The Vancouver Sun and CityAge are partnering on a project that we believe can help identify a roadmap of big ideas to build a thriving region.
The Vancouver Sun and CityAge are partnering on a project that we believe can help identify a roadmap of big ideas to build a thriving region.
Metro Vancouver is home to remarkable innovators and people who care deeply about their neighbours and beautiful natural surroundings. That’s our history.
But what’s our future? In many ways, we have reached an inflection point for the region. There is a steady undercurrent of stress and strain driven by how everything is more expensive even as wages stagnate. A sense that more families are falling behind.
At the same time the population of Metro Vancouver is expected to grow to four million by 2045. That’s one million more people.
Together we face serious challenges. Housing and health care shortages. An economic malaise. Infrastructure deficit and congestion. Climate pressure.
We believe these threats can be overcome with a commitment to innovation and strategies that build on our many strengths and geographic advantages on the west coast.
Four decades ago, Expo 86 invited the world to Vancouver. The waves of public and private sector investment that followed spurred growth and reshaped the region. The eyes of the world returned for the 2010 Winter Olympics, a massive undertaking accompanied by significant infrastructure upgrades, including rapid transit to the airport and an expanded Sea to Sky Highway.
We need another spark.
That’s why The Vancouver Sun and CityAge are partnering on a project that we believe can help identify a roadmap of big ideas to build a thriving region.
The Next Metro Vancouver will bring together local leaders and global innovators to share their ideas with each other and with you. Ideas that can build our global stature and ensure the region we love is a hub for investment, secure jobs and vibrant neighbourhoods.
Started in Vancouver a decade ago, CityAge is the network for 25,000 leaders around North America building what it calls future of The Urban Planet — the three or four per cent of the Earth where most people live. Metro Vancouver has a global brand that gets noticed when it leads in ideas to build and rebuild our cities.
On Oct. 20, CityAge in partnership with The Sun will host a summit in Vancouver with local and international experts to discuss several big ideas that can contribute to a brighter future for the region. We’ll look at new housing development models, diversifying trade with the European Union and Asia, how to leverage our status as a hub for the Blue Ocean economy, why we lead the world in innovation in metals and minerals.We hope the October summit will be the first of many such events about The Next Metro Vancouver.
In these weeks leading up to the summit, The Sun will publish stories and expert commentary on many of the topics under discussion. This coverage of how we live and our ambitions will continue after this event — and so will more CityAge events — challenging our political leaders and incorporating your ideas and feedback.
We will bring you stories and analysis across platforms — on the pages of The Sun, online at vancouversun.com and through our daily Sunrise newsletter.
Reporters and columnists in our newsroom will be your watchdogs and advocates for action through accountability journalism.
We want to spotlight the innovators and entrepreneurs who are taking their made-in-Metro ideas and products to the world.
At the street level, we want to know what you like — and don’t like -— about your neighbourhoods. What are the roadblocks to a better life in Metro Vancouver? Are there health care options, housing solutions and approaches to community building that are successful elsewhere that we can bring here?
Please share your thoughts with me anytime at hmunro@postmedia.com.
We look forward to discovering together with you the critical building blocks to a thriving Next Metro Vancouver.
It’s time to rekindle our ambitions.
