Gibsons, awarded the World’s Most Liveable City
Filed Under: design, environment, green Profile on October 17, 2009
One of my favourite towns in B.C., and the home of an old TV program, “the Beachcombers” was given the primo liveable city award this week.
The Beachcombers was an earthy TV show that revolved around the lives of ordinary working class folks with BC’s spectacular coastline. I watched this show every week as a kid.
Beachcombers photo, courtesy of CBC
Over the past few decades, I’d bring my kids over to Gibsons to check out “Molly’s Reach“, the restaurant from the show… and to fish around this beautiful town.
I’ve got a lot of old friends in and around Gibsons… some of them had even helped out in the recent updated masterplanning of Gibsons’ harbour.
So when I received news of Gibsons recognition of the World’s Most Livable Community (with a population of less than 20,000)… it will give me an excuse to head over to Gibsons, and neighbouring Sechelt and the rest of the sunshine coast to say “hi” to my buds and toast them all a hearty congrats!
Here’s the article from today’s Vancouver Province Newspaper (Link here):
Why Gibsons is on top of the world
The picturesque town of Gibsons on the Sunshine Coast was on Tuesday named the World’s Most Livable Community (with a population of less than 20,000) by the United Nations-endorsed International Awards for Livable Communities.
“Isn’t that amazing,” said Gibsons chief administrative officer Paul Gipps.
“We’re pumped.”
Mayor Barry Janyk and two city staffers were at the awards ceremony in Pilsen, Czech Republic, to receive the honour.
Gibsons, with a population of about 4,200, beat out seven finalists for the gold award for providing a vibrant, environmentally sustainable community that improves people’s quality of life.
Southwell, England, and Bolatice, Czech Republic, finished second and third, respectively.
Carlyle, Sask., was also a finalist.
Communities were judged by six criteria: enhancement of the landscape, heritage management, environmentally sensitive practices, community sustainability, healthy lifestyles, and planning for the future.
“The town of Gibsons is incredibly honoured to be recognized as the world’s most livable community with a population of less than 20,000 people,” said Janyk.
Gibsons also won a planning-for-the-future award.
Newark, England (population up to 75,000), Melville, Australia (up to 200,000), Shilong, China (up to 750,000) and Dalian, China (over 750,000) were other winners in the whole-community category.
“It’s a very proud moment,” said Gipps of the award. “We believe in the town, but it’s nice to see everyone else believed in us as well.”
