NEC conference addresses crucial planning issues

The Niagara Escarpment Commission (NEC) hosts Leading Edge 2006: Understanding Our Resources, an exciting and topical conference at the Burlington Holiday Inn Hotel and Conference Centre from Oct. 4-6.

"This is the hottest conference program we've ever had," said NEC chair Don Scott. "We're making the connections between many of the issues that are driving the public agenda in Ontario right now - smart growth and rural planning, transportation policy, economics and municipal finance, environmental monitoring, energy, and media affairs. Public opinion on these topics should figure large in the Ontario municipal elections in November."

More than 250 delegates from across Canada and the U.S. will be attending 15 interactive sessions to hear from more than 50 international, national and local experts.

Described as a "a whirlwind of energy, ebullience, and no-nonsense arguments" by Canadian Geographic Magazine, Dr. Avi Friedman's experiences as an architect, planner, McGill professor, author, columnist and world traveler

make him a compelling voice for innovative, practical home and community design.

Mayor Ilmar Reepalu from Malm, Sweden, will describe his city's unique approach to moving from a largely industrial economy to a "knowledge economy." Dubbed the Sustainable City of Tomorrow, Malm has carefully integrated new technology and training with exceptional innovations in housing, transportation, resource conservation and public service delivery.

Dr. Tom Daniels, author of several books on urban sprawl and environmental planning, the University of Pennsylvania professor and former manager of a nationally-recognized farms preservation program will provide a long list of straightforward, practical, and action-oriented solutions during his presentation titled Managing the Collision between City and Country.

Dan Needles, creator of the popular Wingfield Farms play for stage and TV, will

be wrapping up the conference by sharing his insights on the "rurban" area - not quite city, not quite country, an uneasy foot in both camps.

Leading Edge 2006 is presented by the NEC in association with Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources, the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation, the Ontario Heritage Trust, the Canadian Biosphere Reserves Association, and the Embassy of Sweden as well as 16 other key sponsors. The NEC was

established by the government of Ontario in 1973 to conserve the U N E S C O d e s i g n a t e d Niagara Escarpment World Biosphere Reserve as a continuous natural environment and scenic, working countryside. Research, education and demonstrations of sustainable development are key functions of biosphere reserves. The bi-annual Leading Edge Conference, which began in 1994, plays a key role in supporting these objectives.