what is it about cities that in-spire emotion?

Bring up the name of a major Canadian city and

chances are you’ll get an opinion in re-turn. Most people have something to say about where they live, where they refuse to live, and where they dream of living.

After three years of looking at what makes a city great, we’ve found that the lives of Canadians are deeply affected by how well their cities address their needs. Everything from the air you breathe, to the economic climate, to how you get to work can be a function of your city.

As proof of citizen passion, last year’s Sustainable Cities survey elicited plen-ty of reader comments, with feedback ranging from hearty praise to furious outrage. In response, we sought to fur-ther improve our ranking methodology.

Bigger and betterWith the help of our Advisory Board,

consisting of lead advisor The Natural Step Canada (TNS) and advisors Greening Greater Toronto and Smart Growth BC [see sidebar], we modified our survey com-ponent to better capture factors that cities themselves could control. For example, we asked cities if they integrate sustainabili-ty into municipal decision-making.

Why? “Municipalities are uniquely po-sitioned to respond to the diverse chal-lenges and opportunities inherent in sustainable development,” says Alaya Boisvert, Advisory Intern at TNS.

We also expanded our indicators to bet-ter represent results-oriented factors, such as improved air quality data, domestic and overall water usage, and the number of peo-ple employed in cultural industries. Our indicator categories changed accordingly:

Ecological Integrity, Economic Securi-ty, and Social Well-Being now measure the results of a city’s efforts, quantified via publicly available statistics; Governance and Empowerment along with Infrastruc-ture and Built Environment measure how well a city supports, engages, and repre-sents its citizens. For a full list of indica-tors and their classifications, go to www.corporateknights.ca/cities.

Our Advisory Board emphasized the importance of understanding that our indicators, while comprehensive, are not perfect. Some cities and issues are stud-ied more intensely or more often than others, and cities vary in their reporting methods. Data we’d like quantified in all cities, such as the number of homeless people or the presence of hormones in drinking water, are not universally avail-able. We will evolve our methodology as data improves but for now, our indica-tors are proxies to gauge where cities are on their journey toward sustainability.

“The results of individual indicators are not a complete measure of success,” says TNS. “They serve to illustrate per-formance in key areas and show strengths and challenges cities are facing.”

We also adopted TNS’ strategic ap-proach of backcasting in order to bet-ter define our goals for sustainable cities. Backcasting involves imagining a suc-cessful outcome in the future and ask-ing what we need to do to get there. See our sidebar for a visual representation of backcasting and for our idea of a truly sus-tainable city.

These changes mark our best, most ro-bust Sustainable Cities ranking yet.

How they didYellowknife remained as the top small

city, but with updated data and new cri-teria, our other city leaders from last year fell behind. Ottawa needs improvement in areas such as providing tax incentives to attract green businesses, city council ethnic diversity, and median commuting distance. Quebec City needs to focus on poor air quality and lack of retrofit pro-grams and tax incentives for green busi-nesses. Cities must continue to evolve: what worked five years ago may not work now.

Some cities are better at collecting and measuring sustainability-related perfor-mance data. For example, of the cities that responded to our survey, all except Char-lottetown had some kind of GHG reduc-tion target in place, but only four—Ed-monton, Toronto, Ottawa, and Halifax

—could quantify their current progress. Similarly, all but Winnipeg had waste

diversion targets. Though most could quantify their progress, only Halifax sep-arates residential and non-residential di-version rates. Montreal collects diver-sion rates of specific types of waste.

Several cities had strong affordable housing programs, with smaller cities excelling in this area: both Halifax and Saskatoon support low-income home-owners and projects through tax exemp-tions. Saskatoon also prioritizes city re-views for approved affordable housing projects, and Saint John’s utilities have relief programs for low-income earn-ers. These programs translated into re-ality: Halifax, Saskatoon, and Saint John residents spend about 18 per cent of their annual income on shelter, where-as Charlottetown residents spend 25 per cent. Many municipalities made connec-tions with their provincial governments to provide affordable housing—and in

GREEN SPACEby Melissa ShinPrimary research by Victoria GooddayWith assistance from Monika WarzechaFrench translation by Adeline Cohen

CK'S THIRD ANNUAL SUSTAINABLE CITIES RANKING

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April, we’ll be doing our inaugural Sus-tainable Provinces ranking.

We were also glad to see cities reward-ing environmentally-minded citizens. For example, Toronto and Ottawa offer rebates for efficient toilets and other ap-pliances. Toronto also has sustainable energy loan funds, green condo loans for developers, and has just established a green and cool roof incentive program. Winnipeg offers property tax credits for retrofits to older homes.

But it’s up to citizens to take advan-tage of these programs, and to demand that their local councillors do better. It’s up to the people to ride on bike paths, use public parks, and patronize respon-sible businesses. Your city councillors can only take action if these needs are conveyed.

Peter Johnson, Chair of Greening Great-er Toronto’s Measurement and Perfor-mance Working Group, sums it up this way.

“Sustainable cities are created by good government policies and programs, and by the actions taken by those who work and live in those cities.”

It’s clear that learning about and under-standing sustainability has become im-portant across Canada. Overall, cities are doing a good job of self-regulating: set-ting GHG emission reduction targets for the city corporation, banning pesticide on city-owned property and mandating en-vironmentally friendly design for new city buildings. We challenge councils to ex-tend these programs to the whole city, and fully integrate what are often seen as side initiatives. And we challenge citizens to do everything they can to make their city resilient, inclusive, and sustainable. q

BACKCAST FROM SUSTAINABLE MODEL

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ecological Integrity refers to the health and abundance of natural and managed ecosystems and green spaces. Success would include abundant clean air and water, high biodiversity, low levels of toxins and pollutants, and a commitment to zero waste. Citizens would use renewable, locally-sourced resources and energy.

economic Security refers to the health and growth of the economy within a context that balances the needs of all stakeholders, including the environment and the community. Success would include an abun-dance of responsible, viable businesses. Everyone who wants to work can do so thanks to a proliferation of green collar jobs.

Governance and empowerment refers to citizens of all ages and back-grounds being engaged and actively participating in activities that con-tribute to the well-being of the city. Success occurs when the power of decision-making rests firmly with those most affected by decisions to ensure positive feedback loops of accountability. Legal and political systems preserve the long-term interests of the community.

Infrastructure and the Built environment refers to development that is designed, built, and managed to enhance quality of life and the ecosystem. Success means that all buildings are healthy, beautiful, and highly resource efficient. Transportation is designed to move people quickly, cleanly, quietly, and conveniently—anywhere, anytime.

Social Well-Being refers to a city where programs, services, and in-frastructure exist to promote subsistence, protection, affection, un-derstanding, participation, leisure, creation, identity, and freedom. Success would include citizens working in respectful and healthy en-vironments for fair wages. All citizens have access to safe and secure homes. Citizens are engaged in life-long learning and have opportu-nities to celebrate, learn about, and contribute to the cultural devel-opment of the community.

For full text, please see www.corporateknights.ca/citiesWhat does your ideal sustainable city look like? Send your thoughts to survey@corporateknights.ca.

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Best large city

Edmonton With the lowest unemployment rate of all cities and the second-lowest unem-ployment rate of immigrants, Edmonton had our highest Economic Security score. And it’s not just any job that’s important to Edmonton—the city wants to be an

“innovation centre for value-added and green technologies and products”, and is measuring progress by the percent-age of green collar jobs created. The city also held its first Shop Local month this past November to promote “vibrant, re-silient local economies as a strategy re-sponse to climate change.” Its residents have lots to do; nicknamed the “Festival City,” Edmonton held over 40 major festi-vals and events in 2008—the most of any city. Residents can keep fit on 700 km of municipal bike paths. Edmonton is also the only city in our consideration set to have inclining block pricing on water to encourage conservation.

Best medium city

Halifax

The Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) had the highest Governance and Em-powerment score of all cities. One of the few municipalities to have insecticide and pesticide bans throughout the city, HRM is integrating sustainability into its decision-making. HRM has established a corporate-wide Sustainability Transi-tion Team, with its 20 members repre-senting several departments throughout the organization. The municipality is also developing a sustainability filter against which all corporate decisions will be weighed. HRM is currently retrofitting buildings and pools to utilize geothermal, and built several new community centres in 2008 that utilize geothermal energy. The municipality also requires bike lanes on certain types of new roads. And kudos on the Halifax Harbour cleanup!

Best small city

Yellowknife At the top of our small city list for the second year in a row, Yellowknife con-tinued to impress. It’s no wonder Yel-lowknife is the only small city with a LEED-certified building—the city has integrated energy efficiency into its building bylaws and has also con-ducted an energy audit on all of its fa-cilities. Along with a high population density, these factors came together to give Yellowknife the top Infrastructure and Built Environment score. With the highest ratio of homeless shelter beds to population, Yellowknife is well prepared to take care of its own. It also supports creativity with an annual arts competi-tion for local artists, and 3.7 per cent of its workers employed in cultural indus-tries. The City of Yellowknife Downtown Enhancement Committee also provides annual funding for building murals that are painted by local artists.

A CIVIC DUTY?Calgary city council has voted

against a proposal to adopt a respon-sible investing framework for its $2.5 billion portfolio.

Before the vote, Alderman Ric McIver said, “Responsible investing might make the most sense in the next few years because there’s going to be a huge opportunity for companies that are responsible on things such as the environment.”

Ald. Druh Farrell believed that Cal-gary could encourage companies to make environmental and social im-provements. “Some companies are

better than others in how they treat the environment,” she says. “These are things that we can have some in-fluence on by how we invest.”

But council was concerned about re-stricting investment options during a recession. Also, no major city in Can-ada follows RI principles—despite the fact that the Canada Pension Plan and other provincial investment funds do.

“Basically the report we got told us this is a good idea, but the challenge is no one else is doing it,” Alderman Bri-an Pincott told the Calgary Sun.

“I find it unfortunate we’re stepping away from something where we might be a leader.”

If adopted, the proposal would have required that the City consider divest-ing investments in the oil sands—a ma-jor catalyst of Calgary’s current eco-nomic success.

RI guru Michael Jantzi says that Cal-gary would not have to exclude compa-nies profiting from the oilsands. “What we are saying ... is we need to know the management and the board understand the environmental and social risks at hand.”

The Jantzi 60 outperformed the benchmark S&P/TSX Composite In-dex over the last six months despite the global financial crisis.

Supportingsustainablecommunitiesacross Canada

www.fcm.ca/gmfFederation of Canadian Municipalities

GMF Corp K :Layout 1 1/14/09 2:24 PM Pag

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DON'T CALL 911Yellowknife and Iqaluit are the only capitals in Canada without access to the 911

emergency service. Yellowknife mayor Gordon Van Tighem has been fighting for 911 service throughout his eight-year tenure and is still waiting for federal funding. Iqaluit city council discussed the possibility of implementing 911 in 2000 but the city still does not have the service. According to the Globe and Mail, Industry Canada, who oversees the Infrastructure Canada Program that funds municipal infrastruc-ture (including rural telecommunications), determined that the program’s funding was already committed to other projects and cannot be used to fund a 911 program in The North.

To reach the police in Yellowknife, use any Yellowknife prefix plus 1111; fire is 2222. In Iqaluit, you can call 979-4422.

Spending on sustainability-related initiatives averages around 1 per cent of the municipal operating budget.

Great Idea!For a small fee, citizens could have access to “environmental advisors” who, much like financial advisors, assess a client’s lifestyle and offer solutions for reducing carbon and water footprints.

FInAl SCoRe

ecological Integrity

economic Security

Governance and empowerment

Infrastructure and Built environment

Social Well-Being

large CityEdmonton 7.31 6.62 8.04 7.56 6.78 7.54Toronto 7.28 7.35 5.98 7.96 7.50 7.58Ottawa 7.03 6.69 5.92 8.02 6.91 7.60Calgary 6.96 6.43 7.20 6.03 7.95 7.19Montreal 5.96 4.30 4.23 7.57 5.98 7.73

Medium CityHalifax 6.94 7.06 6.77 8.02 6.04 6.79Quebec 6.69 5.92 6.31 7.89 5.79 7.55Vancouver 6.60 7.11 4.78 6.94 6.41 7.74Mississauga 6.26 7.27 4.26 7.39 6.66 5.71Hamilton 5.95 5.80 5.48 6.49 5.90 6.09Winnipeg 5.74 5.38 5.70 5.35 5.80 6.45Small CityYellowknife 6.14 4.43 4.37 6.26 8.46 7.15Saskatoon 6.12 4.96 6.05 7.60 5.01 6.98Saint John 5.60 5.12 5.31 5.11 6.56 5.90Charlottetown 5.28 4.96 3.81 5.20 6.48 5.92Whitehorse 5.16 4.05 2.03 6.33 7.22 6.18St. John's 5.10 4.44 4.15 5.88 5.14 5.87

Large cities have population over 750,000; medium cities have population over 250,000.

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Calgary6.96

Edmonton7.31

Saskatoon6.12

Winnipeg5.74

Hamilton5.95

Mississauga6.26

Yellowknife6.14

Whitehorse5.16

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Vancouver6.60

U U U UU

Mississauga6.26

Toronto7.28

Ottawa7.03

Montreal5.96

Quebec6.69

Saint John5.60

Charlottetown5.28

Halifax6.94

St. John's5.10

7.35

5.98

7.96

7.50

7.58

TORONTO

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SUSTAINABLE CITIES RANKING

Ecological Integrity

Economic Security

Icons indicate the category where the highest score was received. All scores are out of 10. Each category of indicators is worth 20 per cent. A list of indicators can be found at: www.corporateknights.ca/cities

Infrastructure and Built Environment

Social Well-Being

Governance and Empowerment

The Ideal CityThe ideal city would score 100% in each of the five categories.

rewardingtransparency

NORTH AMERICA’SSUSTAINABILITY

REPORTING AWARDS

TORONTO, ONTARIO

APRIL 6, 2009

PRESENTED BY:

8TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND AWARDS

PRESENTATION

info@ca.accaglobal.com

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Advisory Board

lead Advisor: The Natural Step Canada is a na-tional not-for-profit organization that provides education, training, coaching and advice to leaders and decision-mak-ers on how to integrate economic, envi-ronmental and social priorities into their planning and decision making. They are part of an international network of or-ganizations that use The Natural Step Framework to help corporations, gov-ernments and local organizations move towards sustainability.

TNS representatives: Chris Lindberg, Director of Partnerships and eLearning; Chad Park, Senior Sustainability Advi-sor; and Alaya Boisvert, Advisory Intern.

Smart Growth BC is a provincial non-governmental organization devoted to fiscally, socially, and environmentally responsible land use and development. Founded in 1999, SGBC works through-out the province with community groups, businesses, developers, planners, munici-palities, and the public to create more liv-able communities in British Columbia.

Smart Growth BC representative: Shana Johnstone, Manager, Smart Growth on the Ground

Greening Greater Toronto was created in response to the 2007 Toronto City Summit Alliance’s call for a regional environmental vision and plan. More than 150 partners from corporations, in-dustry, government, and the non-profit sector have joined forces to improve the environmental health and future of the Greater Toronto Area.

Greening Greater Toronto representative: Peter Johnson, PricewaterhouseCoopers Sustainable Business Solutions; Chair, Measurement and Performance Work-ing Group

Note: Iqaluit was omitted from the consider-ation set this year as there was not enough information to fairly rank the city. The City of Iqaluit did not complete our survey. We hope to have enough data to rank Iqaluit next year. The City of Vancouver was eager to participate in our survey but was unable to do so.

SourcesThe Anielski InstituteCanada Green Building CouncilCK surveyEnvironment CanadaThe Frontier Centre for Public Policy —Lo-cal Government Performance Index 2008HIFIS National Database, Homelessness Partnering Secretariat—HRSDCLife Satisfaction and Trust in Neighbours study, by Barrington-Leigh and HelliwellMoneySense’s 2008 “The Best Places to do Business in Canada” Municipalities’ websitesMunicipalities’ tourism bureausStatistics CanadaUniversity of Alberta study authored by Prof. Sean Cash, Prof. Ellen Goddard, and Ryan Lacanilao

All data is most recent available and must not be older than five years.