The first phase of Imagine Kelowna, an initiative to build a new long-term strategic community vision for the city, is coming to a close at the end of November.
“Over the past four months, I’ve seen how passionate citizens are when they talk about the future of their city,” said Mayor Colin Basran.
“These conversations are essential in creating a new vision for our city and I encourage citizens to get involved. We will wade into significant opportunities and challenges ahead and understanding the desires and aspirations of the community are key to making decisions to ensure a resilient city 25 years from now.”
According to the city, there many ways to get involved in shaping Kelowna’s future including:
• Download a conversation visioning toolkit. Organizations, non-profit groups and clubs are invited to take part in hosting their own visioning session and submitting results online. The toolkit has been made available to encourage dialogue, sharing of opinions and identifying priorities as a new long-term vision is developed.
• Have your say online. Individuals can complete the online submission form or share thoughts on the idea walls. Join the conversation by using the hashtag #ImagineKelowna or email imagine.kelowna.ca.
• Watch for the Imagine Kelowna Speaker Series. Tune in to a live-feed of the Imagine Kelowna Speaker Series on the internet (go to the city’s imagine.kelowna.ca webpage for more information), through which topic experts share their knowledge and experience on trends and planning for the future. The first three presentations touched on scenario planning, the future of health care and changing the face of affordable housing. Or read what industry experts are saying at imagine.kelowna.ca through a special guest blog series.
• Attend an event. Enjoy an evening out with food and local entertainment and take part in compelling conversation as part of the On Point: A series of town hall meetings. Urban Systems is inviting the community to participate in building the future of Kelowna throughout the fall in support of the Imagine Kelowna community visioning initiative. The next two events focus on climate change and transportation. These events are free and open to the public. Spaces are limited and registration is required. Speakers and event details are revealed on the On Point Facebook event atfacebook.com/spirit.of.urban/events.
• Spread the word. This is a community conversation of epic proportions and it’s important that everyone, of all ages, has an opportunity to share their vision. All residents are encouraged to share information about this initiative with their contacts or share the link to the Imagine Kelowna website to make this the largest city-wide conversation about our future.
“Over the past four months we’ve learned about the values in the community by having hundreds of interactions with community leaders, organizations, business and residents, at events, blog posts, presentations, forums, and online through our engagement, imagine.kelowna.ca” said project manager, Rafael Villarreal.
“This month we launched the youth leadership program, a partnership with School District 23 and (individual) schools to get our youth thinking about the future of Kelowna, and through the Imagine Kelowna Conversation Toolkits we want to hear from more groups and citizens, of all ages.”
Imagine Kelowna has been designed in four phases: share, shape, affirm and integrate.
The shape phase will begin to outline priorities from the community’s perspective starting in the new year, says city hall.
Find out about the latest events around the city, read guest bloggers’ perspective on global and local issues facing the community or share your thoughts at imagine.kelowna.ca.
Imagine Kelowna has been called the largest-ever city-wide conversation ever undertaken in Kelowna.
