Sustainable Urban Development Leadership Summit
Vancouver, Canada

Planning Down places a large project of work before its conference community: to study the gaps between our economic and ecological practices and to build a portrait of a rich community and national life for the near-future in which ecology and economy are more successfully aligned.

In current public debates about climate change, energy transitions, sustainable urban development, and the vulnerability of key ecosystems, the economy is conceived as something apart from, and often in conflict with, environment.

Long-developing habits and prevailing economic thinking—essentially, a philosophy of growth—have fostered this view and allowed us to externalize the ecosystem impacts of consumption; and even now, such impacts are considered as a line item in the economic model.

Nature itself, of course, never was an externality and has been conducting full-cost accounting all along. Numerous thoughtful, expert voices are speaking and writing about this and offering a variety of forecasts and responses.

Both ecology and economy share the Greek word for home. We need ideas that link sustainability to both safety and opportunity, and we need new metaphors, fresh narratives and updated metrics that will enable our society and economy to shift from consumption to renewal and regeneration.

Eruptions and profound shifts are taking place in North America (and globally) now—in economy, energy, and the regenerative capacities throughout the systems of nature. Human communities clearly are stepping into a time of great, fundamental change. Planning Down will try to construct some workable maps to guide us in this process.

What would it look like if North America made a wholesale, programmatic shift to practices based on the idea that limits exist—from ‘quantity of life’ to ‘quality of life? What would our lives be like if we were operating from renewal models, not consumption models? How might we weave such practices together with underlying values and principles? What if thrift and frugality were understood as ecological practices?

And given current and impending climate, energy, food, and other impacts, can we increase resilience to our systems of organization in economics, land use, mobility, distribution, work and governance?

The conference will feature speakers and thought leaders who are some of the most imaginative and compelling voices on the scene who have been encouraging—in their various fields and perspectives—more conscious and more successful alignments between social practice and the systems of nature that support us. It will highlight positive North American and global examples of social arrangements and economic innovation as proof that a high quality of life and can be broadly crafted and sustained here.

Seeking a diverse conference community to ensure whole-system thinking, and intending to maximize post-conference benefits and impacts, Gaining Ground will be inviting significant representation from a range of North American constituencies (as well as an un-aligned audience of interested delegates). We believe the conference will have special appeal to:

* Ecological and sustainability organizations and movement representatives;
* Professional organizations associated with urban process, design, planning;
* Professional organizations associated with valuation and economic modeling;
* Governance and policy advisors responsible for shaping political action;
* Business and corporate leaders seeking to respond to emerging markets;
* Foundations and grant-makers whose investments reflect conference interests;
* Mainstream and green media;
* Learning centers focused on sustainability curriculum and wider institutional impact;
* Urban and regional elected leaders committed to change.