This video explains how WCS helps women victimized by domestic violence

Through our Network Assessment process, we have helped WCS bring clarity to the robust array of services that it provides, setting the table for more public conversations on the value of the organization and future paths of support. We conceived a visualization that describes the functions and services of WCS within the context of regional domestic violence prevention and services. The funnel graphic is a tool to help the organization test scenarios, foresee changes in its network, and plan for a sustainable future. By depicting the current landscape for WCS, we have provided baseline metrics for them to gauge their success, and a format in which to calculate and visualize responses to external change and changes to its suite of services, funding sources, and organizational composition.

The Network Assessment process has helped the board and staff to renew their commitment to supporting victims of domestic violence through assistance programs, and laid the foundation for well-informed strategic planning.

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From Busby’s presentation, the two projects that relate to regenerative planning were the Dockside Green development and Edmonton ConnectiCity. Both projects show remarkable achievements on sustainable development principles as well as innovations in district infrastructures. Dockside Green in Victoria, BC is a well renowned sustainable redevelopment project. It integrates systems of water management and wastewater treatment, biomass heat generation (from wood scrap), energy and water conservation, alternative transportation and many others. The project is implemented in three phases, and currently it has reached phase two with LEED Neighborhood Development Platinum Designation. Edmonton’s Connecticity’s development plan includes some of the Dockside’s sustainable innovations and even more; the project is designed to go beyond carbon neutral and they are including dedicated areas of land for urban agriculture. ConnectiCity is based on a four-prong approach: “Connect to communities”, “Connect to growth”, “Connect to history and “Connect to nature”.

Slide from the presentation showing the areas of research in the new neighborhood. The systems shown are part of the redevelopment proposal.

The remarkable part for both of those projects is the opportunity to integrate complicated infrastructures for food, water, waste and energy under one plan and benefit from the synergies this integration provides; achieving carbon neutrality, using organic waste as fertilizer, reusing wastewater for irrigation, using heat and energy produced from sewage treatment and organic waste and so on. The projects highlight the benefits of integrated design by an interdisciplinary team. And by taking a look at Dockside Green, we can see that these are not redevelopment plans that just stay on paper.

However, an important part of sustainable development that those projects are not addressing as successfully is the social aspect, something most top-down design approaches neglect. In general, social sustainability comes last among the three main parts of sustainable development, with economic and environmental sustainabilities being the driving goals.  (Colantonio, 2009) .

But what exactly is social sustainability? After a small amount of research, I found the following definition that includes one really important part of the social aspect neighborhood planning often left out of the process: the participation.

“…a quality of societies. It signifies the nature-society relationships, mediated by work, as well as relationships within the society. Social sustainability is given, if work within a society and the related institutional arrangements satisfy an extended set of human needs [and] are shaped in a way that nature and its reproductive capabilities are preserved over a long period of time and the normative claims of social justice, human dignity and participation are fulfilled.” (Littig, Grießler, 2005)

It is indeed quite difficult to measure the social sustainability aspect and provide performance indicators for a specific project. As the environmental and economic benefits of a development can be more easily projected and grasped, top-down developments provide a more clear picture for those aspects rather than the social one. However, over the last few years the need for social indicators has led planners and designers to look at certain metrics for their proposed projects such as: job generation, income levels, decrease in poverty levels and increase in safety, food safety, access to education, health and recreation, and similar statistical data. For example the Human Development Index (HDI) is an index that measures development based on life expectancy, educational attainment and income. (“United Nations Development Programme (UNDP),” 1990) Unfortunately, all the above metrics do not address social participation and engagement, which is really critical to the success of a redevelopment project.

The projects of architects, planners and designers using the top-down approach always have the risk of failure embedded in them. Even the project with the best intentions can fall short socially, and be rejected by the community. A sad example of that is the design of an “Ecocity” by William McDonough at Huangbaiyu, China. This masterplan by the green building leader well-known for his cradle-to-cradle innovations, included a lot of great features related to food, water and energy. However, due to lack of understanding the local community and their way of living, as well as poor communication with them, the realized masterplan stays currently empty and rejected by the community. (Stone, 2006) So, then how “eco” is a “city” that lays empty in the middle of nowhere?

View of the Huangbaiyu project

All of the above trigger my interest, as we strive for success through an Ecodistrict planning framework oriented towards the opposite approach: the bottom-up. Bottom-up sustainable development intends to organize and energize independent neighborhood initiatives under a common vision and mission. The most critical and challenging part of a bottom-up approach is to build community capacity in order to take action, realize projects and help communities revitalize their own neighborhoods. Nevertheless, projects that are based on a bottom-up approach still face challenges. Limited funding and resources lead to failure of projects’ implementation or to long-lasting procedures with few short-term achievements. That usually has a negative impact on a community’s motivation as they have the need to see their work come to fruition.

Another difficulty for the bottom-up approach can be conflicting interests within a community. There is an understandable embedded complexity in uniting people from different backgrounds and with different interests under the same vision. Recently, in Pittsburgh the long-awaited Business Improvement District (BID) for the Lawrenceville neighborhood was defeated. This initiative from the Lawrenceville Corporation, would have implemented the collection of a small fee from business owners and operators inside a defined district, concentrating funds within the neighborhood in order to advance marketing initiatives and an enhanced streetscape to help boost the local economy. The BID would increase property values in the neighborhood and keep quality tenants while attracting more customers. Unfortunately, conflicting interests between the owners of different types of businesses led to the defeat of the initiative. (Nelson, 2013)

Our communication design work for the Lawrenceville Corporation to brand and promote the BID as a valuable investment for the neighborhood

Taking all this into account, I cannot help but wonder how we can use the benefits of a top-down approach—stable and secure funding, organized initiatives and systems, research and innovation—in combination with the qualities of bottom-up community planning—social engagement, building community capacity and ensuring long-term participation in community initiatives. As designers in the field of sustainability, how can our dreams of ecocities include active social participation rather than only social imagination? How can professionals best work with communities to advance sustainability?

References:
Colantonio, A. (2009). Social Sustainability: Linking Re search to Policy and Practice. Oxford Institute for Sustainable Development. Retrieved from http://ec.europa.eu/research/sd/conference/2009/papers/7/andrea_colantonio_-_social_sustainability.pdf
Nelson, D. (2013, February). Realtors group rallies against Lawrenceville BID tax – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Pittsburgh post-Gazette. Retrieved April 28, 2013, from http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/realtors-group-rallies-against-lawrenceville-bid-tax-676400/
Stone, R. (2006). DEVELOPMENT AND ECOLOGY: Villagers Drafted Into China’s Model of “Sustainability.” Science, 312(5770), 36a–36a. doi:10.1126/science.312.5770.36a
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). (1990). Retrieved April 28, 2013, from http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/hdi/

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Phipps Conservatory
Pittsburgh, PA

Local Ecodistrict Planning: Millvale and Larimer

Registration and more information

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Local changemakers on stage, April 11th, Pittsburgh

Last night in Pittsburgh, the Green Building Alliance and Phipps Conservatory held their latest INSPIRE Speaker Series event, attracting the largest and most diverse audience they’ve had so far. evolveEA is proud to have co-sponsored the evening, which we selected because headline speaker Majora Carter‘s approach to community empowerment through neighborhood planning and design parallels that of our own Urban Strategies work. Carter has been an inspiration to us and many others in the sustainability and urban revitalization fields ever since her Sustainable South Bronx initiatives gained national acclaim.

Staying true to Carter’s message of “Hometown Security” through inclusive community building and economic empowerment in post-industrial urban neighborhoods, the evening kicked off with several Pittsburgh community leaders and entrepreneurs who are making a difference by improving our city. Speakers from Homewood Children’s Village, Ujamaa Collective, GTECH Strategies, the Frick Environmental Center, and Mount Washington Community Development Corporation each talked about their efforts to improve Pittsburgh’s communities through sustainability. By the time Majora Carter took to the stage, her message had already been made clear by the impressive work presented by these changemakers: communities need to shape our own sustainable futures.

The Ujamaa Collective are women of African descent fostering economic independence, cultural pride and awareness, and agricultural knowledge in Pittsburgh’s Historic Hill District. Co-founder Celeta Hickman inspired the audience by highlighting some of Ujamaa’s initiatives which have revived green spaces in the Hill District and helped local women artisans sell their wares in Ujamaa’s boutique. The Homewood Children’s Village is improving the lives of Homewood’s children by “reweaving the fabric of the community in which they live.” And Mount Washington’s CDC has a program that enables citizens with a troubled past to join the workforce and connect with nature by building trails through Mount Washington’s neighborhoods and surrounding green areas.

All of the speakers are making a difference in their own way, while working toward the shared goals of sustainable community development and resilient urban neighborhoods. Majora Carter’s story is empowering because it is relatable—we all want to be able to change the negative aspects of our neighborhoods, but can often feel too small to achieve this on our own. And as several speakers pointed out, “it takes a village” — meaning sustainable urban planning is not something that can be imposed on a neighborhood by architects and designers; communities need to drive their own processes toward a sustainable future.

With changemakers like these, citizens have plenty of inspiration to get involved and we are seeing this in the community planning meetings and design charrettes we’ve been leading in several Pittsburgh neighborhoods!

Mount Washington CDC trail builder

Presentation on Homewood Children’s Village

Majora Carter with picture of a South Bronx mural with the message “You don’t have to move out of your neighborhood to live in a better one”

The next INSPIRE event takes place on May 9th at Phipps Conservatory, bringing author and professor David Orr to talk about his groundbreaking sustainability work at Oberlin College. Leaders from two Pittsburgh neighborhoods, Larimer and Millvale, where evolveEA has helped facilitate collaborative Ecodistrict planning will join Christine Mondor in explaining their processes. Join us!

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This Thursday, Pittsburgh’s Green Building Alliance & Phipps Conservatory present internationally renowned urban revitalization strategy consultant, real estate developer, and Peabody Award winning broadcaster, Majora Carter.

What are the factors of a dynamic neighborhood that appeal to everyone?  Do the costs of supporting those built environment aspects outweigh the benefits?  While the Department of Homeland Security looks at threats from abroad, Majora Carter argues for economic-diversity and quality of life as the surest pillars of a secure society. As promoters of Carter’s Home(town) Security approach to sustainable urban redevelopment through our own Urban Strategies work in the Pittsburgh region, evolveEA is a proud cosponsor of this event.

The event will take place at the Carnegie Library Lecture Hall (in the Main Branch of Carnegie Library) in Oakland.
4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213
April 11, 2013
5:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Register via the Green Building Alliance

For a preview of Carter’s inspiring words, check out this TEDx Talk from 2010 featuring the stories of three people who are saving their own communities while saving the planet. (Filmed at TEDxMidWest.)

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