Crossroads Resource Center
Tools for Community Self Determination


2004 Minneapolis Sustainability Roundtable


Sponsored by the Minneapolis Sustainability Initiative:


Minneapolis Environmental Services
Citizen's Environmental Advisory Committee (CEAC)
Minneapolis Planning (now Community Planning and Economic Development, CPED)
Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance (OEA)
Crossroads Resource Center (CRC)
Draw Forth Consulting


(NEW MATERIAL!)
Fifty-Year Vision & Indicators for a Sustainable Minneapolis
The final report of the Minneapolis Sustainability Roundtable, September 16, 2004.

To read the proposed Vision and Indicators, follow the link to indicators.pdf (PDF file)


May 12, 2004 Roundtable Clarifying Vision & Indicators

The second meeting of the 2004 Roundtable process was called "Clarifying Vision & Indicators." 24 people attended this follow-up to the January 17 Roundtable (See below for information about the January meeting).

At the May meeting, a summary of the long-term vision for the city of Minneapolis, developed by those who attended the January meeting, was handed out along with a draft slate of sustainability indicators for the city.

To read the draft vision statement, follow the link to rt4vision.pdf (PDF file)

To read early draft indicators, follow the link to rt4indic.pdf (PDF file)

To review the comments made by those who attended the May 12 meeting by using the following links:

To read individual comments, follow the link to responses512.pdf (PDF file)

To read the notes written by recorders who documented the work of two small working groups, follow the link to recorders512.pdf (PDF file)

To download a list of participants at the May 12 meeting, follow the link to participants512.pdf (PDF file)

To see a summary of the evaluation comments made by participants, follow the link to evaluations512.pdf (PDF file)



January 17, 2004 Roundtable
Over 65 people attended the Roundtable, the fourth coordinated by Crossroads Resource Center since 1998. Participants including Minneapolis residents, members, staff and directors of neighborhood associations, non-profit staffpeople, educators, students, consultants, a micro eco-entrepreneur, a landlord, city staffpeople and city committee members.

At the Sustainability Roundtable we posed two key questions:


1. What would a more sustainable Minneapolis look like?

2. How will we know we are getting there?



Participants formed in small clusters of 4-8 people, and devised detailed images, stories, or future "newspaper headlines" showing what they imagined a more sustainable Minneapolis would look like. This will be used to frame a long-term vision for the city.

Then, participants reviewed a draft list of sustainability indicators. Facilitators challenged participants to consider indicators that expressed all three of the "e's" of sustainability: ecology, equity and economics. Earlier research suggests that some of the most powerful indicators of sustainability link all three of these issues at once.

A diagram showing how different categories of indicators can be placed on the three-circle diagram including ecology, equity and economics can be viewed at 3circles (PDF file)

Participants were asked to consider these "linked" indicators of sustainability and to propose their own. They were also encouraged to tell us about issues and indicators that had not been listed on the initial draft.

If you look at the file rt4eval.pdf (PDF file) on this web site, you can read the comments made by Roundtable participants evaluating their experience at the meeting. Reaction was quite positive.


Other pages of this web site offer further glimpses of what occurred:

Context
An overview of the Minneapolis Sustainability Initiative can be found at context.pdf. (PDF file)

The assumptions guiding our work, and a diagram showing the timetable we are on, and how this Roundtable fits into activities under the Minneapolis Sustainability Initiative can be found at context.pdf. (PDF file)

Vision
Exercises used in framing the long-term vision are found at visionex.pdf. (PDF file)

Elements of the Minneapolis vision statement proposed by Roundtable participants are found at elements.pdf. (PDF file)

Indicators
Draft proposed indicators of sustainability are found at indicdraft.pdf. (PDF file)

Questions posed to the Roundtable participants are found at indicq.pdf. (PDF file)

Participants' favorite indicators of sustainability are found at favorites.pdf. (PDF file)

People
To see the list of participants at the Roundtable, visit names.pdf. (PDF file)

To learn who helped make the Roundtable a success, view credits.pdf. (PDF file)


Contact us!
If you would like to learn more about the Sustainability Roundtable, contact Ken Meter, Crossroads Resource Center


Already some of those who participated in the Roundtable are trying to bring this training to St. Paul. Other cities that wish to launch their own Sustainability Indicators process are also encouraged to contact Ken Meter.

Other sources:
Crossroads Resource Center's Neighborhood Sustainability Indicators Guidebook. The Guidebook offers a great overview of sustainability indicators, with a bibliography of useful readings, and groundbreaking results from Seward and Longfellow neighborhoods, including Roundtables 1-3. Available for FREE download at: guide.pdf (PDF file)

If your neighborhood wants to launch its own Sustainability Indicators process, a training package is now available with funds for three pilot neighborhoods to participate. Contact Ken Meter, Crossroads Resource Center

To get active in the Minneapolis Sustainability Plan, Contact Michael Orange, Minneapolis Community Planning and Economic Development

For Neighborhood Training and Implementation: Contact Robert Thompson, Neighborhood Revitalization Program



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Crossroads Resource Center / Minneapolis, Minnesota USA