Environmental + Sustainability

IRVINE, CALIF. — University of California, Irvine Extension announced the launch of its new “Certificate Program in Sustainable Community Planning & Development,” developed to meet the needs for interdisciplinary planning and development continuing education training that focuses on incorporating sustainability into community environments.

ZÜRICH, SWITZERLAND — The 3rd International Holcim Awards competition for projects and visions in sustainable construction offers a total of $2 million in prize money and is open to: sustainable building and civil engineering works; landscape, urban design, and infrastructure projects; and materials, products, and construction technologies.

Salt Lake City, UTAH — The Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES) announced the selection of the Lions Park in Moab, Utah; the UTA Intermodal Center in Orem, Utah; and the Swaner EcoCenter in Park City, Utah, to participate in a program to test the nation’s first rating system for green landscape design, construction, and maintenance.

DENVER — CH2M HILL was selected by the U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to lead a team in the identification of the characteristics of a sustainable highway, and to develop tools, procedures, and techniques that can be incorporated into a standard practice to make highways more sustainable.

KANSAS CITY, MO. — The green revolution has evolved since the first Earth Day 40 years ago. According to a new America THINKS survey from HNTB Corp., 64 percent of Americans are willing to pay more today for national infrastructure that is energy-efficient and less wasteful in order to save money and resources in the future, up from 58 percent last November. And 96 percent of Americans agree all new construction should take sustainability into consideration.

FAYETTEVILLE, ARK. — Emphasizing the city as ecology, or ecosystem, Steve Luoni and his colleagues in the University of Arkansas Community Design Center are leading a movement toward intelligent design of urban landscapes that will reduce energy consumption and limit man’s impact on the environment. Luoni, professor of architecture and director of the center, presented the main principles of this movement at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in San Diego.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced three steps to support communities’ efforts to provide their citizens with economic opportunity while reducing impact on the environment. The actions will encourage state and local government to make their communities more sustainable by strategically aligning their environmental, transportation and housing investments.

KANSAS CITY, KAN. — Iowa City, Iowa, has been selected as one of five sustainable communities pilot projects in the United States as part of a partnership between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Sustainable Sites Initiative released the nation’s first rating system for the design, construction, and maintenance of sustainable landscapes, with or without buildings. A partnership of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, and the U.S. Botanic Garden, the initiative’s rating system represents four years of work by sustainability experts, scientists, and design professionals, as well as public input from individuals and dozens of organizations.