Biodiversity refers to the variety of life on Earth. It includes all living things and the ways in which they interact with each other at an ecosystem, species and genetic level. Biodiversity is key to a healthy, natural environment and is fundamental to supporting the livability and resilience of the city. How we weave the interconnection between urban and ecological life is one of the key challenges for the 21st century, and built environment professionals play an important role shaping this relationship.

In Toronto, a place of particularly rich biodiversity and where urban development has often ignored the ecological setting around it, the City has set a strategy to protect and support the biodiversity of this place.

Join us for this one hour presentation as Jane Weninger, Senior Planner with Toronto City Planning, introduces us to the City of Toronto’s framework towards an ecological city. Jane will walk us through some of the City’s existing policy documents, including Toronto Biodiversity Strategy and the Toronto Ravine Strategy, and the role biodiversity and ecology play in the Toronto Green Standard, the city’s sustainable design and performance requirements. Key actions that are relevant to architects and other built environment professionals and how they contribute to a more ecological and resilient city will be highlighted.