Master Planning for Sustainability
Ben Eisen explores the relationship between sustainability initiatives and campus planning:
Call it a sign of the times. For decades, sustainability initiatives in higher education were conceived and executed through grassroots, bottom-up efforts, from sustainable investments to campus recycling programs. But as stakes and publicity rise, and sustainability initiatives like the American College and University President's Climate Commitment take center stage, higher education is witnessing the growth of a top-down institutionalized approach to sustainability.
One of the clearest signs of this paradigm shift is the prominence that sustainability initiatives are receiving in university-wide strategic master plans. Green initiatives are now taking their place alongside more established campus issues in the long-term vision process.
Labels: climate action planning, master planning, strategic planning, sustainability
posted by Terry Calhoun at
8:23 AM
1 Comments:
Sustainability can be thought of in a different way - not just green initiatives, but building an internal infrastructure to support changes as they occur. We see programs too often on college campuses that are implemented and erode over time because of lack of ongoing funding or institutional support.
Achieving a real return on your investment often means assigning responsibility for ongoing maintenance of a given program. Consultants are doing only half the job if they don't leave the client with a workable, sustainable internal environment to manage a program as the campus grows and evolves.
This means helping to establish policies, training programs, HR initiatives, administrative support, business cases for budgeting either staff or capital resources, building a list of pre-approved vendors for maintenance, etc.
When considering a planning initiative, think not only of the end users of the project, but also of the people tasked internally to handle changes and maintenance. Two equally important focal points when engaging in any sustainable initiative.
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