Programming a regional growth strategy, an evaluative case study of the Regional District of Nanaimo experience

Abstract

The study aims to grasp how local governments in a regional relationship can better steer long-term planning efforts towards sustainable development. One of the major goals of this study is exploring how growth management and sustainable development may be reconciled in practice. A second major goal includes drafting a set of objectives that would further advance long-term planning for explicitly sustainable development in the Regional District of Nanaimo. A third major goal is to suggest a modified growth strategy programming option for growth strategising that may be used in rural regional districts in British Columbia. This practicum focuses on an evaluation of the Regional District of Nanaimo's programming experience of their Growth Management Plan to determine if it has advanced long-term planning for sustainable development in that region. The Regional District of Nanaimo's Growth Management Plan is also evaluated on the basis of whether the growth management program can be usefully adapted and transferred to fit a rural non-metropolitan context in British Columbia, with particular reference to the Regional District of East Kootenay context. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)