Portland-based architecture and urban planning firm SERA recently held a public forum at Ron Russell Middle School in the Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood to discuss the possibility of implementing its civic ecology pilot program within the neighborhood.
Tim Smith, a principal with the firm, addressed several members of the Powellhurst-Gilbert Neighborhood Association, concerned citizens and representatives of the neighborhood schools and other civic entities, about the prospect of implementing the firm’s approach to community-driven sustainability.
The idea stems from Smith’s notion that it takes more than just urban capital to create true sustainability.
“Sustainability isn’t reached solely through LEED certified buildings and converting landfills to nature preserves,” said Smith. “Those are great. But, it also takes a vested interest and commitment from the community. What we like to call, social capital.”
Diagram: SERA Architects
The civic ecology framework that SERA has created works off of five basic principals:
- employing a whole systems approach (involving everyone),
- focusing on place (localizing systems within an area to make them more effective),
- requiring a new social contract (gaining a vested interest within the community),
- matching needs and assets (recording what a community has and deciding what it needs),
- and, finally, taking a dynamic approach (the ability of the community to always be learning and adapting to the new knowledge gained).
The firm currently has similar pilot programs in Damascus, OR, Hillsboro and Bend. It is also in talks with the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services about the possibility of teaming up on the Tabor to the River Project, an environmentally conscious storm water management project that will improve the sewer system efficiency and restore the health of the watershed in the Brooklyn Creek Basin of SE Portland.
Although each program is completely different, they all combine the same things to reach higher levels of sustainability, efficiency and sense of community. They use the urban planning and system design skills of SERA, the assets of the community and the commitment of residents to create a better flow between those systems.
“Each area that was selected for the pilot program is different from the others, yet I believe that they are all feasible,” Smith said. “I’m standing here today because I believe this neighborhood has all the tools to create a sustainable community.”
One concern noted by many during the meeting stems from the neighborhoods diversity. One of the largest neighborhoods in Portland, with an estimated 30,000 residents, there is said to be 67 different languages spoken at the local high school, David Douglas.
“Considering social capital plays such a large role in this program, my one concern would be the language and cultural barriers of getting everyone involved,” said Mark White, Powellhurst-Gilbert Neighborhood Association president. “I think there is a common desire for sustainability in the neighborhood, but getting everyone on the same page at the same time will be the problem.”
Diagram: SERA Architects
Smith echoed these concerns while suggesting using the diversity of the neighborhood to create cohesion within the community, instead of barriers.
“Although the language barrier is a challenge, I do believe that you can use this diversity as a common ground,” said Smith. “Off the top of my head, I see a possible international community garden where people of different ethnicities can come together to grow crops and share farming techniques from their respective cultures…then the community could sell the products at a local farmers market, making it a destination for locally-grown international produce.”
Smith also suggested a community composter that could be funded through a grant or community fundraiser where local restaurants and residents agree to compost all of their leftover food scraps. The soil produced by the composter could help grow plants in the international community garden. Neighborhood schools could then use the plants for school lunches. A similar project was started in the Buckman neighborhood of SE Portland by a Portland State University student enrolled in Smith’s Civic Ecology course at the school.
Another possible civic ecology project, suggested by White, was to create community run horse stables at the Powell Butte Nature Park, one of only two parks in Portland with equestrian trails. The manure from the stables could then be used to fertilize crops in a community garden at the same park. Fees for the stables could also be used to improve features in the park for the community.
Neighborhood composting station in Buckman neighborhood
Smith then presented the civic ecology five-step process to the group, made simple by the acronym, CIVIC. The process is to convene a civic ecology working group consisting of all the stakeholders in the community; investigating what works, what doesn’t work, what systems work, and what the community needs; visioning what the community wants to see happen over the next 1, 10, 20 and even 50 years; implementing the community-created community-scaled system to help realize the vision; and, charting the process to see what is working, what isn’t, and how the plan can become better.
Smith suggested building the neighborhood’s vision around some frameworks that already exist. The first is the East Portland Action Plan, a city funded plan created in 2009 to strategically narrow down short-term opportunities to improve livability, as well as long-term strategies to address some of the challenges facing East Portland. The other framework suggested by Smith is called the Natural Step process, created by Dr. Karal-Henrik Robert of Sweden. The process suggests four steps to produce sustainable solutions: eliminate the depletion of fossil fuels, eliminate harmful chemicals produced by society in the environment, respect natures diversity and using energy and resources fairly and equitably.
Once the neighborhood has produced a list of assets, SERA provides a Geographic Information System map for the community that lists the resources available in the community and how they flow together. Once the map is complete, residents come together and provide input on how these systems can use each other to provide a more localized efficiency. The community can then use the data to fundraise and apply for grants to complete the projects.
An example is a community with a local newspaper, dairy farm, vegetable farm, restaurants and a school. The newspaper could provide scrap paper to the dairy farm for its stables. Then the dairy farm could provide manure to the vegetable farm for fertilizer. The school and restaurants could then buy milk and vegetables from the respective farm, and use all of their scraps in a composter to provide soil to the vegetable farm.
Zenger Farm [in the Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood]
While there were concerns about reaching out to everyone in the neighborhood, audience members accepted the presentation whole-heartedly. After voting unanimously to start the program, audience members were asked to get the word out.
“This project relies on social capital and getting everyone’s input,” said Smith.
While neighbors are getting the word out, Smith and White will be hard at work writing a scope for the project and contacting all possible stakeholders in the neighborhood.
For more information on SERA’s civic ecology pilot program, please visit: http://www.serapdx.com/project.php?category=7&project=126.
To find out how to get involved in the Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood project, contact Mark White at markpdx@spiritone.com.
Top photo: Tim Smith
