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AIA Selects 10 Cities for Sustainability Program

The program brings together architects and civic leaders from around the country to design a roadmap for local sustainability.

Nicholas Tamarin -- Interior Design, 4/15/2008 12:00:00 AM

The American Institute of Architects Center for Communities by Design has selected 10 cities from around the country to participate in the Sustainable Design Assessment Team, a community assistance program through which architects and local stakeholders map out a plan for sustainability.

Cities receiving technical assistance under the program include: Detroit; Tampa; New Orleans; Fort Worth; Windsor, California; Morristown, New Jersey; Parma, Ohio; Fellsmere, Florida; Kauai, Hawaii; and Leon Valley, Texas. The SDAT review panel chose the communities based on applications outlining the economic, environmental, and social challenges facing their regions.

Detroit, for example, is hoping to address water conservation, land use, affordable housing, and urban decline, while Tampa is working on revitalizing its urban core, a multi-modal transit system, and affordable housing. Other issues facing the various municipalities range from historic preservation and outdated zoning codes to building community parks and pedestrian-friendly corridors.

"The SDAT program is in its third year and continues to help communities address neighborhood revitalization, transportation infrastructure challenges, as well as offer sound strategies to improve air and water quality, and local economic development," says David Downey, managing director of the AIA Center for Communities by Design.

The program pairs architects from across the nation with community leaders, local city planners, and such community development professionals as hydrologists to create a blueprint for greater sustainability. The AIA defines sustainability 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."

SDAT seeks to provide objective assessments by selecting volunteer team members from areas outside the project communities. "The architects and other team members who have participated in this program have been able to provide objective advice on how to better utilize local assets, ideas for how to transform blighted areas, and ways to make these communities more pedestrian friendly, among other numerous concerns specific to the various localities," adds Downey.