According to a recent survey prepared by Mercer Consulting, the world’s largest human resource firm specializing in investments and outsourcing, Vancouver is now the fourth most livable city in the world establishing it as an increasingly popular model for urban development. The survey, which effectively confers world-class status on the city, sparks obvious questions about Vancouver and its role in the global imaginary. Why is Vancouver the only North American city in the top ten? What images of the city are created and circulated to represent this livability, and what do such images signify?

Speakers included Tom Sherman, Laiwan, Hadley + Maxwell, Monika Szewczyk, Matthew Soules, Henry Tsang, Glen Lowry, Candice Hopkins, Clint Burnham, Fiona Jefferies, Sabine Bitter, Jeff Derksen, Helmut Weber, Am Johal, Randy Lee Cutler, Kristina Lee Podesva, Paul de Guzman, Althea Thauberger, Amy Zion, Jeff Derkson, Alissa Firth Eagland, Johan Lund and Bik Van Der Pol.