The American Planning Association has an interesting Policy Guide on Planning for Sustainability that it has ratified. While I haven't read it entirely yet, it appears to follow "Natural Step" (see previous blog post) ideas for achieving sustainable communities. I wonder if Canadian planners have adopted a similar guide, and whether or not communities here are following it? As a volunteer at City of Burnaby stakeholder meetings, I wonder if the city aims to follow such guides in its community plans and ISMPs?
Here's a taste:
OBJECTIVES OF APA’S STRATEGY FOR PLANNING FOR SUSTAINABILITY
Planning for sustainability requires a systematic, integrated approach that brings together environmental, economic and social goals and actions directed toward the following four objectives:1. Reduce dependence upon fossil fuels, extracted underground metals and minerals.
Reason: Unchecked, increases of such substances in natural systems will eventually cause concentrations to reach limits as yet unknown at which irreversible changes for human health and the environment will occur and life as we know it may not be possible.
2. Reduce dependence on chemicals and other manufactured substances that can accumulate in Nature.
Reason: Same as before.
3. Reduce dependence on activities that harm life-sustaining ecosystems.
Reason: The health and prosperity of humans, communities, and the Earth depend upon the capacity of Nature and its ecosystems to reconcentrate and restructure wastes into new resources.
4. Meet the hierarchy of present and future human needs fairly and efficiently.
Reason: Fair and efficient use of resources in meeting human needs is necessary to achieve social stability and achieve cooperation for achieving the goals of the first three guiding policies.