UPMOs can achieve operational savings, bring benefit to stakeholders and catch a competitive edge by focusing on sustainability. This session will introduce the business case for sustainability as outlined the IDA Sustainability Top Issues Council’s 2021 report. The heart of the session will focus on strategies that are most relevant to small- to medium-sized UPMOs and how sustainability can benefit their districts.
Environmental Sustainability
Sub Categories: Environmental Sustainability
Bellville Zero Waste Schools
The Bellville Zero Waste Schools project is a replicable, scalable waste-reduction project that enables schools to save money on waste disposal and to reduce their waste footprint, towards a zero-waste environment. Landfills in South Africa are close to full capacity. Schools are culprits as much as businesses and individual homes. The Bellville Zero Waste Schools project takes a systems-based approach to providing schools with a sustainable, cost-effective solution.
Advancing Places: Environmental Sustainability
The need to begin the transition towards clean energy and low carbon strategies are on the horizon for downtowns, city centers and neighborhood districts. Meanwhile rising temperatures and more severe weather rains increase flooding and create new challenges to ensure cities remain livable and vibrant. Place management professionals are working with local government and private stakeholders to put programs in place that will achieve energy savings.
Project Spotlight: Vibrancy in Your Community
The Golden Triangle BID installed 11 bioretention cells and 10 expanded tree boxes on the sidewalks of one of the neighborhood’s key streets. At over $1 million in construction costs and two full blocks of new green infrastructure, this is the largest capital improvement managed by the BID thus far. By building the new bioretention cells and expanded tree boxes, the BID converted 4,500 of concrete to new green space and added 33 trees and over 400 native plants.
Transit as a Solution for Downtown Parking, Office Leasing and Employee Turnover
An innovative program in downtown Columbus, Ohio has stimulated commercial leasing, reduced employee turnover, doubled the use of transit among the pool of eligible employees, and prevented the emission of more than 6.8 million pounds of CO2 per year. Launched and funded by downtown property owners, Downtown C-pass allows eligible companies to offer free, unlimited transit to their employees.
19th Street Rain Gardens
The Golden Triangle BID installed 11 bioretention cells and 10 expanded tree boxes on the sidewalks of one of the neighborhood’s key streets. This project is the result of years of planning, partnerships, advocacy, & fundraising. At over $1 million in construction costs and 2 full blocks of new green infrastructure, this is the largest capital improvement managed by the BID thus far.
Greening Lab
In a city with a nation-leading park system and leafy neighborhoods, downtown has been the gap in our tree canopy for generations. Trees cover 30% of Minneapolis overall, but only 4% in the downtown core. This is significant for our community because street trees are an invaluable resource for improving public health, addressing the heat island effect, and creating an inviting public realm.
P.U.M.A.’s Global Trends Report: Pandemic July 2020 Update
In late 2019, P.U.M.A. and IDA jointly released the 2020 Global Trends Report highlighting opportunities arising from converging shifts in demographics, lifestyles and a new category, “disruptive forces,” that are shaping our cities. Little did we know that months later we’d be in the midst of the disruptive events of our lifetimes – the pandemic that has wreaked havoc on public health and economies, and the American protests for racial justice that could accelerate dramatic social change.
The Changing Face of Economic Development: Land Use, Sustainability, and Housing
Millennial demographics, internet-fueled lifestyles, and a sharing economy (rides, workplace) alter land use and tax generation priorities for cities. Retail is no longer just about retail, with “place,” authenticity, and “trips,” becoming the defining components of a successful town center. Concurrently, the state is driving cities to change land use processes based on climate control and affordable housing mandates, while providing development incentives through new incentives and districts.
Growth Without Gridlock: Making the Case For Mobility Investments
Downtowns are transforming into more people-centered places by actively prioritizing transit, biking, and walking: the key to moving more people in the same street space. Not only does this require a different approach to planning and street design, but also requires a paradigm shift in thinking. In previously auto-centric cities, changing the status quo takes significant political will and intentional effort. In this session, hear cities’ strategies for making the case for sustainable mobility.
Looking for the Missing Middle
This session is devoted to one of our most challenging economic development topics—how to build middle-market housing in your downtown/urban community. Throughout the US, cities are struggling with this missing middle challenge. Without a solution, cities are left with high end luxury and low-end affordable housing. This panel brought together a developer, a public agency, and local planning expert to discuss middle income housing from three very different perspectives.
Peering into the Crystal Ball: Adapting to a Changing Climate
Addressing sustainability and resilience is critical to the future of our cities. Urban management districts are uniquely positioned to implement key strategies, from grassroots efforts to more large-scale planning initiatives. Learn how several downtowns across North America are catalyzing and advancing sustainability in their districts.
Optimizing Operational Efficiency and Reducing Your Carbon Footprint
Global warming is a real concern and each of us has a responsibility to limit our carbon footprint – especially businesses. Typically, improvement districts use gasoline-powered equipment to augment manual labor cleaning efforts. Panelists will introduce alternative ways to achieve your clean and safe goals, and make a case for alternative options related to equipment that will reduce your carbon footprint and operating costs while improving efficiencies.
Multi-Modal Engagement and Progress: Multi-Partner Efforts
BIDs across the U.S. describe how they advocate for planning strategies, invest in research and community outreach, support new infrastructure and technology, and develop partnerships to collaborate on multi-modal transportation initiatives that shift the language around parking challenges in downtowns. Collaborations and marketing efforts by the organizations ensure multi-modal transportation networks are successful additions to urban livability and vibrancy.
Global Trends 2020: What’s Next for Downtown
P.U.M.A.’s award-winning Global Trends Report has been a go-to resource for downtowns for more than a decade. This debut of the 2020 edition will provide insight on what’s next for downtowns given shifts in demographics, lifestyles and competition. The panel will also provide provocative recommendations on how downtown managers can adapt to and get ahead of trends shaping our cities.
Completion of the Boynton Harbor Marina Redevelopment Project
January 2017 marked the completion of the Marina Open Space Project, one of three redevelopment phases of the Marina Redevelopment Plan. The marina was purchased by the Boynton Beach CRA to maintain the “working waterfront” and ensure public access. The marina has nineteen, water-activity related businesses and three waterfront restaurants. The operation of the marina and the creation of much needed public waterfront areas is consistent with the mission of the Boynton Beach CRA and the Boynton Beach Downtown Vision & Master Plan.
Tactical Public Realm Guidelines
| The Tactical Public Realm Guidelines came from the Public Realm Plan for Go Boston 2030. The guidelines cover policy and opportunities for enhancing the streets. A Better City and Utile worked with the City of Boston to develop guidelines for tactical activation. Utile created a document which also includes a guide for implementing outdoor elements. The new standards are aimed at making the process simpler and more transparent, in order to actively invite participation from neighborhood groups, businesses, and others. |
CC2DCA Pedestrian Connection Feasibility Study
The Crystal City BID saw an opportunity to further leverage the DCA airport’s proximity to their downtown by bringing it a few steps closer. A new pedestrian connection could harness the multitude of transportation assets in Crystal City, seamlessly link them into a multimodal hub, and position the neighborhood to attract additional rail services such as Amtrak, regional commuter rail, and even a future high-speed rail station.
Passageways 2.0
Passageways 2.0 transforms a 6,200 square foot alleyway in the core of Downtown Chattanooga. City Thread, a series of simple steel tubes, creates a space that extends our attitude of adventure. By its geometry, the project possesses many potential settings including lounging, mini-stages, framing for art, concerts, markets, movie screenings, and more. The design is intended to allow casual users and those in charge of programming to discover different ways to utilize the alley.
555 Monroe North Park
The City of Grand Rapids received a grant to purchase a riverfront surface parking lot and sought out Downtown Grand Rapids Inc.’s assistance with moving quickly to animate the space. Through the help of our citizen lead Alliance, the Business Association, local non-profits, 30+ volunteers and 40+ artists, we were able to activate the space with a quicker, cheaper approach using repurposed materials to create a new unique public space in our downtown that could be used year-round.
Infill Homes & Down Payment Assistance Program
The Community Redevelopment Agency’s (CRA) Parramore Housing Infill Program is specifically designed to increase homeownership in areas which have characteristically been difficult to develop due to aging housing stock, widespread non-conforming lots sizes, and antiquated infrastructure. Each home incorporates green building components and quality context-specific design, meeting the specific needs of Parramore residents.
Jeff Speck Master Talk
Jeff Speck, AICP, CNU-A, LEED-AP, Honorary ASLA is a city planner and urban designer who advocates internationally for more walkable cities. As Director of Design at the National Endowment for the Arts from 2003 through 2007, he presided over the Mayors’ Institute on City Design and created the Governors’ Institute on Community Design.
Tony Seba Master Talk
Tony Seba is a lecturer in entrepreneurship disruption, and clean energy at Stanford University, a serial Silicon Valley entrepreneur and a world-renowned thought leader and speaker. He is the author of the #1 best-selling book “Clean Disruption of Energy and Transportation – How Silicon Valley Will Make Oil, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Coal, Electric Utilities and Conventional Cars Obsolete by 2030”.
Dhyana Quintanar Solares Master Talk
Dhyana is the Authority of the Public Space of Mexico City. Before that, she was the Director of Transportation Planning and Roads in the Secretary of Transportation and Roads of Mexico City. She has been involved in various urban sustainable mobility projects working from the public and non-governmental sectors for over 10 years. She was Director of Strategic Projects at the Institute of Transportation and Development Policy in Mexico (ITDP) where she promoted pedestrian and bicycle mobility.
Tyler Norris Master Talk
Tyler Norris, MDiv, is an entrepreneur and founder of over a dozen businesses and social ventures. His three decades of service in the public, private and non-profit sectors have focused on population health, community vitality, and equitable prosperity. Currently, he serves as vice president, Total Health Partnerships at Kaiser Permanente, where he helps lead the implementation of “anchor institution” work.
Ellen Dunham Jones Master Talk
Ellen Dunham-Jones is a professor of architecture and urban design at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she coordinates the MS/Urban Design degree. An authority on sustainable suburban redevelopment, she is co-author of Retrofitting Suburbia; Urban Design Solutions for Redesigning Suburbs (Wiley: 2009, 2011, 2013). The award-winning book’s documentation of successful retrofits of aging suburban property types into healthier, more sustainable places has received significant attention.
Mode Split
Seattle is notorious for bad traffic. For the business community, this fact presented an obstacle for job growth. The Downtown Transportation Alliance formed Commute Seattle, a transportation management association incorporated within and managed by the Downtown Seattle Association, which collaborates with businesses to enable them to achieve community transportation objectives.
Vision Cedar Rapids Downtown Framework Plan
In 2007, the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance commissioned the first Vision Cedar Rapids Downtown Framework Plan to mold a clear, unified vision for downtown, which directly informed the planning efforts in the immediate aftermath of the 2008 flood event. With the framework for flood recovery in place, the plan was updated in 2017 to launch to an even bigger and broader plan for the future.
Growth Without Gridlock – Making the Case for Mobility Investments
To combat gridlock the first step is to improve and promote transportation alternatives to single occupancy vehicles. The presentation outlines transportation improvement strategies and plans from Palo Alto, San Jose, and Oakland.
Urban Agriculture in Your Downtown
Urban farms are a beautiful and practical use of urban space, providing a number of benefits.
Trash Talks: Approaches for a Waste-Free Public Realm
The cleanliness of a neighborhood’s streets and sidewalks is one of the most visible metrics by which urban place management organizations are evaluated. BIDs get firsthand experience with the impacts of too much trash on budgets, pedestrian activity, and business retention. Practitioners will share learnings on moving towards a sustainable and waste-free public realm by partnering with property owners and businesses and implementing innovative solutions.
Fasten Your Seatbelt: What the Coming Mobility Revolution Means for Your Downtown
Smart mobility technology that promises to make transportation more accessible, inclusive, and equitable could dramatically transform our downtowns. But how? What are the larger implications of the rise of autonomous vehicles? Stantec’s Urban Places smart mobility experts will explore autonomy’s implications for downtown development and get you up to speed on this paradigm shift and how to adapt.