Building Sustainable Neighborhoods in Tampa
A community assistance program brought a team of volunteer professionals to Tampa to work with community decision-makers and stakeholders to improve the neighborhood planning process.
On November 12-14, 2008 Tampa neighborhood leaders, planners, architects, government officials, and many others came together to discuss sustainability and neighborhood planning principles and practices.
The Urban Charrette, in collaboration with the City of Tampa, Hillsborough County City-County Planning Commission and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Tampa Bay chapter, received a grant from AIA Communities by Design for the Sustainable Design Assessment Team (SDAT) program. The SDAT is a community assistance program that brings a team of volunteer professionals to selected cities to work with community decision-makers and stakeholders, with a focus on sustainability.
The Tampa SDAT - Connecting Tampa, focused on improving the neighborhood planning process and brought a multi-disciplinary team to town to interact with local stakeholders to begin the development of a new planning framework. The SDAT team was led by Wayne Feiden, FAICP, Planning Director of Northampton, MA and Marsha Garcia of AIA Communities by Design, and included additional members each with their own areas of expertise. These included Mary Hooper, Mayor of Montpellier, VT, Kristin Bennett, AICP Senior Transportation Planner in Colorado Springs, CO, Michael Snodgrass, Executive Director of NeighborWorks Lincoln, Lincoln NE, Antonio DiMambro, FAIA, Principal of Antonio Di Mambro + Associates, Inc. Boston, MA, and Deborah Reshotko, Artistic Director, Speaking of Dance, Denver, CO.
On November 14th, the SDAT team made a public presentation with their initial recommendations on how to begin to craft a new framework. Some of these included:
- Invest in community organizing
- Complete the redevelopment of Downtown
- Retrofit urban corridors for Transit Oriented Development
- Improve pedestrian connectivity between neighborhoods
- Use a shared vision as a constant reference point and a flexible action framework.
A final report from the SDAT team will be released in January 2009 that will include additional specific recommendations focused on helping to empower neighborhoods to plan for a more sustainable future. More information on the process can be found by visiting the project website www.sdattampa.com.
