sustainable development solutions and strong local leadership. The model is .... prepare your application, the form requ
2015 EcoDistricts Incubator Call for Participation A ROADMAP TO SUCCESS Ready to move from idea to action? We’ll give you the tools. The EcoDistricts Incubator is a three-day intensive, project-based workshop designed to accelerate district-scale sustainability across North America. Each project team selected for the invitation-only Incubator is already hard at work promoting just, sustainable and resilient cities and neighborhoods for all. The Incubator provides advanced training to help teams accelerate their sustainable neighborhood or district projects. World-class faculty guide participants through a powerful mix of one-on-one technical assistance, expert facilitation, tours, presentations, and work sessions designed around the EcoDistricts Protocol, our comprehensive process management tool to promote integrated sustainable development solutions and strong local leadership. The model is simple – bring together key project stakeholders in an intense, charrette-style learning environment to cocreate a customized EcoDistricts Roadmap for their own catalytic neighborhood projects.
CHALLENGE Today, cities across the world are grappling with a range of urbanization challenges, from housing affordability, job creation and energy and water security, to food access and ecological degradation. The urgency to revitalize neighborhoods and rebuild basic infrastructure presents an opportunity for leaders to rethink urban development. The neighborhood or district provides an important scale to spur innovation and test and replicate strategies. By working at this scale, the challenge becomes more manageable, and technologies and practices can be advanced to impact citywide policymaking and investments.
APPROACH EcoDistricts is creating a powerful vision and collaboration platform to support the burgeoning marketplace of district-scale sustainability ideas and actions. We focus on urban regeneration solutions that integrate smart and sustainable infrastructure, high performance green buildings and robust community engagement and action. We emphasize the “doing” by helping project teams and civic entrepreneurs break down silos, unleash creative solutions, recognize the collective power that exists within neighborhoods, and prioritize the needs of communities. Today, we’re at the heart of a growing network of city makers—urban planners, designers, public officials, developers, community activists, entrepreneurs, researchers, investors and others—who are cultivating positive, community-driven change one neighborhood at a time. The Incubator is one of our cornerstone programs that support emerging project teams.
EcoDistricts 1223 SW Washington Street, Suite 200, Portland, Oregon 97205, USA | (011) 503-863-2565
THE INCUBATOR The Incubator provides advanced training to leadership teams who are working on clearly defined district or neighborhood sustainability projects. Participants co-create knowledge working within their project teams and building strong relationships with practitioners from across North America. The Incubator brings their practice to the next level, deepening their knowledge, challenging their assumptions, and spurring new approaches to community-driven transformation. Each team leaves with a customized EcoDistricts Roadmap for their project. To date, we have trained 26 project teams in cities that are diverse in region, size, economic conditions, and culture. Projects that participated in the Incubator are making real progress in implementing district-scale projects, policies and programs. •
•
•
Austin’s Seaholm District, Cambridge’s Kendall Square Innovation District, and Denver’s Sun Valley neighborhood, all alumni projects of the Incubator, have joined EcoDistricts’ Target Cities pilot program. Target Cities is a two-year immersion program for projects to test a powerful collaboration platform, the EcoDistricts Protocol, designed to accelerate sustainable neighborhood regeneration and create replicable models to learn from. San Francisco developed a citywide EcoDistrict policy framework and launched its first ecodistrict pilot in the South of Market Central Corridor area. The area is expecting about 10,000 units of new housing and 35,000 new jobs in the coming years, and the City will assist the neighborhood’s growth with an emphasis on smart growth approaches. Boston’s Innovation District, an emerging center of leading knowledge companies, retailers, manufacturers, and new urban residents, is Boston’s pilot ecodistrict. The City is encouraging high-efficiency district utility investments, coordinating community-wide action, and setting ambitious sustainability goals.
WHO SHOULD ATTEND Project teams that are committed to developing a sustainable district or neighborhood project should apply. Participants are municipal executives, utility providers, community developers, and civic leaders; each bringing a unique experience-set that deepens the collective knowledge of the group. It is strongly encouraged that at least one team member represent the municipality (planning, redevelopment, transportation, parks, economic development, etc.). Teams must have at least five participants (max. 7), and may include executive staff from organizations that are invested in the neighborhood, such as: • • •
Elected officials Municipal agencies Utilities
• •
Real estate Business owners
•
Community or neighborhood organizations
Teams must come to the EcoDistricts Incubator with an identified project, and have the authority and capacity to create change within the proposed district. Multiple projects will be considered as well.
WHY PARTICIPATE? By attending the Incubator, project teams and participants will:
Page 2 of 4
Strengthen their ability and capacity to deliver a district project that integrates smart infrastructure, green buildings and robust community engagement and action. Learn from cutting edge content, experience EcoDistrict projects in Portland, OR, and receive targeted advice and recommended solutions from faculty experts. Join a “network within a network” - an inner circle of highly trained ecodistrict practitioners working on a diversity of projects, creating new relationships with Incubator alumni. Have in hand a resource guide of best practices research, the updated version of the EcoDistricts Protocol, and contacts for leading experts in North America. Be inspired and equipped with an EcoDistricts Roadmap for their community, which can catalyze change and accelerate project implementation.
• • • • •
Through the Incubator’s customized agenda, project teams and participants will: Apply a process management approach to implement an ecodistrict over time. Form a leadership team and propose long-term governance structures to spearhead the creation and management of ongoing projects. Establish key goals and strategies based on the EcoDistricts Protocol Imperatives [Equity & Resilience] and Performance Areas [Livability + Place; Prosperity; Health + Wellness; Mobility + Connectivity; Ecosystem Function; Resource Efficiency] Prioritize project implementation through feasibility and financing opportunities. Discuss policies and incentives to promote implementation and spur development.
• • •
• •
LOGISTICS & REQUIREMENTS DATE:
8:00 AM Monday, May 18, 2014 to 3:00 PM Wednesday, May 20
LOCATION:
Portland, OR
FEE:
$6,000 per team of 5
FEE DUE:
April 27, 2015
• •
• •
The Incubator is underwritten through support from foundations, sponsors and EcoDistricts’ Founding Members allowing EcoDistricts to cover 50% of program costs. Each participant or team is responsible for making their hotel and flight arrangements. EcoDistricts will provide a travel agent to help arrange flights, and will secure a hotel room block with reduced room rates. All team members will participate in two (2) one-hour project preparatory conference calls. Each project team will complete and submit a report ten months post Incubator on March 18, 2016. EcoDistricts will provide a report template.
TO APPLY Applications must be submitted by 12 PM PST on Friday, March 6, 2015 through our online application form at https://ecodistrictsincubator.wufoo.com/forms/ecodistricts-incubator/. To prepare your application, the form requires the following details: 1. 2.
Team Lead Contact Information Project Information (brief descriptions or responses):
Page 3 of 4
3. 4. 5.
a. Project Name b. Area (in acres) c. Demographics (max. 150 words) d. Description (max. 500 words) e. Interest in EcoDistricts Approach (max. 150 words) f. Project Opportunities (max. 250 words) Top 3 Priorities & Challenges (one sentence each) Incubator Team Members Information Upload Documents a. Project Map b. Image Representative of Project (at least one) c. Three (3) Letters of Support from Stakeholders (combined into one PDF)
EVALUATION CRITERIA Applications will be evaluated on the following criteria: • • • •
Multi-sector support and commitment to accelerate a district project Strength and diversity of participant team and clear leadership Availability of financial and staff resources to move the project forward Diversity in demographics and neighborhood type across participating projects
TIMELINE January 22
Call for Participation announced
January 29
Informational webinar hosted (11 am PST)
February 5
Informational webinar hosted (11 am PST)
March 6
Deadline for submissions at 12:00 PM PST
March 23
Notification of project selection
March 27
Acceptance from project teams
April 6 – 24
Two (2) preparatory conference calls with project team
May 18 – 20
2015 EcoDistricts Incubator in Portland, OR
June 1 – 12
One (1) post-Incubator debrief with project team
March 18, 2016
Incubator project update report due
ABOUT ECODISTRICTS At EcoDistricts, our vision is just, sustainable and resilient cities and neighborhoods for all. To facilitate this, we provide support and leadership for urban change makers and innovators to accelerate sustainable district- and neighborhood-scale regeneration in their communities.
CONTACT Lynne Barker, Director of Convening & Research
[email protected] | 206.491.0279
Page 4 of 4
