Sustainability often refers to renewable materials and environmental metrics. But this year’s winner of Excellence in Sustainability took a step back and reimagined its whole planning framework through a sustainable lens. The City of Nanaimo was recognized for Excellence in Sustainability for its city plan, integrated action plan and monitoring strategy called, Nanaimo ReImagined
The City of Nanaimo needed to update its Official Community Plan, and staff had been trying to encourage more coordination between departments. The process of updating the OCP – a major undertaking, as all local governments know – presented an opportunity to rejig internal operations with an integrated vision for Nanaimo’s future.
Their ambitious plan was to apply the global Doughnut Economics theory, which envisions a ‘sweet spot’ in which all people can meet their needs within the limits of social foundations and environmental capacity. Locally, that meant Nanaimo would measure its goals, policies and actions through the social and economic impact on its residents, and the environmental reality of the region.
“This means strengthening of social foundations so that all community members can live well without falling short on life’s essentials, while at the same time making changes to stay within the planet's ecological ceiling, protecting and enhancing the environment and managing resource use to minimize threats to future security and prosperity,” Nanaimo staff wrote about the project.
Based on extensive engagement with the community, and internal commitment to collaboration the City developed five core City goals: Green, Connected, Healthy, Empowered and Prosperous. Each are measured according to social, economic, and environmental metrics.
Nanaimo found that as they developed the ReImagine Nanaimo planning framework, there were great opportunities to streamline complex processes, save time and money, and increase ongoing collaboration that endures well beyond the project itself. With buy-in from individual departments came greater resiliency for the whole organization, staff reported.
The project stood out for its deep commitment to building a complete community, the robust community engagement, and the ongoing benefits of departmental integration. Well done, Nanaimo!
One of the objectives of the Community Excellence Awards is to encourage peer-to-peer learning among local governments, by highlighting exceptional projects. To learn more about Nanaimo’s doughnut economics system, get in touch with Ting Pan, Manager of Sustainability or Lisa Brinkman, Manager of Community Planning.