AIA Promotes Sustainability with Eight Communities

Washington, D.C., February 13, 2006--The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Center for Communities by Design has selected New Orleans, and seven other cities to receive technical assistance under the Sustainable Design Assessment Team (SDAT) program in 2006. The other seven cities are: Syracuse, N.Y., Longview, Washington, Guemes Island, Washington, Lawrence, Kansas, Northeast, Michigan, Northern, Nevada and Hagerstown, Maryland. The collaborative SDAT brings together architects and other professionals assembled from across the country to provide a roadmap for communities seeking to improve their sustainability, which is defined as a community's ability to meet the environmental, economic, and social equity needs of today without reducing the ability of future generations to meet their needs. "More cities are placing a priority on sustainability and community revitalization, and the feedback from planning officials and mayors of communities that have already participated in the SDAT program has been extremely positive," said David T. Downey, Assoc., AIA, managing director of the AIA Center for Communities by Design. "The forward-looking program is intended to help address challenges that communities face, such as transportation design strategies, air and water quality improvement possibilities, local economic development, brownfields issues, and how to manage growth associated with increasing and shifting populations." A team of professionals including architects, planners, hydrologists, economic development specialists, and others will be selected based on their credentials and the specific needs of each community. The SDAT will work in conjunction with local stakeholders to help shape the community's strategy to increase sustainability. To provide the most objective assessment, team members volunteer their time and expertise and are selected from areas outside the project communities. Past SDAT participant reaction Forest City, N.C. Town Planner & Downtown Development Director, Danielle Withrow said, "We are already moving ahead with both smaller recommendations and larger long-term recommendations from the AIA SDAT program that we participated in last summer. The smaller recommendations such as crosswalks in the downtown area have been implemented. The long-term recommendations include creating redevelopment areas that will help to revitalize some of our deteriorating neighborhoods and expand our housing base by offering more opportunities for home ownership in a recreated mill village. An enhanced downtown service district will allow us to better utilize our existing assets, such as our town square, and provide a greater sense of community and safe, walkable neighborhoods." Logan, Utah Director of Community Development, Jay Nielson said, "The AIA SDAT collaboration provided the glue to focus attention on issues that everyone has known about for a long time, but had not previously been able to address. It brought together people with outside objectivity that understood our concerns regarding traffic efficiency and environmental quality control surrounding new building development. We are implementing the key recommendations from the team, including the establishment of a large coalition to closely examine the big picture as it relates to long-term planning for the entire region."

Print the Article