Twin Cities Urban Sustainability Forum

University Of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis MN

Investigators

Abstract

The Twin Cities Urban Sustainability Forum (TCUS Forum) will include a main two-day symposium to be followed by a series of follow-on workshops that would occur over one year. The main symposium would include a mix of local, national, and international speakers, focused around five cross-cutting themes: (1) organization of a translational research framework for urban sustainability; (2) adaptation of governance for cross-disciplinary approaches to long-term sustainability; (3) use of technology; (4) forms of collaboration among academics and practitioners from multiple sectors; and (5) integration of urban ecosystems research and urban sustainability practice into a translational research framework. Both speakers and participants (120-160 total) will be a mix of academics and practitioners from diverse fields, including but not limited to urban planning, landscape architecture, ecology, engineering, and water resources. The follow-on workshops will explore these themes to further articulate a framework for translational research, while at the same time turning the framework into practice. The workshop process itself will also be studied to gain insights to develop the translational research framework. Evaluation will include pre- and post-surveys of workshop participants, key interviews, content analysis of workshop notes, and participant observation to conduct a rigorous analysis of the workshop outcomes for publication. The proposed TCUS Forum and follow-on activities to develop a translational research process would have major practical significance in facilitating the goal of attaining sustainable cities. In addition to the intellectual merit of developing a translational research framework for publication, the TCUS Forum, including follow-on workshops, would be would itself be a major outreach activity, with considerable potential benefit to sustainability efforts in the Twin Cities region and potentially other urban regions as well. Findings from the TCUS Forum will be integrated with the National Academy of Sciences regional urban sustainability series. Findings will be presented at one or more national conferences and will be incorporated into an Urban Ecosystems Brown Bag Seminar and a Freshman Seminar on sustainable urban living. Bruce Hamilton 10/16/10