1.) DOT + HUD + EPA [heart] SCP

Planners across the country have been buzzing for many months about the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, a collaborative effort of three agencies -- DOT, HUD, and EPA -- to streamline the federal government's approach to funding sustainability-minded planning efforts. Last month the Partnership made a major announcement: $75 million for local sustainability planning, plus $100 million for regional sustainability planning (read about both programs here).

Whether your reaction is Wow, $175 million for SCP would have been unheard of two years ago! or That's nice, but where's the capital improvement money?, this is good news for those of us who want to see sustainable community planning spread far and wide. Beacuse it's not just about a few more millions of dollars for urban sustainability -- it's about a sea-change in how Washington is dealing with cities, suburbs, and planning.

What's your take on Washington's new-found love of sustainable community planning? Tell us what you think over at our LinkedIn site!

2.) What should planning students learn?

Last week Coordinating Committee chair Daniel Lerch shared a virtual stage with planning heavyweight David Godschalk on a conference call for the Houston APA Chapter Executive Committee. David was there to talk about APA's new Sustaining Places Initiative Task Force, which he co-chairs -- Daniel was there to talk about the APA-SCP Interest Group.

In discussing the general challenges of sustainability planning, an especially interesting question arose from the participants: Does all this mean that we need to be educating planners differently?

That's a question that will surely come up again and again -- and you can bet on two names being mentioned every time:

• Jane Jacobs: On top of all the articles recently written about Jane Jacobs, there's a great new book of essays by leading thinkers who have been influenced on her. Read more at our discussion on LinkedIn.
   
• Christopher Alexander: Alexander may be an architect, but he and his co-authors had a lot to say in their classic book A Pattern Language that would be right at home in a sustainable community planning curriculum. For example:
  
  "When you build a thing you cannot merely build that thing in isolation, but must also repair the world around it, and within it, so that the larger world at that one place becomes more coherent, and more whole; and the thing which you make takes its place in the web of nature, as you make it."

• Integrated Community Sustainability Planning Course: This five-month online-and-in-person course offered by The Natural Step - Canada starts tomorrow (Tuesday 7/20), but it's too good to not announce anyway. Check out the course description for a look at how local officials and planners can approach sustainability in a truly deep way. (Perhaps Natural Step - USA will do a similar course sometime soon?)
• Did we mention sustainability is hot? It's so hot even the National League of Cities is getting on board! Find out more at the sustainability section of their website, which includes a recently-released guide on urban sustainability actions that cities can take.

• Want to help with research and/or writing for our upcoming initiatives? Tell our Operations Committee!
• Have colleagues who are interested in sustainability? Invite them to join our mailing list.
• Is your firm or agency a sustainability leader? Ask them to become an APA-SCP sponsor.
• Are you speaking at an upcoming conference of your APA Chapter? Include a PowerPoint slide about APA-SCP and help spread the word.