Eco Districts- Developing sustainable neighborhoods in Portland

November 6, 2:20 PMPortland Green Building ExaminerLaurie Dickson

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The City of Portland is creating a new sustainable development plan called Eco Districts. According to Portland and Oregon Sustainability Institute, a newcomer to the nonprofit scene and one of the driver’s behind the Eco District concept, “An EcoDistrict is an integrated and resilient district or neighborhood that is resource efficient; captures, manages, and reuses a majority of energy, water, and waste on site; is home to a range of transportation options; provides a rich diversity of habitat and open space; and enhances community engagement and wellbeing.” The P+OSI will direct a unique public-private partnership with: City of Portland, Portland Development Commission, Metro, Portland State University and Oregon University System, Oregon BEST Real estate, design, and construction industry leaders as well as leading urban environmental organizations.

The first Eco District on the boards is the area of Portland State University campus. Under the guidance of P+OSI and Executive Director, Rob Bennett with a university team the conceptual drawings and conversations on campus are underway. The objectives stated for Eco Districts:
• Supports the integration of building and district scale physical and social infrastructure
• Encourages new city policies and investments in district resource management
• Creates robust local governance to guide environmental performance and district scale investments
• Stimulates district infrastructure investment through new utility relationships
• Enables neighborhood-scale business investment in green and clean technologies
• Promotes aggregation of urban ecosystem services
• Promotes livable, healthy and environmentally friendly neighborhoods
• Provides a framework for vibrant and organic evolution of neighborhoods over time

The other potential districts under consideration are the Lloyd District, the Lentz, the South Waterfront and Gateway. Although environment preservation, storm water management, reducing green house gas emissions and healthy communities are the major components of Eco Districts, “At the heart of this is an economic development strategy,” Bennett says.

Meetings at PSU, brainstorming, voicing concerns and sharing ideas have started. The team includes, Rob Bennett, Executive Director of Portland+Oregon Sustainability Institute, Tim Smith of SERA Architects, Mark Gregory, Associate VP for Finance and Administration at PSU, Heather Spaulding, Sustainability Leadership and Outreach Coordinator, PSU, and Jennifer Allen, Associate Professor, Public Administration and Policy, PSU. The next session will be held, Thursday, November 19 at 8:30 AM in Smith Memorial Student Union, RM 228, 1825 SW Broadway.

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