This year's URBCx session will focus on a resilience roundtable on October 7th, picking up the URBC 2020 session that was postponed due to the provincial election, focusing on a topic that spans many ongoing initiatives in BC: the Lower Mainland Flood Management Strategy, the Province's repeal and replace of the Emergency Program Act (EPA) and Climate Preparedness and Adaptation Strategy (CPAS), etc.: challenges and opportunities associated with development in hazardous areas in BC.

Program

(Full program description posted at urbc.ca)

Welcome & Context, With Carleen Thomas (Tsleil-Waututh Nation),Josie Osbourne (Minister, Ministry of Municipal Affairs), Jessica Shoubridge (URBC Program Lead 2016-present) & Erica Crawford (SHIFT Collaborative)

Series of Ignite Talks focusing on Understanding, Analyzing and Communicating Risk

• Quantifying Vertical Land Movement for Floodplain Planning - the City of Vancouver Floodplain Subsidence Study (Tiffany Kang, EIT, Flood Management Engineer, City of Vancouver)
• Earthquake Risk and Resilience in Vancouver’s West End (Stephanie Chang & Carlos Molina Hutt, UBC)
• A Story About Kwantlen First Nation’s flood Risk (Carla Hanson, Kwantlen First Nation)
• Modernizing our Approach to Flood Risk Reduction – the BC Flood Strategy (Andrew Giles, FLNRORD)
• Improving our Regional Understanding of Seismic Hazard: The Metro Vancouver Seismic Microzonation Mapping Project (Meredith Fyfe & Sheri Molnar, University of Western Ontario)

​Fireside Chat: Evaluating Risk Tolerance: Examples from Practice in BC

Moderated by Jessica Shoubridge (URBC/Thrive Consulting), With Fiona Dercole (RDEK), Kris Holm (BGC), Dan Oprescu & Franziska Niegemann (BC FSA)

Be a part of the dialogue regarding how natural hazard risk is analyzed and evaluated in BC. What is the role for community-based risk tolerance? What is the role for regional and senior governments to play? What about financiers?

Series of Ignite Talks focusing on Reducing Risk and Building Resilience

FOCUS ON LAND USE AND ACQUISITIONS

• Regional Growth Strategy Update: Taking Steps Towards Resilience in Metro 2050 (Edward Nichol, Metro Vancouver)
• Flood Resilience Through Planning and Development (Frances Woo, Fraser Basin Council )
• Incorporating Hazard Risk at Various Scales within the City of Vancouver (Tamsin Mills, City of Vancouver)
• Integrating Risk in Developer Acquisition Strategies (Jeff Fisher, UDI)

FOCUS ON BUILDINGS & INFRASTRUCTURE

• Hazard and Risk Integration in a Climate Changed World (Jessica Woolliams, BC Housing)
• Is Life Safety Good Enough? Learning from the Evolution of Seismic Codes and BC Schools Retrofit Program (John Sherstobitoff, Ausenco/NBCC)
• Eliminate the Noise: Application of Climate Risk Assessment Tools to Canadian Infrastructure (Aline Bennett, WSP )
• Developing New Tools and Guidance for Coastal Flood Risk Management through Partnership (Enda Murphy, National Research Council)

Fireside Chat: Real Estate and Climate Change – Come Hell or High

Moderated by Matthew Strand (QuadReal Property Group), With Tamsin Lyle (Ebbwater), Chris Chopik (Sotheby's) & Anton Tabun (Manifest Climate)

This panel will explore the way in which climate change is impacting real estate in Canada and globally. During this discussion we will discuss the importance of climate risk disclosure, the importance of uniform and consistent data, and who ultimately bears the legal responsibility for the financial cost of climate change impacts.

Series of Ignite Talks focusing on Finance, Funding and Incentivization

• Resilience Incentivization: Shared Benefits/Shared Investment (Evan Reis, US Resiliency Council)
• Evolving Methods for Quantifying Financial Impacts of Physical Climate Risks in Infrastructure (William Philips, Mott MacDonald)
• Emerging Issues in the Insurance Industry (Rob DePruis, Insurance Bureau of Canada)
• Growing a Resilient Green Property Bond Market (Ujala Qadir, Climate Bonds Initiative)

Closing Reflections & Next Steps: Advancing the Incentivization Agenda via Enhanced Collaboration in BC

What is currently preventing us from incentivizing risk reduction and resilience building actions and activities at scale? How do we deconstruct and reconstruct a helpful system of incentives that will shift patterns of development in hazardous areas areas? How do we best collaborate (across cultures, disciplines, sectors, etc.) to make this change in the coming decade?

Hear closing reflections on the challenges and opportunities as discussed throughout the day's roundtable from:

• Emily Dicken (North Shore Emergency Management)
• Evan Reis (USRC)
• Kris Holm(BGC)
• Fiona Dercole (RDEK)

Closing with Erica Crawford (SHIFT Collaborative) & Jessica Shoubridge (URBC Program Lead, 2016-present)

(as always, be in touch if the registration fee is a barrier to participation).