Parallel 52°
The Dutch Canadian Sustainable Planning and Building Network
Innovation, green building and sustainable cities are important topics in the Netherlands and Canada. Because of strong ties between the two countries, the idea was born to create a network of businesses, governments and academic institutions to exchange knowledge and experiences in the field of sustainable planning & building.
First CISCO video conference| Alexandra de Jong
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@parallel52CaNL
Parallel52˚ network
Parallel 52˚ The Dutch Canadian Sustainable Planning and Building Network
Parallel 52° is a non-profit organisation which strives to improve the sharing of knowledge and experience on sustainable planning and building between Canada and the Netherlands. Canada and the Netherlands are both historically and culturally a like, and after the USA, The Netherlands are the largest foreign investor in Canada. Both countries are similar in spirit and are well developed in sustainable planning and building, each with their own expertise. Bringing these two together, has proven to be a strong and effective tool.
Workshop Toronto | Charjan Steenhuis
Events Parallel 52° creates scientific comparisons, organizes events and brings different actors from both countries together. In the short amount of time that Parallel 52° has existed we have already achieved a lot. Two examples of succesfull events: Conferences and Workshops In the spring of 2014, Parallel 52° organized four digital conferences between Toronto and Amsterdam, sponsored by Cisco. In both cities, different actors participated from the fields of businesses, governments and academic institutions. Joining the discussion were Canadian actors such as the City of Toronto, Ryerson University and Waterfront Toronto and Dutch actors like Nyenrode Business University, Energiesprong and the City of Almere. The digital seminars had four different topics, which resulted in a workshop in Toronto where 60 participants from both countries came together. Lectures Parallel 52° has organized interesting lectures where Canadian experts tell about their point of view and practices in the Netherlands and vice versa. Professionals and students get inspired and meet each other at these events. For example lectures with Brent Toderian (former Cityplanner Vancouver), Thomas Mueller (president CaGBC) and Mark Roseland (professor Simon Fraser University) in the Netherlands, Partners
Lecture Mark Roseland at TU Delft| Robert Pennings
events with Anke van Hal (professor TU Delft, Nyenrode) in Toronto and Vancouver and the Foundation for Sustainable Area Development in Vancouver. History Parallel 52° is an initiative of Annemarie van Doorn, director of the Dutch Green Building Council and Professor Anke van Hal, professor of Nyenrode Business University and University of Technology Delft. Park 20|20, Cofely, Jaga, Walas, Priva and Rotterdam Climate Initiative were the founding business partners. Nowadays, companies, universities, NGOs and governments have also become partners in this network, which is formally a department within Nyenrode Business University. Becoming a Parallel 52° member/sponsor Become a member of the network by subscribing to our newsletter on the website and participate in our events. To be able to continue our activities we are also looking for parties who want to actively sponsor the network activities, in cash or in kind. In return we offer a corporate webpage on our website, exposure in the newsletter and network events. If you are willing to support us please contact Hansje Vlam at Nyenrode Busines University. email: h.vlam@nyenrode.nl phone: +31 346 291235