Reading Area Ecodistrict
EcoDistricts is a not for profit organization committed to a grass-roots effort to save the environment starting from the neighborhood level. “We believe that when we prioritize positive outcomes in equity, resilience, and climate protection – we build vibrant, thriving places where all can work and live.” EcoDistricts aims to mobilize, empower, and accelerate sustainable and equitable urban development leadership throughout North America and beyond. Within every neighborhood (or district) lies the opportunity to design truly innovative, scalable solutions to some of the biggest challenges facing city makers today: income, education and health disparities; blight and ecological degradation; the growing threat of climate change; and rapid urban growth.
EcoDistricts is advancing a new model of urban development to empower just, sustainable, and resilient neighborhoods. The Protocol and EcoDistricts Handbook guide city makers to take a collaborative, holistic, neighborhood-scale approach to community design to achieve rigorous, meaningful performance outcomes that matter to people and planet.
Mission:
At EcoDistricts, we’re advancing a new model of urban regeneration and community development rooted in a relentless commitment to authentic collaboration and social, economic and ecological innovation. Our work is powered by the growing number of inspired urban change makers that are reimagining the future of cities.
Vision:
“Just, resilient and sustainable cities, from the neighborhood up”
Core values:
§ Neighborhoods and districts are the building blocks of sustainable cities
§ Everybody – regardless of class, race, age, religion, gender identity, or sexual orientation – deserves to live in healthy, safe, connected and vibrant neighborhoods
§ Economic opportunity, community well-being, and ecological health are fundamental ingredients for sustainable neighborhoods and cities
§ Neighborhood sustainability requires a new model for action – rooted in collaboration and greater inclusion – to co-create innovative district-scale projects
§ Rigorous, consistent and transparent reporting in the areas of governance, environmental, and social performance is fundamental to effectively promote and manage long-term sustainability
§ Social equity, inclusion and democracy are essential to sustainable neighborhood development
What is an Ecodistrict?
Ecodistricts foster a cooperative, integrated, neighbor-to-neighbor approach to building community. An ecodistrict is a community that is embedded in a holistic model of sustainable planning at the neighborhood scale that empowers people to take ownership over their individual and collective futures. While traditional development focuses on developing the built environment, ecodistrict planning focuses on developing both the hardware AND software of a community. Within this framework, physical space and the built environment (hardware) is developed in harmony with a community’s social and cultural networks (software) where people work together to improve quality of life through engagement, stewardship, and community leadership. Sustainable development practices are utilized to build on a community’s strengths, identify ways to bring opportunity for growth into the neighborhood, and prioritize equity, resiliency, and climate protection in the planning process. The goal of creating an ecodistrict is to grow positive and thriving places where all people can live, work, and play. This process can eventually lead to certification for your community if all requirements are fulfilled.
What Will it Provide?
In short, an improved quality of life is what an ecodistrict will provide in the Reading area. Each ecodistrict is unique. However, each ecodistrict plan can generally be broken down into various focus area to serve each community’s particular needs. These focus areas can be decided on at a community meeting, after collecting data about what community members most value, in collaboration with community members and professionals during the initial planning phase. They serve as concepts that will be further broken down into more specific goals, targets, and actions.
Although focus areas should be specific to each community, the following are some general examples:
Food - Increasing access to a grocery store, providing support for self-growing food, access to kitchens for food preparation, and improving food education
Water - Cleaner water, mitigating flooding issues, increasing recreational space, and riverfront connectivity
Energy - Reducing energy cost burden, adding resilience to the system, and equitable access to energy efficient and/or renewable energy options
Air Quality - Reducing the impacts of industrial smog, addressing health conditions like asthma, and increasing awareness to indoor air quality
Mobility - Improved access to jobs and amenities, increasing public safety, greater walkability, and freedom of movement for all transportation method
Equity - Access to education, affordable housing, employment opportunities, health & wellness, and fairness in development
Why We Need an Ecodistrict in Reading
The shrunken state of local economies and a lack of resources can be attributed to factors that have, for the past 40 years or so, increasingly become more of a problem for cities and small towns all over the country. These factors include: suburban growth, population changes, relocation of industries, and local hyper-investment Small towns and cities have started to diversify their economies by finding unique ways to attract new industries and to draw in new residents, and to that effort Reading has begun planning to revitalize Penn Street. We need to bring good jobs, families, local business, and stewardship of natural spaces back to our small towns and cities.
The ecodistrict planning process joins resident-driven leadership with professional community designers to work as a team to create a pathway towards development that reflects community needs. Results include rebuilding our current community while also attracting growth, growing community pride, improving environmental health, and instilling protections against gentrification. Using the EcoDistricts’ model of development will help ensure that our community plan is thoughtful, effective, and efficient. This will remind citizens that we are on the same team and will make sure we are united in our priorities towards creating safe and healthy places to live that will last for future generations.
Issues in Reading.
Ecodistricts can provide many broad solutions to general issues like clean air and water or access to food and energy. The city of Reading, just like any other city has its own specific issues in the community that can also be addressed specifically by implementing an ecodistrict in the reading area. The following are just a few issues that will be addressed:
Trash. If you take a walk through the neighborhoods of reading you will see a common theme. Trash on the sidewalks and in the streets. Sidewalks are reduced to rubble and streets are damaging vehicles. Building are abandoned or condemned. This city is a beautiful city with great architecture and a rich, diverse culture. But, these days, the city looks exhausted and forgotten. One of the main efforts of an ecodistrict is to reduce waste to zero as much as possible. An ecodistrict provides solutions for readings trash and pollution problem.
Local economy. In recent years, mom and pop shops have had a tough time competing with big box corporations. The Reading area economy is robust and diverse but small local businesses are struggling and they are receiving the recognition and support they deserve. EcoDistricts supports shopping locally and with better access to resources and better mobility we can work together to develop a thriving local economy for Reading and Berks County.
Community engagement. Recent actions and inactions in the federal government has encouraged a greater divide amongst our communities than what already existed. No matter what anyone’s political views are, we can still work together to bring our community back together. There is no time for hate in our communities. We cannot accomplish these goals alone we need the support of our communities.
Equitable access to resources. Food, clean water, and shelter. You would think that in the richest, most powerful nation, which provides the largest portion of the global economy we would figure a way to provide these essential for all its citizens. It is proven that we cannot rely on the federal government for these things. We must provide these essentials for our own communities so that we can live happy and healthy lives. Access to transportation and jobs can also be addressed with the implementation of an ecodistrict.
All the local and non-local issues facing leadership and economic authorities may not be directly related to environmentalism, but EcoDistricts has developed a robust protocol that will support solutions for those issues. An ecodistrict in the Reading area will directly and indirectly solve a lot of issues in our community. Most importantly it will mend out communities and rebuild our local economies brining equitable access to all resources.
Comments