NJAPA's New Sustainable Design Committee

NJAPA is pleased to announce the creation of a Sustainable Design Committee.

The new committee will be headed by Jennifer A. Senick, Executive Director of the newly established Rutgers Center for Green Building. The Center brings together under a common umbrella a number of existing and proposed green related projects being carried out through separate Centers at the Bloustein School, and at partner institutions at Cook College, the School of Engineering and other Rutgers units that are integral to developing and implementing innovative green building strategies. The Center for Green Building will conduct applied research utilizing planned and existing green building projects, work with industry and government to promote these concepts, and develop undergraduate, graduate and professional education programs. The Center's formation has received strong endorsement from the New Jersey League of Municipalities, and the New Jersey Chapters of the Urban Land Institute, American Planning Association and National Association of Industrial and Office Properties, among others. It seeks to establish itself as the pre-eminent interdisciplinary center for green building excellence in the Northeast, while serving as a single accessible locus for fostering collaboration among green building practioners and policy-makers.

In conjunction with her role at the Center, Ms. Senick is pursuing a PhD at the Bloustein School, Rutgers University and is a Visiting Lecturer. She is founding Principal of J. Senick & Associates, a planning and grants firm and serves as a Commissioner of the Highland Park Redevelopment Agency and a member of the Borough's Green Community Working Group. She is a graduate of the 2004 class of Leadership New Jersey.

Jennifer previously held executive positions in business operations and management, with Telcordia Technologies and Pan Atlantic Consultants, respectively. She worked in public policy research for seven years with the Rand Corporation and received her BA in Government from Bowdoin College in 1991 and her MA in Political Science from UCLA in 1994.

NJAPA Sustainable Design Committee Mission Statement

Preamble:
Planners have a leadership role in forming and implementing strategies to assist communities in using resources more efficiently, protecting and enhancing their quality of life, and creating new businesses to strengthen their economies and support infrastructure. The best practices of comprehensive community planning – the way we plan the physical layout, or land use, of our communities -- must include sustainable land use practices. Sustainable land use practices support and may enhance biodiversity of the natural environment.

The mission of the NJAPA Sustainable Design Committee is to:

• Promote the practice of planning, which creates sustainable, green, energy efficient communities at all levels of government;
• Promote a practice of planning that focuses on the creation of strong relationships between buildings, land use, housing, all modes of transportation and the environment to improve energy efficiency, and reduce environmental impacts;
• Promote form-based design practices that focus on the built form and the functional relationships between the built form, public and non-motorized (or accessible) transportation and the environment;
• Promote more livable communities through public participation in community education and charrettes, and through engagement of all sectors of a community;
• Promote inter-organizational action on sustainability issues by engaging strategic partnerships with like-minded organizations
• Review, comment and propose legislation/policies that promote eco-friendly community design in a holistic approach to encourage best overall sustainable practices and livability.

Planning for sustainability promotes responsible development - not anti-development. It requires a democratic process of planning to achieve the greatest common good for all segments of our population, protects the health of the environment, and assures future generations of the resources they will need to survive and progress. Specifically, planning for sustainability optimally includes the following processes, practices, and outcome:

Planning processes include:

• Making planning decisions in a holistic and fully informed manner that involves all segments of the community and the public and private sectors.
• Educating all age groups to raise public understanding of, and regard for, the future consequences of current planning decisions and ultimately change human behavior.

Planning practices include:

• Developing a future-oriented vision, which look beyond current needs and recognizes environmental limits to human development.
• Applying the future oriented vision to the present when appropriate and possible
• Fostering projects/activities that promote economic development by: efficiently and equitably distributing resources and goods; minimizing, reusing and recycling waste; and protecting natural ecosystems.
• Upholding a widely held ethic of stewardship that strongly encourages individuals and organizations to take full responsibility for the economic, environmental, and social consequences of their actions, balancing individual needs and wants with nature and the public good.
• Taking leadership in the drafting and implementation of local, regional and state policies that support sustainability, such as APA's Growing Smart statutes.

Planning outcomes include:

• Local and regional development patterns that expand choice and opportunity for all persons, recognizing a special responsibility to address the needs of those that are disadvantaged.
• Resilient, diverse, and self-sufficient local economies that meet the needs of residents and build on the unique characteristics of the community to the greatest extent possible.
• Communities with a healthy economy, environment and social climate that function in harmony with natural ecosystems and other species and allow people to lead healthy, productive and enjoyable lives.

Reference: APA website as adapted by the NJAPA Sustainable Design Committee, http://www.planning.org/policyguides/sustainability.htm