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“How do you achieve effective low-carbon design beyond the building level? How do you create a community that is both livable and sustainable? More importantly, how do you know if you have succeeded? Harrison Fraker, in The Hidden Potential of Sustainable Neighborhoods–Lessons from Low-Carbon Communities, goes beyond abstract principles to provide a clear, in-depth evaluation of four […]

Two posts from the Emerging Local Government Leaders Network (ELGL) appear useful for other practiioners. The ELGL is comprised of more than 450 local government professionals, in the early to middle stages of their government careers, from city managers to management analysts. The overarching goal of the group is to address the issue of mentoring the next

The program at the Blekinge Institute of Technology (BHT) in Kariskrona, Sweden, is one of the leading international programs. The offer two master’s degrees: one in Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability; the other in Sustainable Product-Service System Innovation. They also offer one of the initial courses, Strategic Leadership for Sustainable Development, as a distance class twice

Net Zero Energy and Net Zero Water buildings have rapidly captured the public imagination, and are transforming expectations for the pace of change in the built environment. The Living Building Challenge™ expands Net Zero concepts in ways that look far into the future, consider the endgame and shape our efforts to create productive, thriving communities.

See the featured Urban Greenprint project, other resources, and the conference link below for a quick glimpse of an inspiring range of innovative, leading-edge, regenerative/ecological/biomimicry-based urban planning projects. This range of initiatives may be useful for planners in further defining the goal, domain, and methods of sustainability planning (the profession or an individual department).  These

Plan-it Sustainably Column Web Post (Northern News, Dec 2013, p 9, slightly expanded).  A media product of Northern Section’s Sustainability Committee, Excerpted by Scott T. Edmondson, AICP, from a post by Timothy Beatley, October 2, 2013. (See links at end of article.) “Too often,” notes University of Virginia Professor Timothy Beatley, “urban greening efforts focus on

Have you been curious about The Natural Step’s powerful whole systems strategic sustainability planning method but unable to find a workshop? Paul Horton, longtime Natural Step Associate, is bringing the Level 1 training to five US cities for the first time in a few years in October/November 2013. The San Francisco training is scheduled for