, explore ideas, propose solutions, and identify allies in the quest for socially just and ecologically sustainable cities.
City builders, city dwellers, and city leaders around the world are seeking answers to a host of questions about ecocities. By sharing knowledge with each other, Summit participants will learn:
- How we can achieve low-carbon lifestyles to stabilize climate at 1.5 degree Celsius
- How cities can be restructured to live within planetary boundaries
- How urban living and global habitat restoration are connected
- How cities can do a better job of supporting access to safe and affordable housing
- How ecocities can avoid the asset deficit for infrastructure renewal and urban revitalization
- What the world’s leading ecocities are doing to achieve reductions in emissions, waste, and resource demands and successfully bend the urban metabolism
- Which performance standards and rating systems are best suited to achieving sustainability goals, and how the International Ecocity Standards (IES) support existing systems
- How an ecocity approach to rebuilding cities in balance with nature can simultaneously create vibrant, healthy, happy places for people to live, work, and play
Framing the Conversations
Participants may be drawn to follow the conversation around the primary theme of socially just and ecologically sustainable cities or a particular sub-theme, IES category, or individual IES standard.
The integrated nature of an ecocity approach—and of sustainability itself—means that each standard represents part of a larger, whole system, and each IES pillar or Summit sub-theme offers a way to explore part of the solution. Therefore, the program is intended to be interactive and inter-disciplinary to help participants build bridges and connect ideas for action.
By Theme and Sub-theme
The Summit conversations are oriented to an overarching theme and three sub-themes that weave through all the program sessions:
- Overarching theme: Socially Just and Ecologically Sustainable Cities
- Sub-theme 1: Climate Action
- Sub-theme 2: Circular Economy
- Sub-theme 3: Informal Solutions for Sustainable Development
The overarching theme represents the goal and the sub-themes build the bridge to get there.
By IES Category
Each of the 18 individual standards addresses an area of challenge and opportunity for aspiring ecocities. Their measure tracks progress related to the four broad categories above. Each is considered integral to the whole functioning of socially just and ecologically sustainable cities.