REIMAGINE NANAIMO

Welcome to the REIMAGINE NANAIMO Ideas Questionnaire. Thank you for taking the time to lend your voice and improve your community. 

In this first phase of REIMAGINE NANAIMO, we start broadly to understand where we are at today, and envision where we want to go. With your help we are gaining insight into community ideas and issues, understanding priorities, and collectively building a vision for the long-term. A key aim of this process is to be accessible to everyone – regardless of your age, your time constraints, or your knowledge base – it’s easy to be part of building our community vision.

Read about Why and How We Plan in this 2-page backgrounder.

How much you participate is up to you. Each questionnaire will take approximately 10 minutes to complete. 

We look forward to hearing your ideas!

Adaptation means responding to changes in our community and preparing for a successful and resilient future. In 2019, Nanaimo City Council declared a climate emergency to bring a new focus to energy and emissions management. The harbour and estuaries, islands, lakes, forests, hills, and watercourses that make our community attractive also play key roles in making our City less vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. These natural areas can be affected by development and human activity. The current Official Community Plan (OCP) guides us to plan our community to protect and enhance a sustainable environment.

Our parks, recreation, and culture are essential to the quality of life in our City. Nanaimo has been working hard to celebrate its unique harbour setting, heritage, culture and character. Our recreation and culture facilities, programs, and services are growing and adapting along with the changing needs of our community. Home-grown celebrations and new experiences have been bringing people to Nanaimo like never before, creating the connections that turn a place to live into “home.” With COVID-19 affecting our events and facilities, it is timely to talk about how we continue to celebrate our recreational and cultural assets, even in the face of change.

Nanaimo is home to many and we all have different needs from our community. Everyone needs a place to live, food to eat, and to experience a sense of belonging in their community. How we care for the community and for one another is vital to Nanaimo being a livable city for today and for future generations.

Jobs and businesses are essential for a community to thrive. A strong, diversified economy provides work, attracts investment, and enhances quality of life. Nanaimo's economy has become increasingly varied and includes industries like retail and services, health care, hospitality, construction, education, professional services, technology, creative industries, manufacturing, warehousing, and resources. While COVID-19 has disrupted our economy as we know it, a strong vision will help us refocus and continue on a path towards economic vitality.

Our transportation system affects how people and goods move around our City. Everyone in our community needs to get around and decisions about transportation affect us all. If we’re serious about addressing issues like congestion and climate change and wanting to encourage health and wellness, we need to make it easier for everyone to make shifts in how we move. As the City plans for the best future, priority will be on active transportation, which includes transit, and human-powered forms of travel (e.g. walking, jogging, cycling, etc.).

The places we call home, how they look, and how they are located, affect the experience of our City. Demand for housing in Nanaimo is high. For many, rising costs have made home ownership and rental more challenging. More housing options, in a diversity of types and levels of affordability, are needed as Nanaimo evolves from a more suburban to a more urban community, providing options for all people looking to call Nanaimo home.