Why does sustainability need to be addressed at the regional level?
Sustainability is best addressed at the regional level as many of the human systems, natural ecosystems, and resource flows cross municipal boundaries. By using a larger regional area such as Greater Vancouver, which is bounded on three sides by ocean, mountains and the U.S. border, it is easier to develop more complete solutions to the challenges faced by metropolitan areas, such as transportation, environmental systems, and infrastructure. In addition to approaching the project from a regional level, a series of neighbourhood sites will be selected for more detailed analysis. Each of the sites will have a different focus, such as demonstrating green infrastructure or showing how sustainability can be applied in different areas. These test-beds will be templates for transferring information about sustainability around the region. By having a regional framework for sustainability combined with neighbourhood case studies on aspects of sustainability, the citiesPLUS project will illustra
