Winners of United Nations “Most Livable Community” Competition speak at Mal-U

Malaspina University-College’s Geography department invites the public to spend an informative afternoon with winners of three community planning awards sponsored by the United Nations.

Felice Mazzoni, Planning Director for the District of Ucluelet, Dr. Dave Robinson, a Tourism and Management professor at Malaspina, and Tourism students Heather Richards and Richard Crowley will deliver a presentation entitled “Building a Community-University Planning Alliance: The Experience of the District of Ucluelet and Malaspina University-College", on Thursday, Feb. 8.

The award winners will explain how the District of Ucluelet and Malaspina University-College teamed up to undertake the development of an Official Community Plan for Ucluelet. This four-year alliance earned the planning team three prestigious international awards for communities with populations under 20,000. In a competition sponsored by the United Nations, the team received a Gold Award for Ucluelet’s Official Community Plan, a Silver Award for the Most Livable Community, and top prize for the Most Sustainable Community Plan. All participants traveled to Hangzhou, China last fall to receive the awards.

“We invite everyone to come on out and learn why this cooperative planning team from Vancouver Island received such international recognition,” said Don Alexander,  a professor in Malaspina’s Geography department.

The free public presentation takes place Feb. 8, from 2 to 3:30 pm in Building 355, Room 203, at the Nanaimo campus, 900 Fifth Street. Everyone is welcome.  The presentation is sponsored by Malaspina’s Department of Geography.

For further information, contact Don Alexander at (250) 753-3245, local 2261.