Principles of Smart Planning

The long-term health and well-being of people across British Columbia depends on the sustainability of their communities. Today’s community leaders face many challenges, including: adapting to climate change; renewing aging infrastructure; exploring alternative energy sources and innovative waste management systems; developing affordable housing and more efficient transportation options; adapting to changing demographics and declining returns in the resource-based industries; providing healthier living and recreation options supporting cultural diversity. A key question is how to design comprehensive, integrated solutions that encompass the social, cultural, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability.

The following principles complement any sustainability guidelines and/ or frameworks that communities engaged in Smart Planning may adopt:

• Long-term thinking: timeframes for planning processes and/or plans are broadened to take into account implications for future generations (e.g., communities may become more resilient to the anticipated effects of climate change by planning ahead and adapting to changing circumstances)
• Broad in scope: planning or plans consider the communities’ environmental, economic, social and cultural sustainability, including organizational and governance systems. They may also consider a broad geographic or (bio-)regional approach
• Integration: planning processes or plans reflect a coordinated approach to enhance community sustainability by establishing linkages among different types of plans or planning activities as well as across departments and organizations
• Collaboration: planning processes engage community members and other partners to support community sustainability (e.g., First Nations, neighbouring communities, NGOs, private sector, educational institutions, other levels of government)
• Public engagement and education: planning processes enhance public understanding, participation and direction
• Implementation – communities ensure that plans are living documents that are kept off the shelf and put into action
• Monitoring and evaluation – plans outline targets and track results in order to monitor and celebrate progress and focus efforts on areas that need the most improvement.