STARS Sustainable Transportation Planning -- An Interactive Workshop

Contents:

1. Post-Workshop Documents & Information
2. Post-Workshop Slideshow
3. Workshop Summary
4. Workshop Agenda
5. Learning Objectives
6. Details: Register/Time/Directions
7. Trainer Bios

Post-Workshop Documents & Information

Thanks again to Paul and Kelly for introducing us to their STARS tool project, a LEED-like framework and method used to link sustainability to transportation planning.

1. Workshop Handout (summary, links, trainer bios, agenda)
2. Presentation
3. STARS-Plan Framework
4. STARS-Project Description & Credits
5. STARS-Safety, Health, & Equity Matrix
6. Existing STARS Portland DOT website with summary documents and a project manual overview.
7. Additional Resources on Strategic Sustainability generally:
   
   1. Annotated list of learning resources (see the Learning Resources section & Appendix).
   2. See the Sustainability Committee's Oct 14 Workshop on Strategic Community Sustainability Planning.
   3. For an excellent 30-minute introductory presentation (recorded webinar) by the Director of the Masters Program in Strategic Sustainability Leadership at the Blekinge Institute of Technology, Karlskrona Sweden, go here:  Planning for Sustainable Development--Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability, (you sign on as a guest adding your name but don’t use the name "Guest," use your own - (No password is needed) and click the play arrow in the middle of the screen and it will play for you.) Go here for details. The recording is 60 mins, but you can skip the last 30 min of Q&A.
   4. For more on MaxNeef's Human Needs, read this paper: “What are the Fundamental Human Needs?” and/or listen to this MP3 audio file of the MaxNeef's talk: click here (opening the file takes 1-2 mins).
   5. Videos of Dr. Karl Henrik-Robert on sustainability (Founder of TNS):
      1. On Leadership & Sustainability (principles & framework) (10 mins).
      2. TNS YouTube Channel, many vids available, starts with cartoon - TNS & Sustainability in 2 mins.

Workshop Slideshow

Summary

Transportation professionals are struggling to meaningfully improve the environmental, economic, and social performance of transportation projects and plans.  STARS  does more than simply “green up” our current transportation system.  Instead, it provides a voluntary LEED-like, integrated framework to:

• fundamentally reevaluate the purpose of a transportation project or plan (e.g. to provide people access to jobs, education and other daily needs),

• evaluate and prioritize innovative alternatives in the design phase, and

• measure and improve system performance in the ongoing operations and maintenance phases.

Join this co-hosted workshop between APA California Northern Sustainability Committee and the North American Sustainable Transportation Council (STC). Learn how to use a new planning and project development tool, the Sustainable Transportation Analysis & Rating System, or STARS, to simplify the integration of economic, environmental, and social performance into your transportation projects and plans.

STARS is being used on a transit corridor project (Clark County, Washington), a City Transportation System Plan (Eugene, Oregon) and a Regional Transportation Plan (Santa Cruz County, CA). Using STARS will improve the Triple Bottom Line performance of transportation plans and projects. Specifically, STARS will allow you to develop, evaluate, and rate strategies as follows:

• improve access to jobs, school, housing and goods;

• cut petroleum use and greenhouse gas emissions;

• boost the local economy while reducing transportation capital and operating costs;

• improve public support for projects and plans that provide both economic and environmental benefits.

Agenda

1. Introduction:

• Why was STARS created and who contributed to its development

• What is sustainable transportation? Applying sustainability principles to shape transportation plans, projects and programs

• How STARS is transforming the way communities think about and plan our transportation systems (using case studies from one or more pilot communities).

2. The STARS analysis framework

3. Applying the STARS Credits: 

How STARS credits can identify low cost, high sustainability district-level improvements.

4. Discussion

Learning Objectives

1. New Tool: Attendees will learn how to apply a sustainability framework to developing and analyzing district-level transportation plans and projects by using the STARS Triple Bottom Line system.

2. Backcasting: Attendees will learn how to apply backcasting to transportation improvements by establishing clear and compelling sustainability goals and objectives to define transportation outcomes, and provide a list of performance measures that capture them.

3. Innovative Strategies: Attendees will learn about inexpensive, quick-to-implement demand management and system management investments that will increase walking, bicycling, transit use and carpooling, improve health, reduce climate pollution and boost the local economy.

Details: Register/Time/Directions

• Date/Time:  Thursday, Dec. 8, 2011, 2 – 5 pm. Doors open/Check-in begins at 1:30 pm.
• Location/Directions:  ABAG Metro Auditorium (address/map/phone).
• Cost:  $25.
• Register (mandatory):  Go to EventBrite: http://starssusttrans.eventbrite.com.
• Contact: scott-e@sustainability2030.com.   
• More information: Portland Bureau of Transportation.
• CM Credit (3):  pending.

Trainer Bios

Paul Horton is a principal consultant focusing on sustainability for the management consulting firm LeighFisher.  He is co-founder and vice chair of the North American Sustainable Transportation Council, developer of STARS.  Paul’s experience also includes co-founding and managing the non-profit Climate Solutions, serving as corporate sustainability director for the planning and engineering firm David Evans & Associates, Inc, teaching sustainable business and carbon management at the Evergreen State College and for the International Society of Sustainability Professionals, and providing strategic sustainability solutions to a variety of public and private sector clients.  paul.horton@leighfisher.com  |  (650) 375-5356  |  (360) 918-1079 (cell)

Kelly Rodgers is the program manager for the North American Sustainable Transportation Council, which is developing an evaluation tool and rating system for transportation plans and projects called STARS.  Over the past 15 years, Kelly has worked in the public, private, and non-profit sectors in a variety of areas – including neighborhood planning, stormwater management, renewable energy, sustainable transportation, food systems, and community design. She also teaches Sustainable Development for Sustainable Communities at Marylhurst University and is the coauthor of the book Cartopia: Portland’s Food Cart Revolution. Kelly graduated with a Master in Landscape Architecture from the University of British Columbia and a Bachelor of Arts in Urban and Regional Planning from Miami University.

Scott Edmondson, AICP, Is co-chair/founder, APA CA Northern Sustainability Committee. He is principal/ founder, Sustainability 2030, a think-do tank accelerating an effective response with strategic sustainability understanding, resources, advisory-training services, & initiatives. Scott has 25 years of planning experience: CEQA environmental review (17 yrs), long range (5 yrs, Citywide, SF Planning), and strategic facilities planning (3 yrs). MAAURP, UCLA. He has worked on a variety of sustainability research, writing, and planning projects over the years, including the SF Sustainability Plan (1996), BAASC (late 1990s). Scott-e@sustainability2030.com.