Chattanooga Pulse

The American Institute of Architects program known as a Sustainable Design Assessment Team (SDAT) is scheduled for next week: May 4th 5th and 6th.  The event is being coordinated by the local AIA chapter and in intended to focus on creating and maintaining quality of life and sustainable growth in the region.

The AIA SDAT program has assembled a nationally renowned group of planners, regionalists and environmental stewards in for the three day workshop.  In February, a group of 3 Team members came to the area for an initial visit. They are now returning with a complete team to more fully investigate our regional issues. Members of the 2009 SDAT Team are:

Joel Mills and Marsha Garcia: AIA National Staff, Center for Communities by Design
Joel Mills serves as Director of the AIA Center for Communities by Design, the primary resource for architects and citizens interested in building healthy, sustainable, safe, and livable communities.  Marsha works with the Center for Communities by Design as the Outreach Manager, responsible for selected initiatives involving community outreach, education and training at the local level to foster leadership opportunities for AIA members, AIA local components and the public at large.

Thomas Rounds: URS Corporation, Colorado.
Mr. Rounds has 30 years experience in public sector and consulting planning. His project experience includes operation of local government planning and engineering functions, land use planning, design and regulation, capital improvement planning, programming, and finance, and integration of land use and transportation.

Soren Simonsen: City Council, Salt Lake City
Søren Simonsen was elected to the Salt Lake City Council in November 2005. Søren is an architect and certified planner and his work focuses on community and institutional planning, transit facilities planning and design, environmental education, public architecture, and urban development. Prior to his service on the Council, he served on advisory boards for the Utah Arts Festival, Center for Documentary Arts, and Parley’s Regional Trail Coalition, as well as the Salt Lake City Mayor’s Environmental Advisory Committee, and the Salt Lake Historic Landmarks Commission.

William Dodge: Citistates Group
Among American regionalists, William R. (Bill) Dodge is regarded as a lead thinker and facilitator — a man who’s worked effectively over three decades to help regional communities identify their critical challenges and build collaborations that address a whole range of tough challenges, from balanced growth to fiscal and ethnic disparities to creating effective regional decision-making networks. He analyzes regional challenges, guides regional visioning processes, and helps create new regional organizations.

Carlos Macedo Rodrigues: Regional Plan Association, New Jersey
Before joining RPA, he was Director of Planning for the Princeton office of Looney Ricks Kiss Architects, where he managed a large portfolio of projects involving both redevelopment and new communities throughout the New York metropolitan region. Prior to that, he spent 10 years with New Jersey State Government – as Acting Director and Manager of Plan Implementation for the New Jersey Office of Smart Growth – where he was responsible for physical planning and design issues statewide.

Monica Bansal: Metropolitan Washington DC Council of Governments
Ms. Bansal works largely on developing environmental efforts of the Transportation Planning Board, such as climate change scenario planning, land use and transportation project planning, and consultation on the development of the long-range transportation plan with natural resource and environmental agencies. Prior to coming to COG, Ms. Bansal worked on congestion pricing and public health with the Living Cities Program at the Environmental Defense Fund.

Eileen McGurty: John Hopkins University
Eileen McGurty , Ph.D., serves as Associate Chair of the Environmental Sciences and Policy program. She also researches waste policy, and her current study of waste management in New Jersey examines the influence of waste-related policies on neighborhood and community development, as well as the differential social effects of waste-related policies. She received a Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and has worked extensively in community development and environmental planning in Illinois, New York, New Jersey and Maryland.

Nancy Steele: Los Angeles + San Gabriel Watershed
Nancy joined the Watershed Council as its Executive Director in 2005. Prior to joining the Watershed Council, Nancy was manager of Retrofit Implementation at the California Air Resources Board, where she developed and implemented regulations to reduce emissions from in-use heavy-duty diesel trucks and buses. Nancy serves on the board of the Marine Conservation Research Institute. She is Vice-Chair of the Upper Los Angeles River steering committee and is president and founder of the Altadena Foothills Conservancy, a nonprofit land trust.
 
The group will tour parts of the seven county region (Bradley, Hamilton, Marion and Dade, Catoosa, Walker, and Whitfield Counties) and meet with stakeholders, including elected officials, to discuss regional issues. On Wednesday, May 6th they will present a summary of their findings and observations. The presentation is open to the public and will be held at the UTC University Center Auditorium at 6:30 pm.