Sustainability Scholars Program

This open-access toolkit is meant to serve First Nations across the Pacific Northwest as they navigate the creation and management of housing governance options for their communities. This includes an overview to better understand the housing system, a critical examination of why the current system does not work, and solutions for innovative community-centered housing governance models that are based in cultural wellbeing, economic security, and environmental sustainability.

Link to online toolkit: https://ecotrust.ca/toolkit/homelands/

Partner: Ecotrust
Keywords: leadership & behaviour change, social sustainability, sustainable development & green economy

This project examines whether Metro Vancouver’s residuals (biosolids and drinking water treatment residuals) and Biosolids Growing Medium (BGM), can be used as components in growing media to enhance and optimize the performance of Low Impact Development landscapes within Metro Vancouver. Includes a review of existing regulations, current practices, and scientific literature. This project identifies opportunities for the use of residuals and BGM in addressing stormwater challenges in the region.

Partner: Metro Vancouver
Keywords: green buildings, waste management & recycling, stormwater

This report examines the intersection between human rights and land use planning. It reviews key concepts, including the applicable legal framework, and considers practical issues in human rights and land use planning. The report aims to help the City of Vancouver identify actions and future work on this topic through provincial and municipal examples and recommendations on how a human rights lens can be applied to the City's work in land use planning.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: healthy city, land use planning, leadership, behavior change, social sustainability

The purpose of this evaluation was to determine whether the Mental Health and Substance Use (MHSU) Education Portal was effective at supporting MHSU education and service navigation for point of care staff and leaders at urban, rural, and remote sites within the Vancouver Coastal community of care. This includes evaluating the reach, relevance, and usability of the MHSU Education Portal, as well as identifying areas of improvement and highlighting gaps in content.

Partner: Vancouver Coastal Health
Keywords: leadership & behaviour change, social sustainability, sustainability in education

This project aims to understand global best practices for quantifying reuse and assessing their applicability to the Metro Vancouver region. The project looked at three reuse industries in Metro Vancouver (textiles, electronics, and furniture), identified the key players and attempted to collect data from these organizations. Also included are the challenges encountered and suggestions for quantifying reuse in the Metro Vancouver area.

Partner: Metro Vancouver
Keywords: supply chain management & green procurement, waste management & recycling

Research for this project analysed the highest emitting building sectors in Kelowna, Penticton and Vernon and deveoloped retrofit strategies to mitigate this. The report shows that unless local governments obtain greater authority to require GHG emissions reductions from the commercial building sector and Multi Unit Residential Buildings, we cannot reduce GHG emissions from existing buildings 80% to 100% below 2007 levels by 2050.

Partner: Community Energy Association
Keywords: green buildings

The purpose of this report is to provide recommendations on how the City of Vancouver can collaborate and work alongside Indigenous communities, on whose unceded land it is located, to address and support social and environmental resilience. Can the City collaborate and foster relationships that uplift the Indigenous voice and protect sacred knowledge, for the combined goal of environmental and social resilience for futures to come?

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: climate mitigation, equity, diversity, inclusion, healthy city, leadership & behaviour change, sustainability in education, sustainable development & green economy

This project aims to review the existing literature on cycling data collection, examine Vancouver's existing practices and goals, and provide recommendations on improving cycling data collection practices within the City. It is important to ensure that collected cycling data is representative of the City's diversity. The report summarizes the context and provides recommendations on areas of improvement related to count data type, count location, frequency, context, and means of analysis.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: active transportation, climate action, equity, diversity, inclusion, transportation, data collection, cycling

This report lays the foundation for an integrated and connected park network. By understanding park mobility infrastructure and existing greenway interactions the Park Board can determine safe, efficient, environmentally sound and community-directed mobility near, to, and through parks. Specifically, this report identifies key planning observations and considerations as well as a mobility classification system to align future park development with the goal of an integrated park system.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: access to nature, active transportation, green infrastructure, transportation