Planning with a Purpose: Conduct a community visioning and planning initiative that engages a diverse set of community members & stakeholders and uses a sustainability, resilience, or environmental justice framework such as:
Best Practice of this action
Keywords
schools
Rating Guideline
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Host a community meeting/event that explicitly uses a sustainability framework. Report staff training and GARE participation under BPA 24.7 (previously here). Report specific examples of expanding community engagement to diverse audiences under BPA 24.7. |
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Conduct a health impact assessment of city plans/policies/development; conduct a comprehensive health/housing/food access study or environmental justice assessment across demographics. |
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Achieve 2-star rating and adopt a sustainability plan or other implementation plan and/or goals and document concrete actions taken toward achieving them. Report adopted energy or climate plans under BPA 6.5. Report adopted equity plans under BPA 24.7. Report adopted resiliency plans under BPA 29.2. |
Resources
- Community engagement and visioning assistance is available from a number of organizations in Minnesota, including:
- Regional development organizations, the Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships, and Regional initiative foundations
- Training workshops, consultation and local assessments from Civic Engagement at the University of MN Extension.
- Center for Small Towns at the University of MN-Morris, which provides assistance on community and economic development projects.
- Minnesota Design Center at the University of MN-Twin Cities, a multi-disciplinary research studio that empowers communities to find innovative solutions to problems. See their Design for Community Regeneration initiative.
- Minnesota Design Team has worked with over 130 rural communities helping them to improve their built environments.
- The Resilient Communities Project at the University of MN and the Sustainable Communities Partnership at the University of St. Thomas work with several Minnesota cities each year to match community-identified sustainability planning, research and implementation projects with academic classes.
- A Strong Town approach emphasizes obtaining a higher return on existing infrastructure investments, to support a model for community sustainability that allows cities to become financially strong and self-sufficient rather than inducing continual growth to pay off deferred/unbudgeted maintenance on previous development projects. This approach to growth and development does not require placing huge bets (indebtedness) on the future, oversizing infrastructure in service of multi-decade growth projections, but instead invests in high return, incremental (fractal) endeavors where the likelihood of success is great and less prone to failure due to modeling error.
- See BPA 29.3 for resilient community connectedness and social & economic vitality.
- The Transition Town movement aims to create a more resilient, sustainable and positive local future in light of climate change and ultimately declining global oil use/production.
- Appreciative Inquiry - refocuses attention on community assets, what works, the positive core, and on what people really care about instead of focusing on deficiencies i.e. - "problems, challenges, what's wrong? what needs to be fixed?" For example, the City of St. Louis Park's two most recent comprehensive plans have built upon their community wide appreciative inquiry community planning process in 2004. Also, see this U of MN Extension video to learn more.
- The eco-municipality framework, based on the system conditions of The Natural Step (cyclical resource flows, relying on current solar income, strength through ecological, economic and social diversity), are presented in Toward a Sustainable Community: A Toolkit for Local Government (University of Wisconsin Extension: 2013).
- The International City/County Management Association defines a Smart City as one that uses information and communications technology to enhance its livability, workability, and sustainability. Connect with Smart North, a not-for-profit coalition driving “Smart City” initiatives in MN. With a focus on infrastructure, large companies such as Siemens also work on Smart City projects.
- A healthy communities framework is informed by The Precautionary Principle and is congruent with the World Health Organization's approach, which asserts that the fundamental conditions and resources for health are peace, shelter, education, food, income, a stable economy, sustainable resources, social justice and equity. AARP, along with WHO, supports an Age-Friendly Communities Program. See related Health Impact Assessment (HIA) and health/community design materials at the MN Dept. of Health. See Health Equity data.
- The Statewide Health Improvement Partnership (SHIP) at the Minnesota Department of Health assists with community-driven solutions for healthier living.
- Learn about the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Culture of Health Framework focused on achieving health equity by connecting health with social, economic, physical and environmental factors.
- An environmental justice framework aims to make sure that pollution does not have a disproportionate impact on any group of people, and that all people benefit from equal levels of environmental protection and have opportunities to participate in decisions that may affect their environment or health. An MPCA map of Areas of Concern for Environmental Justice and Met Council Place-Based Equity Research allows users to identify Census tracts where additional consideration or effort is warranted to evaluate the potential for disproportionate adverse impacts. Overlay these areas of concern with known locations of brownfield sites, fossil fuel extraction, production and transmission facilities, concentrated animal feedlots, waste treatment and incineration facilities, chemical inducing and air-polluting manufacturing, etc.
- Conduct a city or county-wide mapping study to assess economic, health/housing/food access and other social disparities across demographics (racial/ethnic/religious groups, gender identities, socio-economic status, age, etc.) in order to identify priority geographies and populations.
- Include in your plan or adopt an Indigenous Land Acknowledgement - See BPA 6.1.
- See Creating a Welcoming Community: A Toolkit to Support Immigrants, Refugees, and BIPOC (RSDP, 2020). The toolkit is to provide ideas and information for small towns to meaningfully engage with immigrants, refugees, and BIPOC and share what communities can do to be more welcoming and inclusive.
- From the EPA’s Environmental Justice Workgroup, the report EPA Local Government Advisory Committee’s EJ Best Practices for Local Government identifies current challenges and case studies from across the country of innovative problem solving strategies communities have used to improve environmental and public health outcomes.
- See The Alliance's Equitable Development Principals & Scorecard (2016) which helps communities ensure that the principles and practices of equitable development, environmental justice, and affordability are available to all residents.
Sublist
a. Strong Towns, Resiliency, Transition, Appreciative Inquiry.
b. Eco-municipalities, Smart Cities, Healthy Communities.
c. Environmental Justice, Race Equity, Equitable Development.
Order Number
5
Action Type
Finite