Meet Canada’s Smart21 Communities of 2021: City of Maple Ridge, British Columbia

The City of Maple Ridge is located in the northeastern section of Greater Vancouver between the Fraser River and a group of mountain summits forming part of the Garibaldi Ranges of the Coast Mountains. Maple Ridge’s population is around 91,000. This is its first time as a SMART21 community.

ICF recognized the community for several initiatives meeting its ICF Method, including:

• Planning strategically to keep pace with increasing demands to stay competitive and ensure a high quality of life. Its broadband initiatives include the creation of a City Fibre Strategy, development of a Colocation Facility and development of Dig Once initiatives across the community.
• BC Institute of Technology (BCIT) works closely with industry so that students gain the technical skills, real-world experiences, and the problem-solving ability needed to embrace complexity and lead innovation in a rapidly changing workforce.
• Annual Business Walks are an innovative tool that is utilized to assist with business retention and expansion by quickly gauging the economic climate of businesses in the municipality. The aggregation of the data and other inputs obtained through the walk drives their Economic Development Department’s business retention and expansion programming.
• A Seniors Mapping program has been developed to increase outdoor community participation for older adults. Walking, transit and driving routes have been designed with seniors in mind including information on waiting times, distances to walk between parking or transit points and amenities along the way.
• A “Growing Together” visioning exercise for its town centre attracted more than 750 attendees throughout the process.
• A Municipal Green Infrastructure Management Strategy was initiated.