One of the leading factors behind community redevelopment, we are learning, is attention to sustainable design. The AIA Center for Communities by Design is addressing that precept with its Sustainable Design Assessment Team Program (SDAT), opened to communities at large on November 1. With exploratory successes already logged, the program affords $20,000 in design assistance to sponsor multidisciplinary volunteer teams who evaluate the potential and map actualization plans for communities to breathe new life through sustainable principles.

Since its inception in January of 2005, the SDAT program has assembled the multidisciplinary teams and brought them to six communities around the country, which vary in population size, physical characteristics, and political environments. The $20,000 grant for design assistance comes from the AIA Center for Communities by Design, and the 2005 SDAT communities are Oklahoma City, Okla.; Cache Valley, Utah; Pittsfield and Northampton, Mass.; Forest City, N.C.; and Alexandria Township, N.J. Each community faces different issues, and yet the SDAT process provides a broad assessment to help frame future policies and design solutions in the context of sustainability.

The SDAT program employs a six-prong approach to each of the selected communities:

• A preliminary/scoping visit
• A three-day visit from a multidisciplinary team
• A report highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the community with regards to sustainability, along with the opportunities and obstacles to change
• Consultations (typically by phone or e-mail) after the three-day visit
• A conference call six months after delivery of the assessment report to review progress
• A one-day follow-up evaluation visit a year after the SDAT report is delivered.

AIA SDAT volunteers work with community decision makers and stakeholders to help develop a vision and framework for a sustainable future. In Pittsfield, Mass.—a town of 45,000 with a desire to capitalize on cultural and natural resources and attract residents and visitors—the SDAT focused on the relationship among cultural resources, the environment, and economic development. “This is an exciting opportunity to tap the brainpower of national design and planning leaders to help achieve our vision for the future of our city," Mayor James Ruberto enthuses.

In Cache Valley, Utah, the SDAT centered on promoting a sustainable approach to the valley by connecting the natural landscape with economic and community-based issues. The multidisciplinary approach to sustainability served the communities well and resulted in a set of recommendations that emphasized the importance of a regional approach to the complex issues of preserving the landscape, improving air quality, and diversifying the economy.

“The SDAT program enables communities to benefit from the objective input from a set of diverse professionals from around the country as they engage the public, community leaders, and decision makers in envisioning a sustainable future,” says Ann Livingston, Esq., director of the Center for Communities by Design.

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