For 20 years, the non-profit group
Evergreen has been working on its mandate to bring nature into cities. Their efforts gained their most visible expression over the past few years at the
Brick Works, a reclaimed industrial site in the Don Valley that serves as a natural conservation area and educational centre, as well as home to a farmers' market. The focus has been very local. But lately the organization has been thinking much bigger, looking closely at "larger global sustainability issues related to cities," says Evergreen public relations manager Anthony Westenberg. That includes issues ranging from food supply and water use to building construction and land use.
In order to further the climate of green urban innovation—here and around the world—Evergreen opened the
Centre for Green Cities last year at the Brick Works, which Westenberg describes as a sort of "
MaRS for Sustainability." The centre serves as a place for entrepreneurs and researchers to showcase their work and connect with each other. They aim to study the best urban sustainability practices from around the world and to support and export the best innovations from Canada.
In the wake of all this activity, the Centre for Green Cities has just launched a website to share knowledge and information at
cgc.evergreen.ca. Staff are beginning to populate the site now (one of the first links posted was to a piece by
yours truly). They've also started a series profiling innovative individuals and organizations, starting with electric car company Better Place, which Yonge Street
covered last year, and lighting technology company
Fifth Light Technology.
Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Anthony Westenberg, Public Relations Manager, Evergreen