Forum Summary

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Introduction. The Sustainable Tennessee (West Tennessee) Regional Opportunity Forum was held September 19th and 20th 2008, at the University of Memphis Fogelman Executive Center. The West Tennessee Forum was the third and final Regional Opportunity Forum held in Tennessee (others were in Chattanooga and Knoxville), as part of the Summit for a Sustainable Tennessee initiative to have “Many Voices, a Common Vision” for a sustainable future. State coordinators for Sustainable Tennessee are the Tennessee Environmental Council and the Tennessee Conservation Voters. Local co-organizers of the West Tennessee Forum were The University of Memphis Ecological Research Center, the Urban Land Institute District Council Memphis and the Sierra Club-Chickasaw Council.

Attendance. The Forum was attended by over 165 people representing five states and fifteen cities; most attendees were from the Greater Memphis Region of Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi, although Georgia and Illinois were also represented. Private businesses (34) were well-represented as were non-profit organizations (15) and government agencies (11). Faculty, staff and students from the University of Memphis represented over ten departments or schools. Attendees also represented nearly 60 different professions from Administrators, Architects and Attorneys to Coordinators, Directors and Engineers, to Planners, Presidents and Professors, and to Senior Scientists and Sustainability Specialists. This diversity of organizations and professions helped achieve the Forum’s goal of “Forging Partnerships, Creating Connections, and Fostering Stewardship”.

Sponsors, Contributors, and Volunteers. The West Tennessee Regional Opportunity Forum was generously sponsored by 10 government agencies, private businesses and non-profit organizations. We truly appreciate the support and involvement of the Presenting Sponsor, Memphis-Shelby County Office of Planning and Development; Forum Sustainers including the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis and Tetra Tech, Inc., and Forum Stewards including The University of Memphis, Fisher & Arnold, Belz Enterprises, Boyle Investment Company, Shelby Farms Park Conservancy, Southeast Recycling Technologies, and Soulsville USA/LeMoyne-Owen Community Development Corporation. In addition, the Forum benefited greatly from the work of the many experts and interested business and community volunteers including members of the the Memphis Regional Design Center and the United States Green Building Council-Memphis Chapter who provided time and effort to development of project boards for the Friday afternoon LEED-ND evaluations and everyone who assisted in the development and implementation of the Saturday afternoon workgroups. We would also like to thank the students of The University of Memphis Environmental Action Club who provided volunteer assistance throughout the two days of the Forum.

Friday Morning. Sustainable Urbanism: Advanced Metrics and Techniques with Doug Farr. This interactive seminar led by Doug Farr spanned the entire day. Farr’s morning sessions utilized a lecture/discussion format. Topics included:
Overview of Sustainable Urbanism
1. Metrics of distress from the US’s wrong course on the built environment
2. The history of current movements seeking to reform the built environment.
3. The three-part strategy to make sustainable urbanism the norm by 2030
Tools and Techniques for Implementing Sustainable Urbanism
1. Communicating sustainable urbanism
2. Implementation agendas for leaders
3. Tools: charrettes, plans, codes, RFQ’s, RFP’s benchmarks, etc.
Thresholds of Sustainable Urbanism
1. The environmental benefits of density
2. The sustainable neighborhood and supporting thresholds
3. The sustainable corridor and supporting thresholds
4. High performance buildings and infrastructure
5. The 2030 Community Challenge
Global Case Studies of Sustainable Urbanism
1. Built Infill and Greenfield
2. Unbuilt Infill and Greenfield
3. Scales of Intervention

The morning session was graded Excellent to Good by a majority of the 51 attendees who completed the evaluation. While many felt that it was a lot of information in a relatively short period of time, they did comment positively on the speaker and the content. Many respondents suggested that this sort of event should be held for public officials and public sector employees in Memphis and Shelby County.

Friday Afternoon. Friday afternoon, session participants broke out into workshop groups in order to evaluate specific regional projects using the LEED-ND evaluation system. The LEED-ND evaluation system is the primary metric that was proposed and discussed by Farr in the morning session. Projects evaluated included (1) Price Farms North in Collierville, TN; (2) Legends Park in Memphis, TN; (2) Downtown Bolivar, TN; (3) Hernando West in Hernando, MS; (4) Highland Row Project in Memphis, TN and (5) University District in Memphis, TN. Participants were free to choose the project evaluation in which they wanted to participate. The level of difficulty ranged from the Legends Park project presently participating in the national LEED-ND pilot program, to the University District whose built environment challenged efforts to create a more sustainable environment. Following the evaluation, participants re-grouped and shared their findings with the larger group.

The afternoon evaluations ranked the exercise generally Excellent to Good as well. For some, the exercise was too long and some commented that the workshop format was too unstructured. However, a majority of the comments were favorable and the evaluations suggest that it was an educational experience.

Saturday Morning. Rusty Bloodworth (Executive Vice President, Boyle Investment Company) provided a recap of the outcomes of Friday afternoon LEED-ND evaluations. He was followed by comments from Senator Mark Norris, who told of his commitment to the environment, and his appreciation for the work of the organizations that are helping him identify legislative issues that will improve sustainability and enhance the quality of life for all Tennesseans.

Chris Ford (Executive Director, Tennessee Conservation Voters) talked about the formation of Sustainable Tennessee through discussions in his back yard and garage with others concerned about the environmental well-being of Tennessee. He gave an overview of the Summit for a Sustainable Tennessee and a recap of events from the first Summit held in Nashville in November 2007 and the two Regional Opportunity Forums in Chattanooga and Knoxville. He thanked the audience for their interest and participation and asked them to continue their support by attending the second Summit for a Sustainable Tennessee to be held in Nashville December 13-16, 2008.

Diana Threadgill (Executive Director, Mississippi River Corridor-Tennessee) and Dr. Charles Santo (Assistant Professor, City and Regional Planning, The University of Memphis) presented information about Mississippi River Corridor-Tennessee – an economic development project in the six Tennessee counties bordering the Mississippi River. Diana talked about the long history of the project, the starts and stops due to forces beyond their control, and the present status of the project. Information was presented about the goals of the project to create a natural and economic connection along the river and to identify and promote the points of interests from historic, recreational, educational and natural resource conservation perspectives. They discussed the master plan, two phases of which have already been developed and the discussions with the six counties to bring the plan to fruition. The Mississippi River Corridor-Tennessee is an example of patience and persistence in pursuit of a long-term goal.

John Tirpak (Science Coordinator, Lower Mississippi Valley Joint Venture) presented information about the complex relationships among Federal and State agencies and private organizations and individuals responsible for implementing the bird conservation goals for the entire continent and the contribution that the Lower Mississippi Valley Joint Venture makes to achieve those goals. John showed how the conservation objectives for individual species overlap and that conservation objectives for migratory waterfowl, water birds, inland shore birds, and non-migratory land birds can be met with a comprehensive and integrated approach to habitat preservation, maintenance and restoration. John also discussed the business model concept that is used to “connect local conservation to continental sustainability” for a shared vision of bird conservation.

Thomas Pacello (Assistant City Attorney, Memphis-Shelby County Office of Planning and Development) presented a comprehensive review of the stimulus for, background and implementation of Sustainable Shelby – the first County sustainability initiative in the region. He discussed the unprecedented cooperation and support of Mayor Wharton, the use of Doug Farr’s “Sustainable Urbanism” as a model, and the short time frame for the process to be completed. The tasks included identification of the seven topic committees, selection of the co-chairs, staff and community members, identification and ranking of the issues, presentation to the public and voting at the Digital Congress: this entire process was completed within a four month period. Staff planners have been assigned the task of following up on the recommendations and will have a draft strategy for implementation available in November. The Sustainable Shelby process is an excellent example (of process, implementation, and outcomes) to others considering sustainability initiatives. Thomas concluded by saying that support from the highest levels, partnering staff and the public in the process, and openness and public education about the process were keys to its success.

Keynote Speaker Bob Ford (Senior Scientist, US Fish and Wildlife Service) discussed the real threat of climate change to sustainability of abundant populations of fish and wildlife. He talked about the importance of not only maintaining abundant species biodiversity, but maintaining sufficient numbers of species and individuals to ensure stable future populations. He talked about the physical challenges facing many species as sea levels rise, shorelines recede and plants and animals are pushed beyond their physiological adaptations. Whether the answers to these challenges are assisted relocations, eventual extinctions or genetic banking, no policy or process exists to know when or how to make these decisions and not enough information is available to make informed decisions. A coordinated approach is needed to decrease habitat fragmentation, habitat isolation and loss of ecological integrity that can result in collapse of natural and human communities on a large landscape scale. Finally, Bob emphasized the importance of public education to demonstrate the link between natural populations, ecosystem health, ecosystem services and human values and quality of life, and the linkage of quality of life values and establishment of appropriate governmental policies to sustain them.

Afternoon Summit Workgroups. Prior to the summit, committees were formed in the Summit for a Sustainable Tennessee focus areas of Healthy Communities, Natural Infrastructure, Renewable and Alternative Energy and Sustainable Design and Development. The chairs of the committees, Dr. Marian Levy (Associate Professor, Master of Public Health Program, The University of Memphis), Dr. Michael Kennedy (Professor, Department of Biology, The University of Memphis), Dr. John Hochstein (Professor and Chair, Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Memphis) and Andrew Trippel ( Program Coordinator, Urban Land Institute-Memphis), respectively, selected 5-10 experts to help develop an initial list of 15 issues important to the West Tennessee region. At the Forum, attendees selected the Workgroup they were interested in and participated in discussions of the previously identified issues. Up to five additional issues resulting from these discussions were added to the lists developed by the experts. Participants reduced the 15-20 issues down to what was considered to be the five most important regional sustainability issues by voting in each of the four workgroups. The following recommendations have been forwarded to appropriate Sustainable Tennessee committees for inclusion in development of a statewide sustainability agenda.

Healthy Communities Top Five Regional Sustainability Recommendations

1. Employ an interconnected approach to addressing the physical, social, economic environments within communities resulting in aesthetically pleasing and safe neighborhoods that promote physical use and social integration.

2. Invest in technologies to utilize waste and minimize pollution via closed loop systems; create economic opportunity through job placement, quality education and green jobs; encourage local industries to use inherently safe raw materials and processes.

3. Each neighborhood, industry, community-based organization to accept responsibility to develop a green plan and network it with others to effect policy change.

4. Ensure schools promote and implement policies and activities that encourage healthy lifestyles (nutrition, physical activity, safe environments).

5. Environmental justice. All policies enacted will work with the goal that no one geographic or socioeconomic group is being unfairly impacted by environmental pollution and hazards.

Natural Infrastructure Top Five Regional Sustainability Recommendations

1. Develop regional programs to promote awareness, foster communications, and educate all stakeholders (e.g. people of the region; policy makers; developers and planners; scientific community; land owners; and K-12 youth) as to conservation issues affecting the region and the importance of a sustainable future. This could include workshops, speaker series, public meetings, material for distribution, TV ads, and other.

2. Promote conservation programs that “inventory the status and distribution” of existing natural resources (e.g. Animal and plant species) to determine the rare and threatened species and to provide a “heritage list” of native flora and fauna that are a part of the historic landscape and have significant conservation value. This provides baseline information for future decision-making and planning. Promote regional conservation that enhances development of green infrastructure plans across boundaries.

3. Develop metrics (Ecological Index) that promote research and development of conservation metrics as a tool similar to LEED and other green programs. These tools must provide a framework suitable for any place in the region but adaptable to fit local conditions and could focus on the region’s biodiversity as well as “restoration potential,” adequate widths of corridors, measures of habitat quality and others. This approach makes it feasible to include the natural environment as well as the structural environment or built community and sustainability planning.

4. Promote a watershed management strategy for the region’s water resources that ensure adequate supplies of clean water; the plan addresses issues related to stormwater management and use of water resources in the home. Such management would enhance the health of our streams and rivers and promote a move toward water conservation in the region.

5. Encourage the creation and expansion of connected greenspace, including natural areas, state parks, state forests, nature preserves and similar resources. These areas serve as valuable habitat for living organisms and provide resources that promote a “connection to the land” and an “environmental ethic” among the public.

Renewable and Alternative Energy Top Five Regional Sustainability Recommendations

1. Implement incentives for industrial operations that reduce energy consumption, switch to renewable energy sources, or reduce environmental impact.

2. Require 25-year plan to reduce energy consumption, reduce environmental impact, and increase use of renewable energy sources. To be revised every 5 years with 3rd party validated retrospective of past 5 years.
3. Promote telepresence and other remote technologies to eliminate trips.
4. Develop K-12 curricular support materials and personnel to support education about sustainable energy systems.

Develop an efficient multimodal system that moves people and goods efficiently and maximizes the use of intermodal transportation facilities.

Sustainable Design and Development Top Five Regional Sustainability Recommendations

1. Require municipalities to develop and implement a comprehensive plan at the local level. Change the state mandated building/technical codes to remove barriers to sustainable development. (State mandate specific minimums/maximums to encourage desired behaviors.

2. Create pedestrian-friendly streets using street design and traffic calming techniques to slow down traffic, to create better sidewalk and intersection design of pedestrian facilities and to educate bicyclist, pedestrians, and drivers on how to safely share the road. Create transportation networks that promote multi-modal transportation.
3. Set goal for equitable urban land use and transportation planning and policies to create compact, ACCESSIBLE mixed-use projects, forming urban villages designed to maximize mixed income housing, Organic recycling, urban and rooftop gardening, and reduced energy use, and also to encourage walking, bicycling and use of existing and future public transit systems. Get models on the ground of sustainable neighborhoods by targeting three neighborhoods that represent the diversity of the county with incentives and focused and collaborative efforts.

4. Develop incentives for all sustainable projects, and expedite permitting for these sustainable projects. Include incentives to preserve undeveloped areas, such as rural.

5. Create incentives that encourage more sustainable neighborhoods by targeting neighborhoods that would be considered “at-risk” including commercial projects.

Summary and Follow-Up. Collaboration among the three local co-organizers yielded a comprehensive and interesting agenda and a diverse audience for the first West Tennessee Regional Opportunity Forum on sustainability. Its timing coincided with conclusion of the Sustainable Shelby initiative public input process, a well publicized municipal sustainability effort, which probably helped raise the consciousness of regional governments, private businesses and non-profit organizations to sustainability issues. The willingness of several local businesses to subject their development projects to the scrutiny of LEED-ND analysis demonstrated the private sector’s interest in new approaches to sustainable development. The attendance at Saturday’s Workgroups, and cooperation among public and private organizations to discuss and rank regional sustainability issues, demonstrated strong community interest in a sustainable future. The success of the 2008 Forum established the foundation for a 2009 West Tennessee Regional Opportunity Forum to build upon. Outcomes of the 2nd Annual Summit for a Sustainable Tennessee will possibly be used as guidance for development of issues for future Regional Opportunity Forums.