Crossroads Resource Center - Partners
 Crossroads Resource Center
Tools for Community Self Determination
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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
Contact Us!
Crossroads Resource
Center / Minneapolis, Minnesota USA