Highlights from 2016 ‘Pro Walk Pro Bike Pro Place’

Over 1,500 people from communities around the globe converged in Vancouver from September 12-18, 2016 for the Pro Walk Pro Bike Pro Place conference and Placemaking Week. 

With dozens of presentations and plenary sessions of all kinds, mobile workshops on foot, bike and transit, poster displays and activities, the week’s events provoked interaction, discussion and ideas on all different aspects of community and mobility.

Since it happened so close to home, a number of Victoria-area residents were a part of the conference, including reps from a several local governments and organizations.   Among them were a number of volunteer members of the Greater Victoria Placemaking Network.

A Taste of the Week

One great take away from the conference is that there is all kinds of notable progress towards placemaking and improved mobility happening here in our own community that we should take the time to be proud of. 

Some of the Victoria region showcases at the conference included a session on the evolution and implementation of the City of Victoria’s #Biketoria project as well as a poster display on the Capital Regional District’s five E’s of sustainable transportation (Engineering, Education, Encouragement, Enforcement and Evaluation).

An upcoming fall GVPN gathering is in the works to share ideas from the conference.  Open to all, the gathering will not just be a chance to dream big and learn from each other, but to also think about how we incorporate this learning into further GVPN projects in the months ahead.

In the meantime, check out the sampling below of conference tweets and photos from Victoria area attendees Ray Straatsma, Lorne Daniel, Emmy Marshall-Hill, Sarah Ravlic and Corey Burger.

The week included not only conference presentations but walking explorations, bike tours, a free week’s use of the new Mobi bike share, and spirited gatherings of urbanists all around downtown Vancouver.  

You can also dive a little deeper via the post on conference highlight links, videos and short takes on the Connecting Dots . . . blog.