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Committee on Sustainable Environments (CoSE) Update
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CoSE’s 2014 activity focused on education and sharing our insights with our sister professions. This summer, the FLASLA Committee on Sustainable Environments Co-Chair Chris Hite PLA ASLA participated in two conference panels.
Chris served on panel sponsored by the FLASLA Government Affairs committee on Saturday July 26 discussing "advocacy" at the conference in Key Largo.The panel focused on the importance of -- and our responsibility to -- advocate for our profession and the environment to our elected officials and in our communities.
The second conference session we participated in was the sustainability panel discussion at the APA Florida Chapter Conference Sept. 3-6, 2014 in Jacksonville. Learn more by clicking here. The ‘Collaborations’ American Planning Association Florida Chapter (APAFL), FLASLA, American Institute of Architects Florida Chapter (AIAFL), Urban Land Institute Florida (ULIFL) panel was presented Saturday Sept. 6. Our chapter’s input on the panel gave planners positive publicity about landscape architecture and our expertise in sustainable practices. The panel included a discussion about how we can better share our knowledge and talents. This panel is part of an initiative we began in 2013. Besides Chris, speakers included Brian Smith, FAICP of APA Florida; James Moore, Ph.D. AIA AICP LEED AP of the Urban Land Institute; and Daniel Kirby, AIA AICP LEED AP American Institute of Architects Florida Chapter. For a link to the presentation, click here. Brian Smith served as moderator and expressed his interest and intent to continue discussions with the collaborations initiatives. He noted the following points that came out of the discussion:
> We need a holistic view of sustainable community design. Defining this view will require professional disciplines working together.
> Sustainability ignores jurisdictional lines. Therefore, there is the need to approach this in a way where it is not just a city, a county, a region or Ssate but various sectors working together.
> One
model that can be considered is the Urban Land Institute (ULI) team evaluation
model which builds on a non-jurisdictional view.
> With
respect to services or functions, transportation is a key issue and element of
sustainability planning.
> There is a need for leadership at the state level.Our professional organizations working together could facilitate that.
Unfortunately, in October Chris is stepping down as co-chair of CoSE as we ‘change the guard’ in leadership for the new fiscal year. Ruth Hamberg will continue as chair and will also continue to participate on the APAFL Sustainability Committee. If you are interested in joining the FLASLA Committee on Sustainable Environments, please contact Corey Mathews admin@flasla.org.