December 2010

Past Events

Dream it, Green it then Build it

We heard from experts from Sweden, New York, Toronto and beyond – Erik Freudenthal, head of Communication, Hammarby Sjöstad, Stokholm, Sweden, Gail Lord President, Lord Cultural Resources, with headquarters in Toronto and 18 offices worldwide and Mathew Urbanski, Principal of Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc. Landscape Architects from New York, NY.

Their message? Define your waterfront. It’s your waterfront. Think about green spaces. Think about small spaces to enjoy. Build the structures later. But build it in ways to recoup the maintenance costs of your green spaces through economic development. It’s about balance. You define the balance.

On the third day of the visioning sessions, Urban Strategies Inc. began to pull together thousands of ideas over a mere few months of the highly-engaged residents and stakeholders.
 
The conversations and energy flowed from room-to-room as each discussion led to another thought of, “You know what we could do?” or “I’m thinking this...” Then the on-going buzz of conversations led to one round-table discussion after another.