Citizenship and cities: the torch of a sustainable future

Join us at @sfuvan for the 1st of our free fall lecture series! Ken Cameron, author and fellow of the Canadian Institute of Planners, will introduce his new book, “Showing the Way: Peter Oberlander and the Imperative of Global Citizenship”

Description
Adjunct Professor Ken Cameron will introduce his new book, Showing the Way: Peter Oberlander and the Imperative of Global Citizenship. Through the previously unpublished story of Oberlander’s progression from persecution and internment to becoming a pioneer in Canadian urbanism, Cameron’s book elucidates the remarkable evolution of the concept of citizenship over the past 100 years. Cameron’s lecture will focus on the meaning of citizenship today as a set of rights and responsibilities we must exercise at the local, national and international levels if humanity is to survive the forces of nativism, intolerance and protectionism now sweeping our world.

About Ken Cameron

Ken Cameron has 26 years of experience in senior planning and management positions in local government in the Greater Vancouver area, most recently as manager of policy and planning with the Greater Vancouver Regional District. He played a key role in the adoption of the Livable Region Strategic Plan in 1996 with the formal support of the region’s 21 municipalities – an accomplishment that was recognized in 2002 by the UN Habitat Program’s Dubai awards for outstanding contributions to the human environment.

Between 2004 and 2009, Ken served as chief executive officer of the Homeowner Protection Office, a provincially owned corporation that licensed residential builders, oversaw the operation of the privately provided home warranty insurance system and provided financial assistance to owners of homes subject to premature building envelope failure. Since 2009, Ken has served as a consultant on regional planning and governance for a number of public sector clients. He is an adjunct professor of urban studies at Simon Fraser University and of community and regional Planning at the University of British Columbia.

Ken is past chair of the International Centre for Sustainable Cities and a fellow of the Canadian Institute of Planners. With former Premier Mike Harcourt and local writer Sean Rossiter, Ken authored City-Making in Paradise: Nine Decisions that Saved Vancouver, which was published by Douglas & McIntyre in 2007.