The Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) has recognized the Cochrane Sustainability Plan as a visionary plan. At the annual AUMA Convention in Calgary on November 4th, Cochrane Mayor Truper McBride accepted the Visionary Communities Award with citizens Valerie McCracken and Clara Plamondon.

Our new details are as follows:

Suite 205 - 1525 West 8th Avenue

Vancouver, BC

V6J 1T5

Phone: 604-569-0965

Fax: 604-569-0975

The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) has renewed funding for the Sustainable Cities: PLUS Network Africa program for a second three-year period. Now entering its sixth year, the next phase of the program will build on the gains made in the three African members of the Network: Dakar, Senegal; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; and eThekwini (Durban), South Africa, and internationally with the 40+ current members of the Sustainable Cities: PLUS Network.

Sustainable Cities is pleased to announce that Ms Pat Gordon will join the Vancouver office in the position of the Sustainable Cities: PLUS Network Senior Program Officer – North America. Pat brings with her over 20 years experience of working with municipalities on sustainability planning in the United Kingdom and Canada.

Many of you will have met Pat in her previous roles with The City of Calgary: as the Project Manager for the imagineCALGARY Long Range Urban Sustainability Plan and; more recently, as the Project Manager for Plan It Calgary – The City of Calgary’s Integrated Land Use and Transportation Plan. Both of these initiatives have been at the forefront of long-range urban sustainability planning.

Sustainable Cities is pleased to announce that Dr. Harold Kalman has been awarded The Heritage Canada Foundation Gabrielle Léger Award for Lifetime Achievement in Heritage Conservation “in recognition of his momentous contribution as practitioner, advocate and educator in the field of heritage conservation in Canada.”

The National Awards Program is the most prestigious recognition for achievement and excellence in the field of built heritage conservation in Canada.

Hot off the press! ICSC has just completed a research project on how cities in the PLUS network learn. When faced with a city problem 80% of respondents go to their peers - colleagues in their own or other cities. 90% view conferences as a good way to learn, and other face-to-face events like peer exchanges were rated very highly. Women were more likely than men to consult websites of other cities (90% of women versus 33% men), and networks/associations (73% versus 44%), whereas men were more likely to consult journals/magazines (56% versus 18%). Many fewer consulted professional associations(40%), mentors (36%), private sector consultants or government resources (30%), academic institutions (28%), friends and family (16%). These results are consistent with the 2008 pilot survey conducted at the biennial PLUS Network Conference in Durban.