Most Livable Community Awards

In October of 2009 CBC was just one of the media sites to post the story of Gibsons, BC being named as one of the most liveable communities in the world.  The full article can be read at:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/10/13/bc-gibsons-liveable-award.html

Quoting from the  'Sunshine Coast Bed and Breakfast, Cottage Owners Association News',
'key to the award was the Upper Gibsons Neighbourhood Plan, an innovative development project designed to conserve energy, water and land, use bike and pedestrian paths to promote alternate forms of transportation, promote social interaction, and encourage people from all ages and incomes to live there. The town is also set to install North America's first municipal geo-exchange district energy system, which will heat homes and businesses with thermal energy pumped from the ground.'

The LivCom Awards were launched in 1997 and are endorsed by the United Nations Environment Programme, (UNEP), with which it shares a Memorandum of Understanding. The LivCom Awards is the World’s only Awards Competition focussing on International Best Practice regarding the management of the local environment. The objective of LivCom is to develop and share International Best Practice, with the further objective of improving the quality of life of individual citizens through the creation of ‘liveable communities’.

The Environmentally Sustainable Project Awards are open to both the Public and Private Sectors and Partnerships of both. The objective of the Project Awards is to encourage Developers to have the same environmental objectives as communities.

Apart from the worldwide recognition given to communities that win any of these awards there is also the possibility of a financial award. The international acclaim however is probably worth a lot more.

Gibsons won in 2009 for a community with fewer than 20,000 residents. Could a project in Cranbrook aspire to this in the future?

It is something to think about.

For more information:

http://www.livcomawards.com/2011-awards/brochure.htm

http://www.livcomawards.com/