Message from Michael White, Associate Vice President, Campus and Community Planning
As we settle in to the new year, I’d like to take a moment to give my appreciation for the many relationships we have with campus communities and the time invested by many groups and individuals to make the campus more sustainable and livable. I’ll highlight just a few achievements from the past year and current work underway.
One of the most important steps in moving Campus Vision 2050 forward last year was the adoption of the amended Land Use Plan for UBC’s Vancouver campus. This milestone allows us to action the many ideas, policies, and strategies for thoughtful and sustainable change on campus.
Supporting the academic mission is a key part of our mandate and we will continue to support the teaching, learning and research needs of UBC, particularly around development capacity and civic infrastructure. Recent examples include support for the Gateway Building, School of Biomedical Engineering and Beaty Biodiversity Museum expansion.
A top priority continues to be enabling more housing supply and growth of our housing affordability programs – two active planning initiatives include the update to the Wesbrook Place Neighbourhood Plan to accommodate homes for about 4,600 people (with targets to ensure that up to 40% of all new neighbourhood development is rental) and the redevelopment of the Saint John’s College site for 1,500 student beds.
We continue to work with Musqueam to enhance Musqueam presence on campus and deepen engagement, through various projects including the Gateway Building, UBC Farm and the Museum of Anthropology Landscape Renewal.
Significant progress is being made to reduce GHG emissions as well as increase adaptation and resiliency through implementation of campus and neighbourhood climate action plans (CAP2030 and NCAP). CAP2030 has enabled a 35% reduction in campus emissions since 2007, a time when student enrollment increased by 43%. Currently, the team is updating green building and rainwater management requirements to support climate action as well as adaptation and resiliency. You can track progress via the recently launched CAP2030 dashboards.
Improving campus connectivity also remains a top priority. We continue to advocate for the SkyTrain extension to campus and are enhancing sustainable transportation options, such as expanding shared bike services and working with TransLink on future bus service plans for the peninsula.
And all of this work relies on the growing health and happiness of our campus communities – so continuing to strengthen our communities is core to our work – this includes the recent approval of the comprehensive set of updates to the Neighbours Agreement with the UNA, along with a host of successful community partnership programs and events over the past year.
This is just a snapshot of some of the many initiatives and programs that are underway. If you want to learn more or want to get involved, we encourage you to visit our website or reach out to our team at info@planning.ubc.ca.
Best,
Michael