Cochrane Sustainability Plan

With rapid growth expected to double the municipality’s population in 10 years, the Town of Cochrane used the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association’s Comprehensive Guide to Municipal Sustainability Planning to create an integrated sustainability plan. The town’s Sustainability Working Group, with members from all municipal departments, helped develop this sustainability umbrella plan for all other town plans (municipal development; parks, recreation, and culture; social; transportation; and police). Collaboration was a main feature of the work, with community task forces using existing community networks to engage residents where they already gathered, helping them determine what they truly valued, and empowering them to direct their own future. By making appropriate choices from well-established tools such as the Melbourne Principles, The Natural Step, and the Earth Charter, the town used a systems approach to ensure that its plan did not simply address symptoms, but that it reached a deep understanding of the current situation, existing assets and historical trends. The goal was to create a shared focus on targets and indicators around which the community could rally. Cochrane foresaw being able to share its planning experience with other small communities in similar circumstances.