The Ecocity World Summit is the longest-standing international Summit that addresses building cities in balance with nature. It is a biennial event involving over 1,000 delegates from around the world. The first Summit in this series was held in Berkeley, USA in 1990 with the purpose of bringing together bright minds to share knowledge on ecological and sustainable city designs. Ecocity Builders, a nonprofit corporation, has since been convening Summits in different locations around the globe such as Abu Dhabi, UAE in 2015 and Melbourne, Australia in 2017.
This year, the Summit will be hosted by the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) in collaboration with the City of Vancouver and Tourism Vancouver at the Vancouver Convention Centre West from October 7 - 11, 2019.
Within BCIT, the School of Construction and the Environment will be taking the lead to convene the Summit program. Ecocity 2019 will consist of keynote and guest speakers, presentations and local field trips highlighting features of sustainable city design, construction and operation.
The 2019 Summit will bring focus to the International Ecocity Standards (IES) which were developed through a decade-long partnership between Ecocity Builders and BCIT School of Construction and the Environment. The IES has 18 standards pertaining to sustainable urban living grouped under:
- Urban design
- Bio-geophysical conditions
- Socio-cultural features
- Ecological imperatives
Each day of the 2019 Summit will highlight one of these four topics in order to promote the understanding and development of Socially Just and Ecologically Sustainable Cities.
