Over the past few years, the American Public Works Association (APWA) has spearheaded a new sustainability vision for the public works management field. Two key investments have been made and show great promise for the future:
- APWA launched a smaller, sustainability-focused conference three years ago
- This year, it has officially launched the APWA Center for Sustainability
Regarding the conference, the first installment focused on climate change. But shortly afterwards the association’s leadership groups began discussions among one another and with members about the larger issues of sustainability in public works. These issues are pretty all-encompassing, and since the initial discussions within APWA creating the APWA Center for Sustainability have become hot button points across the country. For example, low-impact development (LID), sustainability’s return on investment, best management practices, and much more.
The public works field needed some pro-active guidance and resources. APWA has taken that lead.
The next conference–Sustainability in Public Works–will be held in 8-10 June 2010 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. More information about that event, including registration, education, and exhibit information, may be found on the conference website:
http://sites.apwa.net/sustainability/2010/home.aspx
THE CENTER FOR SUSTAINABILITY
The Center’s creation is another sign of the great need for sustainability input from across a broad spectrum of sectors.
“Our main goal is to educate our members,” says Julia Anastasio, the director of the APWA Center for Sustainability.
The Center was born of a 2008 action by APWA’s Board. The association’s missions are driven largely by active leadership groups representing major sectors of public works, such as transportation and water. The new leadership for the Center for Sustainability is unique in that it is comprised of 12 members, whereas the normal APWA technical committee is usually around six members.
“We’re guided by 12 APWA members who are out in the field incorporating and using some of the principles of sustainability in their everyday working lives,” Anastasio says. “We want to harness that expertise and develop the tools and resources and the knowledge base for our members so they can become more comfortable with the concepts of sustainability as they relate to public works and to exercise leadership in their communities.”
From supporting endeavors such as the Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement to the Five Milestones approach of ICLEI–Local Governments for Sustainability; to working with elected officials and working with the public; APWA sees significant potential here.
“[Public works officials] are the ones on the ground implementing our city services,” Anastasio says. “[They] need to be the ones to do it.”
After meetings in 2008/2009, APWA was ready in early 2010 to officially announce the Center for Sustainability’s formation.
Based out of APWA’s Washington DC Office, the Center is well-positioned to allow for the formation of many partnerships with other associations, agencies and groups interacting with and influencing sustainability issues.
“Partnering and leveraging of relationships with other organizations is one of the four long-term priorities we’ve identified,” Anastasio says.
Previously, she held a position as APWA’s senior manager for government affairs and handled all of the association’s environmental advocacy. This background is a good fit for the fledging Center for Sustainability.
The other priorities that APWA leaders identified for the new center’s success are professional development (a hallmark of APWA’s work), and the development of a simple tool for member use right away, and advocacy.
Right away, the Center has released a “Framework for Sustainable Communities” tool and a facilitator’s guide to using it. These documents are available for download (including an interactive document version) on APWA’s Center for Sustainability page:
http://www.apwa.net/sustainability/centerforsustainability.aspx
Also, a ‘Click, Listen and Learn’ webinar titled “A New Vision for Public Works Management” will be held on 3 June 2010 to more fully discuss the Center’s priorities, how sustainability not only will be key to future generations of public works professionals but is already part of the current practice (even if one does not normally define their work as sustainability-driven), and much more. The event website page:
http://www.apwa.net/Events/eventdetail.asp?ID=5216
THE SUSTAINABILITY LENS
The broad impact of sustainability issues affect much more than stormwater management, green roof maintenance, and the other applications and products that so often get the attention when “sustainability” is discussed. They affect the day-to-day operations within public works departments–decisions of budgeting, project time management, inter-departmental meetings, and much more.
“Many public works directors don’t spend much of their time reviewing plans on the technical side of things. They’re interacting with budgeting and human resources, whether it’s with their city council, citizens or city managers,” Anastasio says. “They’re communicating with the public and need a different set of skills than just reading and understanding technical plans.”
Within that breadth rests a central question: Does the sustainability lens overlay everything?
“We’re engaging as many of the technical groups as possible to find innovative solutions to address sustainability in the profession and create a culture of sustainability where sustainability principles are fully integrated into all aspects of public works management,” Anastasio says.
The APWA Center for Sustainability is much too new to offer an easily compartmentalized answer, but the coordinating function the Center offers and the mission it is pursuing is an admirable and much-needed one.
Chris Kelsey is the editorial director for Geosynthetica. He can be reached at chris@geosynthetica.net.
