Dr. Warren Gill was passionately engaged in the cities and neighbourhoods in which he lived and worked. As a member of the senior administration at SFU, he was instrumental in the development of its downtown campus; as an urban geography professor, he inspired many students. Never satisfied with the status quo, Warren worked constantly to make life in the city more interesting and more inclusive. The intent of this lecture series in his honour is to continue his questioning, raise new ideas and invoke new ways of thinking about life in the urban context.

The Vancouver Region: Moving Towards World Class But Not There Yet

Metropolitan Vancouver, already blessed by its beauty and location, emerged in the last generation as a widely admired planning success. But nothing in city building is more dangerous than complacency. Dr. Michael Goldberg will look at Vancouver at a crossroad – with new leadership locally and federally, a new commitment to infrastructure renewal, land use, transit and transportation planning, as well as housing affordability and regional economic development. All are crucial, and none is a given, if Vancouver is to achieve its goal of being a global capital and sustainability leader.

About the Speaker

Dr. Michael Goldberg's academic and public career has spanned over four decades. From 2002 to 2004, he was Associate Vice President International at the University of British Columbia, and the HR Fullerton Professor of Urban Land Policy in the UBC Sauder School of Business where he served as Dean from 1991 to 1997. His research addresses cities, their transportation, housing and land use systems and their competitive position in the global economy and the policies needed to globally enhance this competitiveness. Michael has a PhD in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley. He is the past Chair of the Surrey Centre Development Corporation Board and a past Director of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.