"A Brief History of the Metro Vancouver Walk21 Conference"

Over 22 plenary speakers kept delegates enthralled with an exciting exploration of new work, research, and future directions. The theme was "Transforming the automobile city: walking steps up!" The videos of these presentations are available here.

On Day One, Gordon Price, Director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University, set the stage for the conference with an annotated history of the transformation of Metropolitan Vancouver from lumbertown to street car metropolis, and described the current challenges the region faces with the expansion of the highway network and reliance on cars for conveyance. Dr. Penny Ballem, a former deputy minister of Health with the Government of British Columbia and the current city manager of Vancouver, described her unique position to impact health policy at the municipal level. Dr. Ballem's "Clanger Slide" illustrated that by 2018, at current rates over 70 per cent of the Province's current budget would be required for health care. Clearly, the design and management of a walkable, accessible city would increase health status, and lower costs with a healthier population.

An Advocacy Panel with Jacky Kennedy from Canada Walks, Daryl Rock, Chair of the Rick Hansen Foundation and Gwen Boyle, Public Artist described the need to keep walking and accessibility foremost on the agendas of towns and cities. Daryl Rock noted that by 2026 that there will be five times more seniors in Canada, and that seniors are four times more likely to have a disability. Places need to be designed so that people of all ability levels can remain mobile. Public artist Gwen Boyle, who is noted for her many prominent works in the metropolitan Vancouver region, described her philosophy of making nature accessible through her art, and allowed delegates to listen to the sound of one of her art pieces in the arctic, which was vibrating and "singing" in reaction to magnetic solar flares.

Dr. Larry Frank, Professor in the School of Community and Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia described his current research in how suburban places make people unfit, and how current zoning practices that separate uses make cities unwalkable. Dr. Frank introduced delegates to the "pizza calorie" index. The 350 calories in a pizza slice are equivalent to the amount of energy needed for a walker to go 5.6 kilometres, a bicyclist to go 16 kilometres, or a car to go 30 metres.

On Day Two, Dr. William Bird MBE, Director of Intelligent Health Great Britain, discussed why walking is the number one way to enhance health, and empowered city planners and architects to plan cities that can be connected to all activities by walking. Dr. Bird noted that not only does walking mitigate a range of diseases, walking is also more effective than antidepressants in alleviating depression, a fact that has been embraced by the Chief Medical Officer for Great Britain.

Dr. James Sallis, Professor of Psychology at San Diego University discussed the flock mentality, and the fact that while people talk about obesity and the need to weigh less, there is no universal policy discussion on the importance of physical activity. Dr. Sallis noted that this is the first generation of humans who can be completely physically inactive and survive, living in a modern world of time and labour saving devices.

Allan Jacobs, the former Director of Planning of San Francisco and the author of Great Streets, illustrated the need for delight and interest on the street, and for connected streets that link places and neighbourhoods. With over 30 per cent of a city's area taken up by streets owned by municipalities and cities, the design and management of streets as places for people is within the realm of local governments. The mixed use "great street" with commercial uses located on the main level of buildings and residential uses above reinforce and enhance a street's vibrancy and activity. In an engaged discussion with Mary Beth Rondeau, Senior Urban Designer with the City of Surrey, Allan described the importance of many intersections on a street to promote visual interest and to make the street more walkable and colourful.

Harriet Tregoning, Director of the Office of Planning in Washington, D.C. illustrated how her region is retrofittting from an automobile place to champion walking, creating new places and spaces around rapid transit stops to augment and embrace different modes of transportation.

The Day Three plenary sessions commenced with Dr. Meng Lu, Program Manager for DINALOG, who provided the Chinese perspective on walkability - describing how, culturally, walking and exercise are part of a person's day in China - and how the emergence of car culture has impacted walkers.

Geoff Anderson, the CEO of SmartGrowth USA described the current work being undertaken by SmartGrowth and noted that despite all the work that is occuring to make development more green and sustainable, none of these factors could outweigh the impact of automobile carbon emissions on the earth. For survival it is imperative that people live in more compact communities where walkability and transit outweigh the need for automotive transport.

Dr. Elizabeth Macdonald, Associate Professor at University of California Berkeley, told the story of inner city Octavia Boulevard, the reconnection of a local serving and regional serving street which had emerged after the forced removal of a double decked highway after the Loma Prieta earthquake. Octavia Boulevard has transformed the community and become a place to go and to mingle, reintegrating the community previously severed by the highway, truly transforming an automobile oriented part of the city into one focussing on people use.

Day Three hosted the developer panel of Chris Vollan with Rize Alliance, Cynthia Melosky from Polygon Homes, and Michael Geller from The Geller Group. These three developers discussed how organizing development that encourages walking was an emerging trend, and how sustainability and walkability go hand in hand with new housing projects.

Plenary presentations were punctuated with the famous" one minute" poster sessions, where 26 researchers presented ideas and concepts in a rapid fire setting. There was also a Pecha Kucha sampler, where delegates could learn how the format of "20 slides for only 20 seconds" worked in a timed sequence. Delegates had the chance to sing along with jazz singer and Walk21 Director Ellen Vanderslice during this session.

During the three days of the conference over 156 juried breakout sessions with 52 moderators offered opportunities for in-depth presentations and discussion. Three of the presenters joined by videoconference.

Every afternoon walkshops, with volunteers leading the way with bright red umbrellas, departed across the city and the region. These 27 walkshops explored our mini ferry connections, artful interventions, the success of walkability around transit stations, and many more aspects of walkability. Each walkshop led delegates back to downtown Vancouver and/or the three receptions that were hosted for Walk 21. From the Mayor’s opening reception to the private art gallery in the Wing Sang Gallery to the reception hosted by the City of North Vancouver accessed by sea bus, delegates enjoyed a taste of the local culture and atmosphere.

It was a tremendous time of sharing, learning from each other and truly exploring what it means to transform the automobile city. Thank you for being part of this important event in the history of Metropolitan Vancouver.

Walk21 Metro Vancouver Society