ABSTRACT
This chapter identifies how an innovative approach to social sustainability planning unfolded over two decades in the City of Vancouver, Canada. Beginning with the Vancouver Agreement in 2000, the chapter traces the evolution of more inclusive processes of planning and policy co-creation. The sustainability innovation identified concerns how planning is pursued, who is involved in the process, and what is considered to be part of socio-economic sustainability planning. The chapter shows how the Healthy City Strategy and Downtown Eastside Plan, both adopted in 2014, and the Downtown Eastside Community Economic Development Strategy adopted in 2016, built on earlier rounds of engagement, learning and experimentation, and how these equity-focused plans relate to the City’s other strategic sustainability plans. In a city that is dedicated to accommodating economic and environmental objectives in a green model of post-industrial urban growth, and in which housing is unaffordable for many, equitable sustainability planning is a vital corrective that promises to reduce the likelihood of further social polarisation and displacement of poor communities.
