Planning Theory

In Practice

Contemporary
Planning
Theories in a Rob Barrs
Nutshell Vancouver’s
Sustainable
Planner

Participatory
Planning in An inside look at
HB Lanarc
Squamish
Photo: flickr.com

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02

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November 1, 2008

Rob Barrs
A Sustainable Planner
I
      t is 8:55 am on a dreary
Thursday in early October,
and I’m early for a meeting
with Rob Barrs at Brioche in Vancouver’s
trendy Gastown. Barrs is meeting with his
business partner, Vince Verlaan, to strat-
egize and prepare for an interview with a
possible hire. They quickly finish breakfast
and I order a coffee. As I sit down and as
Verlaan is about to leave, a hurtling mass
of briefcases and raincoat tumbles into
the small café, a runaway projectile aimed
straight for me. It is Jan Timmer, an archi-
PT 2
Photo: flickr.com
1 November 2008
By Daniella Fergusson
tect and long-time colleague of Barrs. He
has tripped over the café’s threshold and
is picking up strewn papers on the floor.
Barrs and Timmer got to know each other
while working on a project in North Van-
couver, the Maplewood Community Eco-
Industrial Partnership Project. Although
the project started some years ago, this
difficult yet rewarding project has con-
tinued to be a topic of conversation be-
tween Barrs and Timmer. Timmer has
made some progress in Maplewood and
is excitedly telling Barrs about his current
projects, while patiently catching me up to
speed.
Maplewood is a poorer neighborhood in
North Vancouver that could not be de-
veloped due to the location of a chlorine
plant. Barrs and Timmer were part of the
consulting team leading the project with
the goal of creating an eco-industrial com-
munity with a distinct town center. Three
teams came up with 100-year plans for
the area by conducting charrettes. Barrs
explained proudly that it took one year to
fund the project, but it was worth it be-
cause they reached out to real estate and
local industry interests to build support
and created stakeholder buy-in for the
project.
Interestingly, Maplewood is part of the
Vancouver Climate Change plan and part
of a Provincial charter that has pledged
British Columbia to reduce its greenhouse
gas emissions by one third before 2030.
Barrs believes that each North Vancou-
ver district can meet this goal. In fact, he
states that the districts can reduce green-
house gas levels to 80 percent below cur-
rent levels by 2050 by just changing build-
ing codes, increasing transit, and carefully
monitoring land-use changes. I quickly re-
alize that I’m not talking to just any plan-
ner. Barrs has strong environmental and
social convictions and a way to bring
about change in line with his beliefs.
Part of Barrs’ effectiveness as a planner
comes from his command of diverse types
of knowledge, evident in this conversation
with Jan Timmer. Regarding procedural
knowledge, Barrs understands public par-
ticipation processes and how decisions
get made at the municipal and provin-
cial levels. In terms of design knowledge,
he easily reads site plans and converses
about biomimicry and plan visualization
techniques. He understands policies and
institutions, like the municipal inventories
of greenhouse gases and government in-
centives to encourage sustainable devel-
opment. He knows people and current
requests for proposals with municipali-
ties. Barrs also is aware of local norms, like
the conservative values of municipalities,
the provincial emphasis on climate change
mitigation, and general community reac-
tions to sustainable development. Un-
derlying much of Barrs’ knowledge is his
 Barrs founded and Holland Barrs
Planning Group, Inc., with Mark
Holland in 2001 with only five
people. The company recently
merged with Lanarc, a landscape
architecture firm, and is now HB
About out due to its reputation for and
niche in sustainable design. Also,
Barrs prefers to change an unsus-
HB Lanarc tainable company and learn from
the process to create a develop-
ment that meets goals of the

Photo: hollandbarrs.com
Lanarc. It has enjoyed fast growth wider community. In other words,
in the past 18 months and employs through HB Lanarc Barrs is looking
over 20 professionals. for transformative change.

HB Lanarc is a mission-based Barrs spends much of his time at

consulting company that seeks to
implement sustainable projects
and will look at a challenge in many
different ways in order to achieve
a sustainable outcome. Its staff
includes planners, engineers, GIS
experts, and designers. Overall, the
members of HB Lanarc have shared
values, something that Barrs con-
siders important because so many
values-based decisions have to be
made on a daily basis.
The company specializes in com-
munity and neighborhood planning,
regional growth strategies, sustain-
ability strategies and research,
climate protection and sustainable
energy planning, development
planning and approvals, urban
HB Lanarc mentoring staff, like ad-
vising them how to handle certain
situations or how to improve their
work. He encourages his team to
manage and lead projects early
because experience in working
design and site planning, landscape with clients is very important for
architecture, environmental design, consulting companies and repeat
green infrastructure, and community work is the basis of most of HB
engagement. Lanarc’s business.
The company also operates in British Nevertheless, Barrs still enjoys
Columbia and sometimes Alberta. working on detailed project work,
Barrs believes that staying in his com- unlike some principals who take on
munity allows him to build lasting just a management role. Currently
relationships with both community he is working on the City of Van-
members and local planners. couver’s climate change plan and is
creating greenhouse gas strategies
HB Lanarc works with many diverse to reduce emissions by changing
clients. Often the company is sought regulation.

understanding of history, including real es- that this style of communication is typical for to Whitelaw’s strategy for the Squamish
tate and development cycles. Overall, his Barrs in professional settings and represents focus group, and adds a couple of sugges-
knowledge tends to be a mix of technical, the theories that guide his practice. tions. Despite the time squeeze, Whitelaw
philosophical, and normative knowledge makes a concerted effort to describe the
that allows him background of
Sometimes municipal
to explain some-
thing or gives change seems small the Squamish
planning process

A
him enough in- but I still find the work satisfying to me, as well as
formation to find and the intricate
out more about a particular topic.        fter Barrs and Timmer finish positions and interests of the stakehold-
catching up on projects, sharing ers that are going to be in the focus group.
Barrs’ communication style also becomes LEED points tips, exchanging infor- The minutes fly by, and before long we
clear during the same conversation. Barrs mation on possible contracts, strategizing have to leave else risk being late. Barrs
spends most of his time listening to his about reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and I take meeting materials and pile into
companion. When the conversation me- and reflecting on lessons learned on recent a Co-operative Auto Network car. I’m im-
anders to another topic, his infrequent ut- jobs, Barrs and I head up Homer Street to pressed. Barrs does not own a car, show-
terances paraphrase the previous thought HB Lanarc’s offices. Barrs and his colleague, ing sheer dedication to the cause of envi-
and ask a question to reestablish the origi- Peter Whitelaw, have about 30 minutes to ronmental sustainability.
nal topic. Barrs also asks many questions prepare for a technical focus group in Squa-
to clarify what his companion is saying. mish, and Barrs has to squeeze in his daily ac-
Evidently, Barrs listens carefully to his con- tivities, like checking emails, reviewing other
versation partner and demonstrates ac- people’s work and reports, and scheduling Continued on Page 4
tive listening. As the day continues, I see internal and public meetings. Barrs listens

PT 3
D
   uring the hour-long drive
to Squamish along the Sea-
to-Sky highway, I take in the
views. It has turned out to be a gorgeous
afternoon. The sun is gleaming off Lions
Bay and the mountains are spectacular.
Barrs and I pass the time by talking about
his passion his decision to start his own
company.
Barrs is a LEED accredited planner and a
member of the Canadian Institute of Plan-
ners. He also chaired Smart Growth BC’s
board of directors from 2006 to 2007. His
passion is creating livable and sustain-
able communities. He defines sustainabil-
ity as long-term well-being for all people
and organisms, where long-term implies
multi-generational and well-being in-
cludes wealth, happiness, and alternative
measures of progress. Barrs also likes E.F.
Schumacher’s goal of achieving “health,
beauty, and permanence.” “Beauty is an
important part [of sustainability],” he con-
tinues, “Because aesthetics can be easily
forgotten.” He also believes in alternative
views of progress, because society’s focus
on economic growth for growth’s sake
will make achieving sustainability impos-
sible. He further adds that different types
of growth, like population, economic, and
urban growth, have to be separated in or-
der for communities to develop a steady-
state economy. Clearly, Barrs has strong
views on sustainability that guide his plan-
ning practice.
A graduate of the University of British
Columbia’s School of Community and
Regional Planning, Barrs didn’t antici-
pate at first that he would be a planner.
PT 4 - Squamish
He grew up in England and was an environ-
mental activist. Inspired by Bill Rees, he de-
cided to move to British Columbia and take
his courses at SCARP. After graduation, Barrs
worked in Ontario for a few years for an en-
gineering firm but was not making the type
of change he wanted to see in the world.
He moved back to British Columbia to start
a company with Mark Holland. He chose to
work for himself in order to create a niche
market, complete projects that he found in-
spiring, and enjoy the constantly changing
and challenging environment of consulting.
This conversation demonstrates to me that
Barrs seeks to create change in the world in
accordance with his fundamental beliefs. In
fact, he’s looking for transformative change.
Finally, we arrive in Squamish. The commu-
nity enjoys fantastic weather, a short trip to
Whistler, and a wonderful location on the
oceanfront surrounded by mountains. Log-
ging and mining have historically been the
main drivers of Squamish’s economy; howev-
er, the two industries are currently in decline.
The community needs new industries, like
tourism and high tech, as well as the appro-
priate quality of life and amenities to attract
this kind of business. There are currently
about 8,000 households in Squamish and the
plan is to double the number of households
and add jobs. HB Lanarc is helping the Dis-
trict of Squamish lead a public-participation
process to plan its oceanfront peninsula ac-
cording to Smart Growth principles.
Phase 1 began in June 2008 with a public
event that was attended by over 300 people.
The group confirmed ten guiding principles
and identified the direction that the com-
munity wanted to take as well as questions
that remain unanswered. Main topics
included whether there should be more
jobs or more housing, what kinds of in-
dustries and jobs to attract, and what sort
of development is desirable. The process
is currently in the second of 5 phases. This
second phase involves exploring options
for development and holding focus group
meetings to sort out technical issues. The
phase’s final open house, which show-
cased the outcomes of the focus group
meetings, was held in October and about
70 members of the public attended. Af-
terwards, a “Kitchen Table Conversations”
guide was created to explain options and
gather community input by the end of
November. The guide was published elec-
tronically on the official community plan-
ning website and 600 physical copies were
distributed around the community.
The next steps are to draft a policy docu-
ment that captures community input and
technical requirements; to create a draft
of the sub-area plan and engage the com-
munity to ensure that it meets community
values and objectives; and lastly to finalize
the plan based on community comment
and achieve Council approval. The process
is expected to finish in April 2009 and em-
ploys public workshops and open houses
as well as a website, Facebook groups, and
interactive GIS.
Continued on Page 6
Photo: createtheoceanfront.ca
 Squamish Oceanfront Lands Sub Area Plan
DRAFT Process Map / Timeline of Activities
Starting off right Exploring Options Policy Statement Drafting the Plan Final Plan
A M J J A S O N D J F M A
2008 | 2009
Interactive Website - on-line surveys, Facebook, interactive GIS

Stakeholder meetings Workshops Open House Open House Public

Hearing
Public Event Open House

ENGAGEMENT
Adopted
Sub-Area
Plan

Background Follow-up Studies Draft Policy Draft Sub-Area Refine Sub-Area

TECHNICAL
Review Statement Plan Plan

PT
5
Photo: createtheoceanfront.ca
T
       oday’s technical focus

Photo: createtheoceanfront.ca
group concentrates on trans-
portation. The main topic is ac-
cessing the oceanfront peninsula that is
going to be developed. There must be
two access roads in case of emergency;
however, the location and design of these
two roads creates different impacts that
affect the interests of the three landown-
ers on the peninsula differently. In other
words, each road design creates a differ-
ent town center and a different opportu-
nity for a landmark building, and BC Rail,
the Oceanfront Development Corpora-
tion and the private landowner, West-
mana, each want their land to have the
landmark building and town center. The
landowners are also concerned about
property values, safety, ocean access,
types of housing, truck routes, and traf-
fic flow. To complicate matters, there is a
road right-of-way for a potential bridge,
which makes the more agreeable road
layouts impossible to implement. As a re- Elements of communicative, radical, and - Squamish Public Event
sult, the discussions between HB Lanarc, equity planning theories are evident in
the District of Squamish’s planning of- Barrs’ actions; however, even a combina- Contemporary
fice, BC Rail, Westmana, the Oceanfront tion of these theories fails to explain his
Development Corporation, architects, de- beliefs regarding good society, good plan- Theories In Brief
signers, and transportation engineers are
lively and animated.
ning practice, and social transformation. Equity Planning
Approach: Redistribute power and re-
For Barrs, a good society is one that lives sources to the poor and powerless
Barr’s commitment to this 18 month in accordance with his definition of sus-
planning process shows his broader belief Process: Understand urban inequality,
tainability. then work from the inside the government
in public participation and sustainabil-
as a values-based planner
ity. Furthermore, his behavior during this
In terms of good planning practice, I asked Allegiance: The poor and the powerless.
workshop indicates something else. Barrs
Barrs to describe who planners are. Barrs However, the planner is the source of ex-
is quiet. He hardly says a word. Why? On
believes that planners are generalists that pert knowledge
the surface Barrs wants Whitelaw to facil-
know a reasonable amount about many
itate the meeting how he sees fit in order
different disciplines. They knit together Communicative Planning
to foster leadership and positive client
both diverse sorts of information and dif-
relationships. Barrs also wants to remain Approach: Mutual learning between the
ferent types of people. Good planners
neutral, to listen to the clients, and to let planner and client. Experiential knowledge
know enough about a technical subject
them decide which road route that is best Process: Develop a personal relationship
to be credible. They also know who needs
for them. and accept authenticity of the other per-
to be brought into a process and when.
Barrs also believes that planners should son. Work together
On our way back to Vancouver from Squa- have good contacts and be able to ask Allegiance: The effective communication
mish, Barrs and I talk about the day’s ac- other consultants for specialist advice. of knowledge
tivities and the types of ideas that shape They can manage projects and teams
the way he approaches clients and proj- well. Good planners can also work with Radical Planning
ects. Overall, Barrs’ reflections seem the public and with political processes.
thoughtful and informed. When I arrive Approach: Criticism of existing and un-
Barrs believes that it is important to re- equal power, resource, and opportunity
home, I reflect on the day and think about flect, but unfortunately, it is not done distribution
the academic theories that may inform systematically at HB Lanarc, as there is
Barrs’ planning practice. Process: Change the structure to eradi-
not enough time between projects. Much cate systematic inequalities. Work against
reflection is conducted informally. Visiting the government and form allies within
Barrs’ action through inaction by careful old sites takes a long time. However, Barrs the community. Work with people, not on
listening exposes the kind of theories that usually holds ad hoc meetings to discuss their behalf
guide his practice in a similar fashion as old projects or specific topics, like improv- Allegiance: The systematically disem-
his earlier conversation with Jan Timmer. ing official community plans. powerered

PT 6

- Rob Barrs facilitating a meeting
Making plans is one thing, but
implementing them is
B
     arrs’ views on plan-
ning practice as well as
his interactions with col-
leagues on this particular day show com-
municative planning theory influencing
his practice. To illustrate, Barrs places im-
portance on developing personal relation-
ships and listening actively to colleagues
without pressing his beliefs on them. He
also realizes that he does not have a mo-
nopoly on knowledge. He also values ex-
periential knowledge and learns from the
public, other experts, and clients, devel-
oping new skills and knowledge with each
new project.
Regarding societal transformation, Barrs
believes that his main challenge is to get
municipalities to structure themselves in
order to achieve greater sustainability with
respect to energy, engineering, designing,
and public process. “Sometimes municipal
change seems small,” Barr notes, “but I still
find the work satisfying.” He also thinks it
is far more important to implement plans
than make them. “Making plans is one
thing, but implementing them is ten times
harder,” he adds. Barrs uses Colona, British
Columbia, as an example. The municipal-
ity redesigned its administrative structure
so the planning department directed en-
gineering and transportation. This nec-
essary and progressive move forced the
municipality to observe broader issues of
formative behavior from both parties. In
Photo: hblanarc.com
other words, he is trying to change struc-
tures and systems that perpetuate natural
resource distribution inequalities.
Barrs also believes that public participa-
tion is an important aspect of social trans-
formation. He uses a charrette conducted
in Roger’s Creek, North Vancouver, as an
example. Barrs put all the design, civic,
and engineering people together to speed
up the design process and to obtain a buy-
in from the participants. All of the stake-
holders felt that they had created the plan
together and contributed to it individually.
They also saw that change might not be as
bad or worrisome as previously thought.
Barrs notes that public participation is a
good trust-building exercise, which is im-
portant considering that many problems
he encounters are people or political chal-
lenges rather than technical ones.
ten times harder
Barrs’ support of public participation
indicates an underlying equity plan-
ning theory in his practice. Through
land use rather than a more arbitrary and
public participation, he seeks to give more
unmanaged growth. Sometimes hot-button
power to community members. His values
issues and projects can be positioned to help
also underscore his work and he draws on
a project succeed politically, like local eco-
local knowledge through communication.
nomic development, greenhouse gas emis-
However, he focuses less on inequality and
sions reductions, and climate change. Barrs
more on environmental protection. In ad-
believes that as the number of sustainable
dition, Barrs believes he can effect greater
communities increases, more people will see
change in the private sector than the pub-
them as examples and want to implement
lic sector.
them in their own communities, thus creat-
ing change.
Overall, Barrs seems to run a business and
to engage his clients and employees in a
Barrs’ views on social transformation dem-
manner consistent with his beliefs. Admi-
onstrate an undercurrent of radical planning
rably he has found a way to reconcile the
theory guiding his practice. Barrs believes
possibly conflictual and strong views on
that he can create social change outside of
sustainability and social learning by creat-
the government; however, he does argue
ing a business that reflects his values and
that municipalities have to change them-
a practice that respects the values of his
selves also. He also places importance on
clients. The multiplicity of planning theo-
forming allegiances with communities and
ries that seem to emerge from observa-
gaining their trust by listening to them. He
tion of and conversation with Barrs not
also maintains a critical distance between
only indicates the obvious – that planners
himself and his client explicitly by having a
are guided by a variety of theories. It also
consulting company and less obviously by
shows that current theories on planning
trying not to influence his clients. He does
practice have yet to account for sustain-
not act on behalf of a community but rather
ability planners. Perhaps such a thing does
with it. Nevertheless, Barrs focuses less on
not exist, at least in a way that can be the-
social inequality and more on the unequal
orized clearly. Even so, Barrs performs an
distribution of natural resources. He also
inspiring practice that will hopefully make
interacts with more formal organizations
his community, and perhaps the world, a
rather than informal social movements. The
better and more sustainable place. -PT-
government is also not his enemy. Overall,
he tries to balance community interests and
government interests by encouraging trans-
PT 7
 Photo: flickr.com
The author would also like to acknowledge the use of the following articles in writing this piece.
Healey, Patsy. 1992. A planner’s day: Knowledge and action in communicative practice. Journal of the American
Planning Association 58: 9-20.
Sandercock, Leonie. 1998. The difference that theory makes. In Towards cosmopolis: Planning for multicultural
cities, 85-104. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Text & Layout: Daniella Fergusson