Creating the Sustainable City: A Community Engagement Strategy That s Working

Transcription

1 Creating the Sustainable City: A Community Engagement Strategy That s Working By Cori Burbach Sustainable Community Coordinator The City of Dubuque September 27,

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Overview...3 Citizen Engagement from the Start...3 Incorporating Sustainability into Community Planning...5 You Can t Manage What You Can t Measure...6 Ensuring Continued Community Leadership and Buy-In...9 Smarter, Sustainable Dubuque...11 Next Steps and Challenges...15 Conclusion

3 Overview In 2006, a plan to make Dubuque, Iowa, a more sustainable city became a top priority of Mayor Roy D. Buol and the Dubuque City Council. As a result, a community task force was formed to create a vision of sustainability. This has become the lens through which all city operations are now viewed. Sustainability is defined as a community s ability to meet the environmental, economic and social equity needs of today without reducing the ability of future generations to meet their needs. In adopting this vision, Dubuque leaders also aspired to create a model of sustainability for other communities with populations under 200,000. Forty percent of the United States population lives in such communities. Rather than positioning the sustainability initiative as a city government program, a community engagement strategy with a grassroots approach was implemented. This approach brought about sustainability initiative buy-in and ownership by the private, public and non-profit sectors, as well as by individual citizens. A strong performance management system and a comprehensive implementation plan now weave sustainability throughout all other planning and community development documents. This has helped to prove the value of sustainability for local, state and national partners. Citizen Engagement from the Start After serving ten years on the City Council, Roy D. Buol ran for Mayor in His platform, engaging citizens as partners, was based on what he had heard from thousands of citizens concerning water quality, recycling, green space needs, public transit, cultural vitality, accessibility, and downtown revitalization. This led to what became known as Sustainable Dubuque, a City Council-adopted, community-created, and citizen-led initiative. Figure 1. Sustainable Dubuque 3

4 The City Council moved to create a city-wide citizen task force, supported by city staff, which was directed to develop a comprehensive description of what sustainability meant to Dubuque. The Sustainable Dubuque Task Force included representation from local government, schools, utility companies, religious organizations, neighborhood associations, youth organizations, nonprofits, environmental organizations and business stakeholders. This diverse group met regularly over two years, collecting community-wide input to develop a vision. The process included presentations to community organizations and businesses to discuss ideas and objectives. Additionally, nearly 900 community surveys were completed. The result of this effort was the Sustainable Dubuque model, which focused on a balanced approach to quality-of-life issues. This includes equal emphasis on three categories: economic prosperity; environmental integrity; and social/cultural vibrancy. This broad vision was more specifically described in 11 sustainability principles that now guide the initiative and form the basis of a plan: Regional Economy Smart Energy Use Resource Management Community Design Green Buildings Healthy Local Food Community Knowledge Reasonable Mobility Healthy Air Clean Water Native Plants & Animals Each of the sustainability principles was defined. For example, Community Knowledge was defined as education, empowerment and engagement to achieve economic prosperity, environmental integrity and social/cultural vibrancy. (For more definitions and background see the Sustainable Dubuque Masterplan.) 4

5 In order to move to the next level of planning, task force members brainstormed and collected recommendations of ways to achieve each principle. One concern with this approach was that the broad vision of the plan would be limited by becoming too prescriptive too early. Another was that feasibility, partnerships and funding could not be thoroughly analyzed in order to be formally adopted by the City Council. As a result, two broad recommendations were made to ensure that the Sustainable Dubuque plan was implemented. 1. While the sustainability plan should continue to be its own stand-alone plan, it is important that the other documents that guide the development of the city, including the city s Comprehensive Plan, incorporate the sustainability vision throughout. 2. Rather than defining a prescriptive number of action items under each principle, it is more important to collect data to measure performance against achievable and measurable targets for community progress in each area. Incorporating Sustainability into Community Planning The city s Comprehensive Plan, updated every five years, is the primary planning document for the Dubuque community. It was important that the newly adopted Sustainable Dubuque plan be integrated throughout the document. Together, these two plans provide overall guidance for other planning efforts in the Greater Dubuque area. Theme-specific plans, such as the Dubuque Metropolitan Area Transportation Strategy (DMATS) plan or the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy, also incorporate the overall sustainability framework. Importantly, these plans are created with staffing support from the East Central Intergovernmental Association (ECIA), the local council of governments. Because Dubuque is the largest city in a primarily rural area and because sustainability is not a goal that stops at geographical borders, it was important that Dubuque work with its regional partners to address issues that affect the entire area, such as watershed management and transportation planning. Similarly, the Comprehensive and Sustainability plans provide the framework for neighborhood or location-specific plans, like the Port of Dubuque Master Plan and the Historic Millwork District Master Plan. The latter plan focuses on the redevelopment of over one million square feet of historic warehouse space into a mixed-use, livable neighborhood, using sustainable best practices. This initiative is now creating diverse housing options, new downtown businesses, infrastructure to support arts and culture, and a marriage of historic preservation and energy-efficient technologies. An estimated $200 million in public and private investment will complete this plan. 5

6 This comprehensive approach to sustainability planning has resulted in the formation of the Dubuque County Smart Planning Consortium, a collaboration of county planning officials and representatives from small rural communities throughout Dubuque County focused on incorporating sustainability into their planning, budgeting and operations. You Can t Manage What You Can t Measure As the sustainability initiative continued to grow in Dubuque, it quickly became apparent that it was fairly simple to measure the results of a single project, but difficult to cumulatively measure the progress of the community. For instance, a recently completed municipal parking ramp lighting retrofit yields a 65% reduction in lighting costs and a 35% reduction in total energy consumption, based on information provided from the lighting monitoring system. No single system, however, captured the energy savings of the hundreds of home weatherizations and private sector energy-efficiency improvements that were happening in Dubuque. For this reason, in 2011, the City of Dubuque and its partners launched a partnership with the University of Iowa s Initiative for Sustainable Communities, an initiative of the university s School of Urban and Regional Planning. The goal of the initiative is to place second-year master s degree students in, essentially, consulting roles, assisting Iowa communities in a variety of sustainability-related projects. The students who worked on this project were tasked with developing a set of performance measures, or indicators that could track the Dubuque community s progress in meeting its goals. In addition, the project was aimed at helping Dubuque to benchmark itself against other communities that also were involved in sustainability efforts. The students reviewed more than 40 indicator systems from around the world that included 1,260 individual indicators. Many of the systems were created for individual communities; others were systems developed by states or regions to help compare cities. Also considered were indicators used by national organizations, such as the EPA s Air Quality Standards. 6

7 The goal was to select indicators for Dubuque s report that were: 1. Meaningful, meaning that the small group of indicators chosen for each principle collectively reflected the community s progress towards that principle. 2. Measurable, meaning that data was either currently accessible or could be accessed in the future. 3. Comparable to other cities. 4. Helpful in advancing Dubuque s sustainability goals, meaning that they related back to the core goals of the Sustainable Dubuque plan. The final result of the work was a 60-indicator report. University of Iowa students also collected data to put together the first baseline Sustainable Progress Report 2012 for Dubuque. They found that approximately 40% of the data could be gathered from existing state or national sources, and most of the remaining 60% could be gathered from local contacts. A handful of indicators did not have reliable data readily available, but the indicators remain in the report because they were identified as key metrics to measure the success of the community. Much of the data can best be analyzed by reviewing trend lines. Other indicators use GIS (Geographic Information Services) data to create a map that depicts how a characteristic varies by neighborhood. Still other indicators use an aggregate number, such as the average community WalkScore, which can also be viewed by neighborhood. Part of the Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities report also includes a scoring system, by which each indicator was ranked as an overall strength, weakness or neutral quality for the city. The system assigned a score based on two variables: 1) which way Dubuque s data was trending in the last five years; and 2) how Dubuque compared to four other selected communities. While this system ultimately was helpful in determining progress, it does carry with it several caveats. Figure 2. Scoring model developed by University of Iowa Students for Sustainable Dubuque Indicators report. 7

8 First, the indicators and related data were often simplified, and it s difficult, if not impossible, to find a set of five indicators that can, collectively, capture the entire story of, for example, a community s Resource Management. Secondly, one of the fundamental theories behind sustainability is the interconnectedness of various systems. Therefore, it s difficult to look at Community Design metrics in isolation, without considering how they impact, for instance, Reasonable Mobility. Third, the reliability and consistency of data must always be considered. Where was the data taken from, and how often is it collected? What is the margin of error? Does the data represent the city, county, or metropolitan statistical area (MSA)? It was found that it was acceptable to use data from varying sources that sometimes measured county and MSA trends when city data was not available, as long as this was clearly noted. Ultimately, a set of indicators can never tell the full picture of a community s sustainability efforts. What is more important than analyzing a trend line is asking the question why? For instance, the Dubuque Metropolitan Area Solid Waste Agency has set landfill diversion goals, and has proven to be a key partner in effective Resource Management. After several years of an increase in the percent of city curbside discards diverted from the landfill, this number decreased slightly in This decrease is at least partially due to the fact that glass materials are no longer accepted as recyclable material (an initiative that promotes greater benefits and long-term economic, environmental and social/cultural sustainability for Dubuque). 40% 38% 36% 34% 32% 30% 28% 26% 24% 22% 36.1% 34.9% 32.7% 34.0% 34.2% 32.5% 20% Figure 3. Percent of City Curbside Discards Diverted from Landfill (Indicator under Smart Resource Use Sustainable Dubuque Indicators report. 8

9 Ensuring Continued Community Leadership and Buy-In The grassroots approach that was taken in the original Sustainable Dubuque planning process means that the vision continues to be led and owned by the community. There are numerous community programs involved, such as Project Hope, Green Vision Schools, and the Petal Project to name a few, along with businesses that are finding ways to save money and improve the environment and their community by implementing the principles that define Sustainable Dubuque. In 2009, Dubuque 2.0, an initiative to inspire continued sustainability, was formed. Even with the work of the original task force, there was still a need for an entity that would engage and educate the community around the principles of sustainability. Understanding that it was important for the initiative to be seen as separate from the city government of Dubuque, Dubuque 2.0 was facilitated by the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque and the Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce. The Dubuque 2.0 Steering Committee was made up of many community partners, including local utility companies, K-12 and college representatives, media companies and local governments. The goal was to engage citizens with immediate impact by familiarizing community members with the concepts, principles and easy steps everyone can take to save money and resources. It also promoted positive long-term impacts by encouraging sustainable lifestyles, sharing best practices and encouraging efficiency improvements and the use of data systems to make more informed choices. Dubuque 2.0 members conducted a variety of outreach efforts, involving a strong online presence and the community-wide Dubuque 2.0 Sustainability Challenge. It also encouraged community input and sharing among individuals, businesses, schools and non-profits. As the Community Foundation and the Chamber have transitioned over time to focus on other community priorities that require engagement strategies, it became apparent that there continued to be a need for a non-governmental platform for sharing of information about sustainability. Who s doing the work? What kinds of projects are happening? What best practices are being implemented? How can the community get involved? 9

10 A non-governmental organization to handle the combination of virtual and community platforms is necessary to both make certain that the Sustainable Dubuque vision remains citizen-driven and not susceptible to political changes, and to ensure that all residents and businesses in Dubuque can engage in the sustainability dialogue in whatever way, at whatever place on the spectrum, is right for them. The Sustainable Dubuque Collaboration was formed with members of the original Sustainable Dubuque Task Force, the Dubuque 2.0 Steering Committee and others who have become community leaders in sustainability. While still in its infancy, the goals of the collaboration are to develop and launch an independent, collaborative, well-funded, community-supported organization, with diverse stakeholder participation, to: Gain acceptance of the Sustainable Dubuque vision and principles; Increase community education and partnerships around sustainability; Engage citizens and organizations so that they change individual, collective and institutional behaviors and culture resulting in successful outcomes that benefit everyone. Initial objectives of the group include working together to gather data for the Sustainable Dubuque Indicators report and to use this data to: Engage the community in a conversation about what targets should be set for future progress; Share information through marketing and outreach about the success stories in the community; Provide opportunities for those interested to get involved; and Establish a small number of priority projects that engage partners to ensure that we continue to make community progress in key areas. Dubuque 2.0 and the early work of the Sustainable Dubuque Collaboration reinforced understanding that, while many communities and initiatives are transferring to a high-tech form of engagement (via Facebook, websites, gaming, and other means), it is still advantageous to pair these methods with high-touch (personal contact) engagement. Whether it s due to the lack of access to technology or to the fact that a face-to-face gathering is still more likely to encourage behavior change, it s important that community engagement strategies employ both approaches. 10

11 Smarter, Sustainable Dubuque In 2009, Dubuque announced a partnership with IBM Research to become the first Smarter City in North America. In 2008, IBM had located a new service center in Dubuque. IBM Watson Research Center executives identified the community s sustainability vision as a fertile environment in which to grow their Smarter Planet initiative. They had launched Smarter City initiatives internationally, and were looking for a domestic community where they could launch the Smarter Planet program, addressing energy use and sustainability to research how they affected one another. In Dubuque, IBM found a community (population is approximately 58,000) that was large enough to be statistically significant and small enough that a pilot program could engage all sectors and neighborhoods, and, ultimately, be replicated on a more widespread basis. The results of this pilot would be used to inform integrated sustainability systems in cities under 200,000 in population, cities which, in total, are home to more than 40% of the United States population. This research partnership between Sustainable Dubuque, IBM Research, local utility providers and the Dubuque community is called Smarter, Sustainable Dubuque. The model integrates community engagement and education, decreased carbon emissions, new job creation, increased financial savings, and a higher quality of life for the entire community. Simply stated, Smarter, Sustainable Dubuque is a partnership designed to give people what they need (access to data) to do what they want (save money, conserve resources, and improve the economy and environment). Smarter water, electricity and transportation meters collect data to help residents make these decisions and improve their health. These smart meters are paired with a strategic, local community engagement plan to affect long-term sustainable behavior change that will ultimately benefit the individual participants and move the community towards the Sustainable Dubuque goals. Smarter Water. In 2010, the Smarter Water study was launched. Three hundred homes volunteered for the pilot program, and were given access to an online portal to view their water use in near real time. Through the portal, residents can see their total daily water use in gallons, 11

12 and what the usage translates to on their monthly utility bill. The portal also shows how their water use habits affect their carbon footprint. The new meters also detect and alert homeowners to water leaks, which research shows exist in approximately 30% of homes in the United States. In addition to gaining access to their own usage information, residents were able to compete against their neighbors. Though all data collected is anonymous, residents are able to input basic information about their homes and families and were assigned to compete against others like them. Residents also were invited to community cafes to share experiences and gain green points which earned them various recognitions and benefits. It was discussed earlier that leveraging technology (high-tech) with human interaction (high-touch) is necessary for optimal success. Smarter Water pilot participants decreased their use by 6.6% and responded to leak identifications eight times more often than non-pilot households; 77% reported they improved their water usage understanding. Though these findings could be extrapolated to assume what total community savings would be if everyone had access to this portal, it s clear that those who volunteered to participate in the pilot comprise a motivated audience. Therefore, the study results are not necessarily typical of all households. In 2011, the city expanded the pilot to 4,000 homes and small businesses throughout Dubuque. Understanding that water in Dubuque is still an accessible and fairly low-cost resource, and that residents will have varying levels of interaction with the portal, the process of determining what type of savings can be expected should the Smarter Water opportunity be available community-wide is underway. It s simple to understand the economic and environmental benefits of the work described above. Using the three-part (three-legged stool) sustainability model as a framework, the city realized a social/cultural equity issue when addressing the problem of leaks. Knowing that 30% of homes would identify leaks, the city created a grant program by which residents who identified and then fixed their leaks were eligible for a 50% cost-share program to help cover the cost. This benefited those who would not have been able to pay to fix the leaks, and, ultimately, benefits the city s water supply costs when fewer gallons of water are pumped, treated and delivered to homes. 12

13 Smarter Electricity. A companion Smarter Electricity pilot program gave 1,000 homes access to an informational portal in June This portal was significantly more interactive, based on lessons learned from the Smarter Water pilot. Participating residents were asked to fill out a survey providing home and family data along with information on the type of appliances and devices operated in the home. This information, along with data analytics provided by IBM, allows the portal to give much more specific, individualized recommendations on increasing efficiency and reducing total energy use. Figure 4: Smarter Electricity screen shot Residents once again had the chance to participate in a number of competitions and engagement opportunities, including the use of social media. They reduced their electricity use by 3% to 11% during the hottest months of the year. Over two-thirds of the participants said it increased their understanding of their personal electricity use, and 45% said it helped them find specific ways to reduce usage, based on their individualized reports. The strategies most often used by consumers include shifting to non-peak usage (52%), turning off devices (44%), decreasing lighting (29%), and decreasing heating/cooling (20%). An important lesson was learned through the Smarter Water and Smarter Electricity pilots: just because study volunteers say they had access to the Internet didn t necessarily mean they felt comfortable using it for this type of portal application. Many elderly, for instance, use the Internet in a very limited capacity to share photos of grandchildren, family and, possibly, complete one or two other specific tasks. When they were sent their user names and passwords for the portal, it was very quickly evident that these individuals who had signed up to learn about their electricity use were not using the online tool. The solution came in the form of the community cafes. In these informal meetings, participants had the opportunity to learn in an 13

14 individualized, in-person setting how to use their portal. In addition, public library staff was trained, and access to the portal was made available through libraries for those who were not comfortable with, or did not have access to the Internet at home. Through both pilots, Dubuque representatives worked with IBM social and behavioral scientists to group participants into categories to help understand their behaviors and how they reacted to the pilot. They were categorized into three groups. The first is the high engagement group. These are participants who are interested in checking their own portal often, and want more access to data. These individuals need little direction, and want to use the data to make their own decisions about behavior changes and smart investments. The second group is content to have a medium level of engagement. These individuals may check their portal often at first, but, once they determine their general patterns, they will only return if something changes. They want to be notified if something changes, like the development of a leak in their system. Finally, one-third of individuals were grouped as having low engagement. These are individuals who will not log into their portal on a regular basis. They want better defaults, based on data exceptions and anomalies, and want to know that the aggregate data is being used by public entities to make strategic decisions about future policy and investment. Smarter Travel. A Smarter Travel pilot is currently underway. Using a smart phone application developed by IBM Research, it collects anonymous data on how, when, and where volunteer participants travel within the community. In addition to using smart phones, volunteers data can be collected via a radio frequency identification device, similar to those used to track packages in shipping operations around the country. These mobile devices allow the collection of anonymous transportation data that will be used to make policy and operations decisions to improve transportation options in Dubuque (e.g., public transit routes, bike trails, and traffic light synchronization). These devices also allow traffic news to be communicated to the devices to make the travel experience easier for the user. Lessons learned from these pilots will inform a Smarter Health initiative, which will analyze how participants energy choices, like biking to work or insulating homes, affect health, as well as the Community Engagement strategy. 14

15 Next Steps and Challenges The Smarter, Sustainable Dubuque program is currently supported by federal, state, and local governments, philanthropic funds, and local businesses, in addition to IBM. These are all organizations working to create green jobs and harness the momentum of the sustainability movement. One of the largest challenges for communities considering similar programs is determining how to pay for the programs. From an operational standpoint, the large up-front investment required for something like installation of new smart meters can be paid off by energy savings experienced when lessons are learned and behaviors changed through the use of the portal and engagement initiatives. However, the savings are experienced by individual users while the investment must be made by the utility provider. More importantly, often the savings that can be experienced by the provider need to somehow be monetized and shifted to another department within the institution. For example, giving residents access to their water use data through the portal should result in reduced customer service inquiries in the city s utility billing department. If a large enough decrease in service requests was experienced, it could ultimately result in a decreased staffing demand within that department. However, the water department has been responsible for the costs associated with the installation of the new meters. This would make it necessary to quantify the savings experienced in the utility billing department and somehow credit the savings to the water department s capital budget. Programs like Smarter, Sustainable Dubuque have communities, especially utilities, asking another financial question. Traditionally, select fixed capital costs and operational costs that are not highly influenced by consumption are financed through consumption-based utility billing. There are certain costs required to deliver electricity to a home, for example, regardless of whether home use decreases by 10% or not. Utility providers are facing the challenging question of how to provide incentives for decreased resource use while ensuring that the funds are available to finance the necessary capital investments. This is not only a Smarter, Sustainable Dubuque challenge, but a question with which many who are trying to provide incentive for sustainable behavior change are grappling. 15

16 Conclusion As America s population and ecological challenges grow in the 21 st century, it is of paramount importance the nation s mid-sized communities strive for sustainability the ability to meet current environmental, economic and social needs without reducing the capacity of future generations to meet their needs. Recognizing this, Dubuque s community leaders developed a broadly inclusive plan incorporating multi-faceted municipal and business programs and projects for regional sustainability. Dubuque s comprehensive and forward-looking initiatives can serve as a model for other communities throughout the country. As communities across the country strive to incorporate sustainability principles into their longterm plans, the Sustainable Dubuque and Smarter, Sustainable Dubuque initiatives offer several lessons: Community change toward a more sustainable future requires strong leadership in the public, private, and non-profit sectors. This leadership helps to ensure that a communitysupported vision is incorporated into community strategic planning and budgeting. Grassroots engagement and leadership are equally important. This guidance ensures that, regardless of changes in political power, movement towards the community s vision will continue. Effective data collection and analysis help to ensure accountability from those involved in pursuing a community s goals. While advancing technology affords many new opportunities to achieve sustainability goals, coupling that technology with personal engagement strategies continues to be the most effective way to establish long-term sustainable behavior change in communities. 16