Simcoe Chapter Dinner Meeting:
“Developing for Multiple Objectives – The New Class of Land Developers”
Held May 1, 2018 at the University Club of Toronto
Public entities like universities, health authorities, municipalities, First Nations, and others are rapidly changing the face of land development. Their approach seeks to maximize the value of their assets in multi-dimensionalways, by building communities that pay social, environmental, economic, and fiscal dividends.
Gordon Harris, President & CEO of SFU Community Trust, shared his experience of developing UniverCity, an award-winning model sustainable community beside the main campus of Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, BC. UniverCity strives to be a livable, affordable, and sustainable community all while creating endowment wealth for SFU.
Along with his writing partner, Richard Littlemore, Gordon has unveiled Building Community: Defining, Designing, Developing UniverCity, a book that is both a history and a handbook, a compendium of how-to’s and what not-to-do’s.
Two of Toronto’s most accomplished planners and urban design consultants, Cyndi Rottenberg-Walker of Urban Strategies and Anne McIlroy of Brook McIlroy, joined Gordon for a lively discussion highlighting their experiences working with this important new class of land developers, and balancing the seemingly contradictory objectives of maintaining the public image of the institution while maximizing fiscal returns.
UniverCity
