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Mark Roseland was walking through his Vancouver neighbourhood two years ago when an unusual piece of graffiti posted on a telephone pole caught his eye - the words "Imagine No Cars" were scrawled on a homemade sign.
The timing couldn't have been better. Roseland, as associate director of SFU's Community Economic Development Centre, had long been mulling over how to make environmentalism "sexy" and "cool" to the broader public.
Later that evening Roseland sat down and tried to imagine no cars. "I scribbled down a few thoughts, then wrote the lyrics to the tune of John Lennon's song 'Imagine,'" says Roseland, who took his guitar to the next meeting of Vancouver's Eco city Network and sang his version of the song. In the audience that evening was a member of the Vancouver Bicycle Choir who asked for the lyrics.
A month later, Roseland was the final speaker at a national conference on sustainable transportation. He put the lyrics to his song up on the overhead and was astonished when "a woman from the Bicycle Choir leaped out of the audience with a guitar and the somewhat astonished plenary [mostly in suits] sang along."
Since then the lyrics have been photocopied, faxed, emailed and published "in more places than I can keep track of," according to Roseland.
The story of Roseland's song represents the "think globally and act locally" paradigm which encourages individual action to achieve community goals.
Roseland subsequently edited Eco City Dimensions (New Society $19.95), a compilation of essays from around the world about creating ecologically sound cities. B.C. contributors include Donald Alexander, William Rees, Jennie Moore, Kelly Vodden and Lyle Walker.
An eco city is a concept rather than a definition, according to Roseland. "Streets for people, not cars. Destinations easily accessible by foot, bike and public transit. Health as wellness rather than as absence of disease. Restoration of damaged wetlands and other habitats. Affordable housing for all. Food produced and consumed locally.
Renewable sources of energy. Less pollution and more recycling. A vibrant local economy that does not harm the environment. Public awareness and involvement in decision making. Social justice for women, people of colour and the disabled. Consideration of future generations."
Roseland was first introduced to the idea of eco cities when he met Richard Register in Berkeley, California in 1979. Register proudly displayed a large, older model car which he had gutted, filled with dirt and planted with vegetables.
Register was active in the "car wars" campaign of the time, which gave "tickets" to cars for consuming nonrenewable fossil fuels, producing pollution, endangering civic life and uglifying the landscape.
A co founder of the non profit organization Urban Ecology, Register had helped bring back part of a creek culverted and covered eighty years earlier. He had planted and harvested fruit trees on city streets and designed and built solar greenhouses. He had also helped pass energy ordinances, established a bus line and promoted alternatives to automobiles.
The notion of eco cities started to gather real momentum with the publication of Register's seminal Eco city Berkeley, published in 1987. According to Roseland, it was "a visionary book about how Berkeley could be ecologically rebuilt over the next several decades."
The momentum grew when the organization held the First International Eco city Conference in Berkeley in 1990. More than 700 people from around the world came to discuss urban problems and submit proposals for shaping cities on ecological principles. Since then, two more international conferences have been held, one in Adelaide, Australia in 1992 and another in Yoff, Senegal in 1996.
Cited by the Vancouver Sun as one of British Columbia's "top 50 living public intellectuals," Mark Roseland has since become Director of the Centre for Sustainable Community Development at Simon Fraser University and Professor in SFU's School of Resource and Environmental Management.
As a Research Director for the City of Vancouver's Clouds of Change Task Force in 1990, he led one of the first comprehensive municipal responses to global atmospheric change. Having edited RAIN magazine, he also served as North American editor of the international journal Local Environment from its inception in 1995 until 2002.
In addition to Eco-City Dimensions: Healthy Communities, Healthy Planet (New Society, 1997), he has possibly been most influential for producing Towards Sustainable Communities: Solutions for Citizens and their Governments (New Society $34.95), newly released in its fourth edition since 1992 when it was subtitled A Resource Book for Municipal and Local Governments.
The new version of this landmark volume provides new case studies and expanded treatment of sustainability, in rural as well as urban settings, as well as contributions from a range of experts around the world. The volume demonstrates how "community capital" can be leveraged to meet the needs of cities and towns for energy efficiency, waste reduction and recycling, water, sewage, transportation and housing, climate change and air quality, land use and urban planning.
BOOKS:
Towards Sustainable Communities: Solutions for Citizens and their Governments (New Society, 1992, 1998, 2005, 2012) $34.95 9780865717114
Eco-City Dimensions: Healthy Communities, Healthy Planet (New Society, 1997)
[BCBW 2012]
Review of the author's work by BC Studies:
Second Growth: Community Economic Development in Rural British Columbia
The timing couldn't have been better. Roseland, as associate director of SFU's Community Economic Development Centre, had long been mulling over how to make environmentalism "sexy" and "cool" to the broader public.
Later that evening Roseland sat down and tried to imagine no cars. "I scribbled down a few thoughts, then wrote the lyrics to the tune of John Lennon's song 'Imagine,'" says Roseland, who took his guitar to the next meeting of Vancouver's Eco city Network and sang his version of the song. In the audience that evening was a member of the Vancouver Bicycle Choir who asked for the lyrics.
A month later, Roseland was the final speaker at a national conference on sustainable transportation. He put the lyrics to his song up on the overhead and was astonished when "a woman from the Bicycle Choir leaped out of the audience with a guitar and the somewhat astonished plenary [mostly in suits] sang along."
Since then the lyrics have been photocopied, faxed, emailed and published "in more places than I can keep track of," according to Roseland.
The story of Roseland's song represents the "think globally and act locally" paradigm which encourages individual action to achieve community goals.
Roseland subsequently edited Eco City Dimensions (New Society $19.95), a compilation of essays from around the world about creating ecologically sound cities. B.C. contributors include Donald Alexander, William Rees, Jennie Moore, Kelly Vodden and Lyle Walker.
An eco city is a concept rather than a definition, according to Roseland. "Streets for people, not cars. Destinations easily accessible by foot, bike and public transit. Health as wellness rather than as absence of disease. Restoration of damaged wetlands and other habitats. Affordable housing for all. Food produced and consumed locally.
Renewable sources of energy. Less pollution and more recycling. A vibrant local economy that does not harm the environment. Public awareness and involvement in decision making. Social justice for women, people of colour and the disabled. Consideration of future generations."
Roseland was first introduced to the idea of eco cities when he met Richard Register in Berkeley, California in 1979. Register proudly displayed a large, older model car which he had gutted, filled with dirt and planted with vegetables.
Register was active in the "car wars" campaign of the time, which gave "tickets" to cars for consuming nonrenewable fossil fuels, producing pollution, endangering civic life and uglifying the landscape.
A co founder of the non profit organization Urban Ecology, Register had helped bring back part of a creek culverted and covered eighty years earlier. He had planted and harvested fruit trees on city streets and designed and built solar greenhouses. He had also helped pass energy ordinances, established a bus line and promoted alternatives to automobiles.
The notion of eco cities started to gather real momentum with the publication of Register's seminal Eco city Berkeley, published in 1987. According to Roseland, it was "a visionary book about how Berkeley could be ecologically rebuilt over the next several decades."
The momentum grew when the organization held the First International Eco city Conference in Berkeley in 1990. More than 700 people from around the world came to discuss urban problems and submit proposals for shaping cities on ecological principles. Since then, two more international conferences have been held, one in Adelaide, Australia in 1992 and another in Yoff, Senegal in 1996.
Cited by the Vancouver Sun as one of British Columbia's "top 50 living public intellectuals," Mark Roseland has since become Director of the Centre for Sustainable Community Development at Simon Fraser University and Professor in SFU's School of Resource and Environmental Management.
As a Research Director for the City of Vancouver's Clouds of Change Task Force in 1990, he led one of the first comprehensive municipal responses to global atmospheric change. Having edited RAIN magazine, he also served as North American editor of the international journal Local Environment from its inception in 1995 until 2002.
In addition to Eco-City Dimensions: Healthy Communities, Healthy Planet (New Society, 1997), he has possibly been most influential for producing Towards Sustainable Communities: Solutions for Citizens and their Governments (New Society $34.95), newly released in its fourth edition since 1992 when it was subtitled A Resource Book for Municipal and Local Governments.
The new version of this landmark volume provides new case studies and expanded treatment of sustainability, in rural as well as urban settings, as well as contributions from a range of experts around the world. The volume demonstrates how "community capital" can be leveraged to meet the needs of cities and towns for energy efficiency, waste reduction and recycling, water, sewage, transportation and housing, climate change and air quality, land use and urban planning.
BOOKS:
Towards Sustainable Communities: Solutions for Citizens and their Governments (New Society, 1992, 1998, 2005, 2012) $34.95 9780865717114
Eco-City Dimensions: Healthy Communities, Healthy Planet (New Society, 1997)
[BCBW 2012]
Review of the author's work by BC Studies:
Second Growth: Community Economic Development in Rural British Columbia
Articles: 2 Articles for this author
Second Growth
SFU Press release (2005)
Four B.C. communities hard hit by tough economic times are getting back on their feet - call it second growth - by taking charge of their future economic development.
Working together with a team of researchers from SFU's centre for sustainable community development, residents of Salmon Arm, 100 Mile House, and First Nations communities at Bella Coola and Lillooet re-examined their economic needs and developed their own visions and strategies. Those efforts and the rationale behind them are detailed in a new book, Second Growth, Community Economic Development in Rural British Columbia, written by the SFU team.
"Rural communities in B.C. continue to face multiple pressures on their economies,"; says co-author John Pierce, SFU's dean of arts and social sciences.
"From a policy perspective to address these issues, the book shows that neither a purely top down or bottom up approach to rural development is effective. Policy to support economic development in rural community needs to adopt a blended approach between top-down support and bottom-up initiative and participation.";
The book helps to illustrate how such a blended approach to rural development is possible.
"All of these communities have been on slightly different paths, but the process of getting on track has been quite similar,"; adds assistant professor Sean Markey. "They all have had to undergo a shift in mindset, to view economic development as something that was theirs and to take responsibility for it.
"The result has been a more positive climate in these communities, and a feeling of being more empowered.";
In Salmon Arm, the community has formed a successful economic development corporation.
In 100 Mile House, a community arts centre was created after the community lost its bid to have a forest licence awarded.
Both First Nations communities, including the Nuxalk Nation at Bella Coola and the Upper St'at'imc Nation, near Lillooet, are involved in ongoing land use planning and economic development projects.
The stories of these communities and their attempts at turning their economy around are highlighted in the book.
"Community economic development doesn't have a long research legacy, but it's a rapidly expanding field and we've outlined its growth and development,"; adds Markey.
Second Growth is written by Markey and Pierce together with the centre's director Mark Roseland and member Kelly Vodden, and is targeted at educators, policy makers and the general public.
Towards Sustainable Communities: Solutions for Citizens and their Governments
Article (2012)
Mark Roseland's new book is Towards Sustainable Communities: Solutions for Citizens and their Governments (New Society $34.95). He recently represented Simon Fraser University at Rio+20.
Mark roseland was walking through his Vancouver neighbourhood about 15 years ago when an unusual piece of graffiti posted on a telephone pole caught his eye - the words "Imagine No Cars"; were scrawled on a homemade sign.
The timing couldn't have been better. As a young professor at SFU, Roseland had long been mulling over how to make environmentalism "sexy"; and "cool"; to the broader public.
Later that evening Roseland sat down and tried to imagine no cars. "I scribbled down a few thoughts, then wrote new lyrics to the tune of John Lennon's song Imagine,"; says Roseland, who took his guitar to the next meeting of Vancouver's Eco- city Network and sang his version of the song. In the audience that evening was a member of the Vancouver Bicycle Choir who asked for the lyrics.
A month later, Roseland was the final speaker at a national conference on sustainable transportation. He put the lyrics to his song on the overhead projector and was astonished when "a woman from the Bicycle Choir leaped out of the audience with a guitar and the somewhat astonished plenary [mostly in suits] sang along.";
Since then the lyrics have been photocopied, faxed, emailed and published "in more places than I can keep track of,"; according to Roseland.
The story of Roseland's song represents the "think globally and act locally"; paradigm which encourages individual action to achieve community goals.
Roseland subsequently edited Eco-City Dimensions (New Society 1997), a compi-
lation of essays from around the world about creating ecologically sound cities.
An eco-city is a concept rather than a definition, according to Roseland. "Streets for people, not cars. Destinations easily accessible by foot, bike and public transit. Health as wellness rather than as absence of disease. Restoration of damaged wetlands and other habitats. Affordable housing for all. Food produced and consumed locally.
Renewable sources of energy. Less pollution and more recycling. A vibrant local economy that does not harm the environment. Public awareness and involvement in decision making. Social justice for women, people of colour and the disabled. Consideration of future generations.";
Mark Roseland was first introduced
to the idea of eco-cities when he met Richard Register in Berkeley, California in 1979. Register proudly displayed a large, older model car which he had gutted, filled with dirt and planted with vegetables.
Register was active in the "car wars"; campaign of the time, which gave "tickets"; to cars for consuming fossil fuels, producing pollution, endangering civic life and uglifying the landscape.
A co-founder of the non profit organiza-tion Urban Ecology, Register had helped bring back part of a creek culverted and covered eighty years earlier. He had planted and harvested fruit trees on city streets and designed and built solar greenhouses. He had also helped pass energy ordinances, establish a bus line and promote alternatives to automobiles.
The notion of eco cities started to gather real momentum with the publication of Register's seminal Eco-City Berkeley, in 1987. According to Roseland, it was "a visionary book about how Berkeley could be ecologically rebuilt over the next several decades.";
The momentum grew when the organization held the First International Eco-city Conference in Berkeley in 1990. More than 700 people from around the world came to discuss urban problems and submit proposals for shaping cities on ecological principles. Since then, eight more international conferences have been held in cities all over the world.
Cited by the Vancouver Sun as one of British Columbia's top 50 living public intellectuals, Mark Roseland has since become Director of the Centre for Sustainable Community Development at Simon Fraser University and Professor in SFU's School of Resource and Environmental Management.
As a Research Director for the City of Vancouver's Clouds of Change Task Force in 1990, he led one of the first comprehensive municipal responses to global atmospheric change. Having edited RAIN magazine, he also served as North American editor of the international journal Local Environment from its inception in 1995 until 2002.
But Roseland has possibly been most influential for producing Towards Sustainable Communities: Solutions for Citizens and their Governments (New Society), newly released in its fourth edition.
The new version provides new case studies and an expanded treatment of sustainability, in rural and urban settings, as well as contributions from a range of experts around the world. BC Contributors include Oliver Brandes, Victor Cumming, Spring Gillard, Todd Litman, Sean Markey, Dale Mikkelsen, Janet Moore, Jennie Moore, Britta Peters, Coro Strandberg, and Jessica Woolliams.It also features Pando.sc, a new online community for local sustainability-focused researchers and practitioners to share knowledge, network, and collaborate.
The volume shows how "community capital"; can be leveraged to meet the needs of cities and towns for energy efficiency, waste reduction and recycling, water, sewage, transportation and housing, climate change and air quality, land use and urban planning.
Roseland launched Towards Sustainable Communities in Brazil in conjunction with the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, a global gathering known as Rio+20 because it occurred 20 years after the historic UN Rio "Earth Summit"; in 1992.
There were hundreds of events associated with Rio+20. Roseland's main role in Brazil was co-convening the Research Symposium of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) - Local Governments for Sustainability 2012 World Congress, a few days prior to the formal Rio conference, bringing together more than 1400 ICLEI members, partners, global strategists, academics, businesses and NGOs in the city of Belo Horizonte.
9780865717114
[BCBW 2012]
