Vancouver BC City Planner, Sandra James gives examples of how making a community more walkable, can change the social fabric of a neighborhood or a community.

Sandy James is irrationally passionate about sustainably smart walkable communities. As a city planner for the City of Vancouver Sandy championed locally scaled neighborhood projects that virally became city policy in Vancouver and other cities. Working collaboratively with engineering staff Sandy developed the innovative 140 kilometer “green street” sustainable network of connected parks, streets and places where pedestrians have priority. Known as the “pickpocket of city hall” for her ability to find financing, Sandy was named Neighborhood Planner of the Year” by the Vancouver Sun newspaper for her work with communities. Sandy believes that promoting walkability is socially and morally the right thing to do, and chaired the international Walk 21 Conference in Vancouver in 2011. Sandy is a Director of Walk Metro Vancouver, which encourages best practices for the development of walkable places and spaces, creating communities we want to live in.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx