Regional Forum on Sustainable Infrastructure: Sustainable Streets and Streetscapes

On May 13, 2004 representatives from Vancouver , Seattle , and Portland met in Seattle to increase awareness of sustainable infrastructure activities and programs in the three cities and discuss and identify major technical and implementation issues related to sustainable streets and streetscapes in urban areas. 

The Forum began by each City providing an overview of their sustainability programs and activities followed by presentations on reinventing streets for the 21^st Century and an overview of sustainable street programs in other cities.  This was followed by several breakout groups that discussed different topics including: the design of sustainable streets in urban areas; maintenance of sustainable streets in urban areas; politics and public support for alternative streets; barriers/incentives for sustainable streets; and ways to foster innovation.   

Major findings

• All three cities have had success with the design and construction of sustainable buildings, but sustainable infrastructure initiatives are relatively new.

• Europe is ahead of North America in designing sustainable infrastructure and sustainable streets

• Seattle , Portland , and Vancouver are North America leaders in exploring innovative approaches to sustainable infrastructure and sustainable streets.

• Need to address multiple objectives in street design (e.g., trees, pedestrians, bikes, safety, transit, lightening, garbage, fire trucks, storm water, business needs) 

• Key in developing greener streets is going from “standards/uniformity” oriented thinking to “interest-based/local innovation” thinking

• Street design needs to incorporate maintenance concerns

• Lack of money is a big problem. Sustainable streets can require increased maintenance and maintenance funding is already inadequate

• Most successful projects have had substantial community input and many times driven by communities. Important to have effective public process

• Elected officials have generally been supportive of green projects.  Green projects are generally viewed by constituents as positive and hence supported by elected officials.

• It is important have a local champion to promote greener streets and then partner with the City to deliver them

• Definition of what is a green/sustainable street has slowed down the process.

• Design charettes are a good way to incorporate sustainable design principles into projects.

Next steps

• Create a website that can be accessed by three cities that includes information from Forum and links to other cities programs.

• Develop a common method to monitor projects

• Create opportunities for face-to-face interactions

• Ask American Public Works Association to sponsor a program on sustainable streets at their conference

• Develop standard design guidelines

Products

• Contact List from Forum (9.77KB)

• Agenda for Forum (22.4KB)

• Summary of Forum (47.7KB)

• Detailed comments from Forum’s breakout groups including evaluation

• Matrix of Cities Sustainability Programs (27KB)

• Presentation by Mark Holland - “Reinventing Streets – The Challenge of the 21^st Century” (22.2MB)

• Presentation by Gabriel Scheer - “Sustainable Street Programs in Other Cities” (889KB)

• Master Thesis by Gabriel Scheer - “Sustainable Street Design: An Analysis of Best Practices as seen within the Seattle Context” (862KB)

What is the Sustainable Infrastructure Initiative?

Seattle City government has primary responsibility for a wide range of public infrastructures, including water and electricity distribution, roads, drainage, street lighting, recreation facilities, and public buildings that facilitate solid waste management, emergency response and other services. A large percentage of our City workforce and budget is dedicated to ensuring the quality of these systems.

In the upcoming years, many elements of these infrastructures will be expanded, enhanced and redeveloped to the tune of several billions of dollars. Some of the major scheduled projects include combined sewer overflow control, drainage enhancements, widespread road improvement projects, viaduct and seawall replacement, light rail and monorail development, sidewalk installation and major infrastructure redevelopment at the High Point Community, South Lake Union and other parts of the city.

Now, at the cusp of the next generation of infrastructure projects, we have an opportunity to apply innovative approaches that provide basic services in ways that are resource-efficient and environmentally responsible. Addressing this opportunity is the intent of the Sustainable Infrastructure Initiative, a component of the Mayor’s Environmental Action Agenda.

How will we implement the sustainable infrastructure initiative?

This initiative was launched with a workshop on October 28, 2002, which engaged participants from all the City’s infrastructure-related departments. The presentations and discussion concluded with the group targeting future work in 5 priority areas:

Coordinate: Use existing interdepartmental processes to link and coordinate relevant infrastructure projects and processes.

Map and inventory: Summarize existing CIP and infrastructure enhancement needs and the scheduled/proposed infrastructure projects.  

Life Cycle Cost Assessment: Standardize methods for determining total cost of ownership.  

Executive direction: Create an Executive Policy that provides a context for and guidance to these efforts.

LEED-like system for sustainable infrastructure: Convene key jurisdictions to partner in developing a shared regional benchmarking tool.