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1.) SCP: What's it mean to you?

"Sustainability" is notoriously hard to define. The 1987 Brundtland Commission definition of sustainable development sufficed for a while. But in the last decade, planners have been clamoring for something more robust and, well, implementable.

In 2000 the American Planning Association formally adopted a Policy Guide on Planning for Sustainability. The Guide defined what "planning for sustainability" would require (shift to renewable resources, less ecological damage, etc.), but didn't get in to how to actually make it happen.

Enter sustainable community planning (SCP). This term has recently emerged to describe not just a new set of principles and tools (like, say, "Smart Growth") but a whole new take on planning from a deep sustainability perspective. In other words, it's not just about getting higher residential densities and reduced VMT -- it's also about regional food production, climate adaptation, public participation, energy preparedness, and much, much more.

Right now, SCP may be best explained with examples. The April 2010 issue of "Planning" magazine is almost completely focused on cutting-edge sustainability projects (and includes articles from APA-SCP members Ben Herman and Peter Lowitt). There's also a growing toolkit of frameworks for making sense of SCP, from established concepts like eco-municipalities to newer initiatives like ICLEI's STAR Community Index.

What does SCP mean to you? Join our online conversation and tell us how SCP is emerging in your own community or firm, and where you think it should go.

2.) The latest from APA

Our group exists in part to push sustainability to the forefront of the APA's national agenda. Fortunately, APA has recently taken a big step in that direction. In March, APA President Bruce Knight announced the new Sustaining Places Initiative (SPI), a "multi-year, multi-faceted program to define the role of planning in addressing all human settlement issues relating to sustainability."

If that sounds ambitious that's because it is. I had a chance to talk with Bruce Knight recently: Not only does he "get" sustainability, he shares our view that planners should be leading the sustainability movement in communities across the country -- and that it will take some deep changes in how we think about planning to get there.

That's where APA-SCP comes in. The SPI task force will convene top planning thinkers and practitioners to explore reinventing the ubiquitous comprehensive community plan for sustainability. But they'll need help finding all the latest best practices and "next practices" that are already defining this next step in the evolution of planning.

With our growing network of 1,000+ members, we in the APA-SCP can both point the APA to the best examples of what sustainability really means for planning, and push APA to make the policy decisions and reforms we want to see. As we get our program up and running, we'll be reaching out to you to hear what you want to tell APA about SCP!

3.) We have an organizational structure!

Last week we held the organizing meeting of our Coordinating Committee, which will function as the foundational body of the APA-SCP. Here are the committee members (affiliation shown for identification only):

• Sharon Ferguson, Muni. of Anchorage (AK)
• Joyce Allgaier, Clarion Associates
• Sarah James, Inst. for Ecomunicipality Education & Assistance
• Ralph Willmer, VHB
• Carol Barrett, City of San Gabriel (CA)
• Peter Lowitt, Devens Enterprise Commission
• Angela Vincent, ICLEI-USA
• Daniel Lerch, Post Carbon Institute (committee chair)

The committee decided to establish an Operations Group -- based in Portland, Oregon and headed by Daniel Lerch and Kelley Roy -- to handle the regular tasks of APA-SCP. It also decided to establish an Ambassadors Group of individuals who will be helping us us make connections for networking, strategizing, and fundraising.

4.) How you can help

One of the most important ways you can help our effort is to join the conversation at any of our online spaces:

  http://tinyurl.com/apa-scp-linkedin
  http://tinyurl.com/apa-scp-facebook
  http://tinyurl.com/apa-scp-ning
  http://twitter.com/apascp

There are also plenty of non-virtual ways you can help:

• Are you based in or near the Portland, Oregon metro area and can volunteer a few hours a month? Join our Operations Group!
• Is your firm or agency a sustainability leader? Ask them to become an APA-SCP sponsor at the $500 level!
• Are you speaking at an upcoming conference of your APA Chapter? Include a slide about our group and spread the word!