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Developing a Cohesive Strategy for Sustainability in Burlington, USA
PROFILE
City of Burlington, Vermont, USA Population: 39,824
Land Area: 27 km2
Municipal Budget: US$158 million
STRATEGY
Building a New Culture of Sustainability
CHALLENGE
To broaden community understanding of the need for long-term and interconnected projects to revitalize the urban center (local economy and environment) which has suffered as a result of local development and suburbanization.
GOAL
To foster change in local habits and values and to advance a new set of ethical principles, attitudes and actions consistent with achieving a sustainable future.
ACTION
Develop a long-term community vision, based on sustainability principles and a multi-faceted action plan to provide the basis for nurturing a culture of sustainability.
ABSTRACT
Over the past two decades, the City of Burlington has been active in promoting a culture of sustainability throughout its community. Many environmental and socio-economic projects were implemented in the 1980s and 1990s. More recently, the city's strategy has focused on integrating its diverse initiatives into a common framework for ongoing community dialogue and change toward a sustainable, livable future. As part of this approach, in 1999 the municipality engaged the community in a process to develop a vision of a more sustainable Burlington. Through a multi-faceted participation process, citizens and representatives from local organizations reached a consensus on the critical elements of a sustainable city. The vision which emerged, as well as the plan which will guide future action, is based on several ethical principles, including economic security, empowerment, social well-being and ecological integrity. The overall strategy adopted by Burlington has created a strong basis for nurturing a culture of sustainability and moving toward the community vision.
CASE
Burlington is located on the eastern shore of Lake Champlain between the Adirondack and Green Mountains. With its population of 39,127, it is the largest urban center in Vermont and the economic hub of the state. Burlington has a strong mixed economy of manufacturing, service-based, and retail companies, as well as a major university and several colleges.
Over the past two decades, Burlington has become known for its progressive approach to governance and its strong tradition of activism. Participation has been a hallmark of the municipality's approach to decision making, with citizens providing input into policy and program directions through several mechanisms. The city has also fostered the development of a vibrant "third sector" of non-profit organizations that work together with the municipality on various issues.
Throughout this period, the government of Burlington, local organizations and residents have implemented many diverse environmental and socio-economic projects with a focus on sustainable community development and principles of economic self-sufficiency, equity, environmental protection and preservation, and participation. For example, a major initiative to revitalize the city's waterfront has been underway since the late 1980s. This has involved cleaning up abandoned industrial sites and creating community and recreational resources, thereby increasing local awareness about the value of waterfront resources and public spaces. Also in the early 1980s, the Burlington Electric Department constructed the McNeil Generating Station, which utilizes locally-available wood chips to produce cost-effective, non-polluting electricity. As part of its efforts to revitalize the downtown area, in 1985 Burlington supported the development of the Church Street Marketplace, a four-block area which features an auto-restricted, open-air shopping and multi-use mall, one of the first of its kind in the United States. These initiatives, among others, were implemented by the City of Burlington well before the term 'sustainability' was being widely used.
In spite of Burlington's success in the 1980s and 1990s in improving its community, it became apparent that these initiatives were not well connected to each other. More recently, the city has faced a number of interrelated problems, including a shortage of affordable housing, increased poverty, environmental degradation and population decline, as a result of rapid suburban growth and other local development trends.
Legacy Project
In response to these new challenges and as one component of its longer term strategy to promote local sustainability, Burlington embarked on a comprehensive process to develop a community vision and plan for the future of the city. Initiated in 1999 by Mayor Peter Clavelle, the goal of the Legacy Project is to engage citizens from all neighborhoods and sectors in a dialogue about the principles and actions that would guide the community over the next 30 years. Citizens were asked to imagine what they wanted Burlington to look like in the year 2030 and, through the visioning process, determine how this could be achieved.
The planning process, Burlington's most extensive participation effort to date, was directed by a steering committee comprised of stakeholders from non-governmental (NGO) and business institutions along with youth and municipal representatives. The involvement of these stakeholders was critical to the success of the project. Their actions have a major impact on the future of the city and prior to the Legacy Project no forum existed for discussing their common interests. The Institute for Sustainable Communities, an international NGO based in Vermont and currently chaired by Mayor Clavelle, provided guidance on defining sustainability and information on similar processes in cities around the world.
Over a period of a year-and-a-half, more than 1,000 residents contributed to the development of the vision. The multi-faceted participation process included: a survey asking residents to identify the city's strengths and weaknesses; a series of focus groups to discuss neighborhood and subject-specific issues; a youth participation component; informal discussions with community-based organizations; and a series of public hearings on the first draft of the plan.
In March 2000, a "Summit on the City's Future" was held in which over 300 participants finalized the Legacy Project Action Plan and established priorities for future action. The plan specifies the goal statements that describe Burlington in 2030, priority actions for achieving these goals, and indicators for assessing the city's progress. Burlington City Council unanimously approved the plan in June 2000. In 2001, the principles and objectives of the Legacy Plan were integrated into the city's overall Municipal Development Plan, the controlling document in the regulatory review process for all major development projects.
The common vision that emerged through this process is of Burlington as a regional economic center with an enhanced quality of life and economic security for all residents, a responsive government and extensive civic participation, and a healthy natural environment. The Legacy Project, as part of Burlington's broader sustainability strategy, was successful in formalizing a community vision which had been developing over time, resolving a number of fundamental issues facing the city, and integrating many diverse policies and programs into a comprehensive strategy for the city. This success was a result of the widespread participation of citizens and community organizations in the process, the forum of open debate created at the various project stages, and the commitment and involvement of key stakeholders, including political leaders, to the process.
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Vision for Burlington in 2030: Major Themes1 Economy: In the year 2030, Burlington is a vibrant and growing urban center with a diverse mix of businesses and transportation alternatives. Citizens have access to livable wage job opportunities to meet their basic needs. Neighborhoods: Development has enhanced the quality of life in all neighborhoods and residents feel safe and free from crime, while enjoying opportunities to work together for community goals. Affordable housing is available for all citizens. Governance: The city has a diverse and responsive government, where all citizens, young or old, participate freely and voice their opinions. Youth and Life Skills: Burlington is committed to providing people from birth through the golden years with quality opportunities to acquire the education, social, and job skills critical to being successful members of our community. Environment: The city's environment and natural attributes are preserved, with water and air quality improving and increasing investments in resource conservation and renewable energy sources. |
One of the critical issues the community reached a consensus on was future growth. After much dialogue, the participants agreed that carefully planned growth in downtown Burlington should be encouraged as an antidote to suburban sprawl and urban decline. The action plan calls for as much as a 50% increase in population in the city in 30 years, through absorption of a higher proportion of regional growth in the urban center and with a sustainable, mixed-use development approach.
The challenge of Burlington's approach to sustainability is to balance future growth with the principles that underlie the community's vision. The following principles are the basis for Burlington's strategy to foster a culture of sustainability:
- economic security, local self-sufficiency and equity--the community's economy, based on the efficient use of local resources and the capacities of the local population, is directed towards meeting the needs of all citizens, including future generations.
- empowerment and responsibility--all citizens are empowered to participate in decision making and management of their community and government is open, responsive and accountable to its citizens.
- social wellbeing--central to the community is a sense of cohesion and respect amongst residents from a diversity of backgrounds.
- ecological integrity--the value of natural systems is recognized and the ecological limits of such systems are respected.
Picturesque Downtown Burlington
(photo courtesy of the Burlington Legacy Project)
As part of its long-term strategy, the City of Burlington is responding to the community vision and promoting change in local attitudes and behaviors by undertaking many diverse initiatives and integrating sustainability values into these projects.
Over the years, Burlington has developed several mechanisms for citizen engagement in the governance process, including citizen commissions and boards working with each municipal department and Neighborhood Planning Assemblies which provide input into municipal policies and programs related to specific neighborhoods. Through the Legacy Project, a number of recent changes have been implemented to foster good urban governance and make the city's decision-making process more accountable and democratic, including:
- changes to the City Charter which make municipal departments directly accountable to the Mayor and hence voting citizens.
- youth participation on the Library Commission, the Parks and Recreation Commission and the Community Development Block Grant Citizen Advisory Board. Legacy Project staff are working to secure youth involvement on all city boards.
- the Burlington Eco-Info Project which provides access to relevant data on local air, water, land and energy trends. Indicators and data are presented for each area, along with resources and tools for action.
- the Education for Sustainability program which involved training local teachers to incorporate sustainability issues into their curriculum. A new curriculum has been implemented in local elementary schools, and a plan is being developed to integrate it into all Burlington schools.
Supporting the local economy is another area in which Burlington has taken significant steps. Many projects have focused on creating equitable opportunities for local residents to participate in the economy. For example, the City has begun several employment training programs including:
- a job readiness training center to provide resources and support for higher skilled jobs. This initiative was proposed in the Legacy Project and was developed in collaboration with local educational institutions, employers, and the state government.
- Step Up For Women, a free program to teach low- and moderate-income women trade skills such as construction and plumbing. This program has a placement rate of 80%.
Burlington has also been very active in the promotion of healthy neighborhoods, including the provision of affordable housing for all city residents. In 1988, the city supported the development of the Burlington Housing Trust Fund which assists non-profit groups to establish perpetually affordable housing for low- and moderate-income households. The fund is financed through a property tax levy and has enabled the creation of 750 affordable housing units. In 1990, Burlington developed an inclusionary zoning ordinance requiring between 15 and 25% of housing units in new developments to be designated as affordable housing. An Affordable Housing Task Force was created in 2001 in order to build on these and other accomplishments.
One recent action that reinforces Burlington's strategy of building a culture of sustainability was the city's endorsement in June 2001 of the Earth Charter, a declaration of fundamental principles for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society. The Earth Charter's ethical vision recognizes that environmental protection, human rights, equitable human development and peace are interdependent and indivisible. In committing to the Charter, the city recognized that the issues facing Burlington are not isolated problems, that other communities around the world have similar concerns and values, and that sustainable development requires a global framework to unite human efforts. "If we could all be working from the same page, success is more likely," states Mayor Peter Clavelle. For Burlington, like the many other municipalities that are signing the Charter, the Earth Charter is an important educational tool for enhancing citizen awareness about the complexities of sustainability and for guiding the work of individuals and institutions.
The diversity of initiatives implemented in Burlington through its strategy of sustainability has created a strong basis for moving towards the future vision of the city. The city's traditions of participation and progressive governance, its active and committed citizenry, its strong NGO sector, and the collaborative approach to resolving issues and implementing projects have also been critical in promoting a culture of sustainability.
LESSONS LEARNED
The commitment of local political leadership and representatives of the city's major organizations to the concept of sustainability has been critical to the process. Mayor Clavelle has been a key advocate for the adoption of a sustainability approach in Burlington and a champion of the Legacy process since its inception. Citizens, representatives of business, local organizations and governments have become more aware about the critical issues facing the city and the principles and necessary actions for implementing sustainability.
A number of issues have constrained the effectiveness of Burlington's sustainability strategy. Financial resources of the municipality are limited and securing funding for projects is difficult in the current environment of fiscal restraint. The lack of regional governance structure in the greater Burlington area has also been a challenge; development processes, such as continued suburbanization, in outlying areas have sometimes had the effect of slowing down Burlington's efforts. Better coordination of planning efforts in neighboring communities is required in the future. Although Burlington's collaborative approach has been one of its strong points, it has also been very challenging to implement as there is currently no institutionalized structure in place which reflects this new model of governance and which ensures accountability of the community stakeholders. Finally, despite its success in raising the awareness of its citizens, Burlington's experience has demonstrated the challenge of aligning attitudes with behavioral change and that nurturing a culture of sustainability is a long-term endeavor.
KEY REPLICATION FACTORS
Burlington's strategy of fostering a culture of sustainability has demonstrated the importance of adopting a long-term, integrated approach to sustainable development and grounding a city's sustainability framework in a set of principles which are defined by the community. Nurturing broad citizen participation and collaboration with community organizations in its many initiatives were also key factors of success.
Budget, Financing and Staff
Financing and staffing of Burlington's sustainability initiatives are managed by the individual municipal departments responsible for different issue areas and projects. The Legacy Project was funded with a grant of US$98,000 from the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The Institute for Sustainable Communities, the main project partner, received funding from the Jane B. Cook 1992 Charitable Trust. Project staff are examining options for funding the project implementation budget of US$100,000. Staff for the Legacy Project included a Project Director and two community organizers.
KEY CONTACTS
Betsy Rosenbluth
Director, Burlington Legacy Project
Room 32, City Hall, 149 Church St.
Burlington, Vermont, USA, 05401-8415
Tel: +1-802/865-7515
Fax: +1-802/865-7024
Email: brosenbluth@ci.burlington.vt.us
Mark T. Eldridge, AICP
Director of Planning and Zoning
City Hall, 149 Church St.
Burlington, Vermont, USA, 05401-8415
Tel: +1-802/865-7193
Fax: +1-802/865-7195
Email: meldridge@ci.burlington.vt.us
NOTES
1. The Legacy Action Plan presents several goal statements for the year 2030 in five theme areas. The vision statements presented here are from the Burlington Legacy Project Highlights of Progress report, and summarize the various goals in each area.
REFERENCES
City of Burlington. 2002. website [www.ci.burlington.vt.us] and Legacy Project website [ www.ci.burlington.vt.us/legacy].
City of Burlington. 2001. Burlington Legacy Project: Highlights of Progress.
City of Burlington. 2001. Municipal Development Plan.
City of Burlington. 2000. Burlington Legacy Project Action Plan: Becoming a Sustainable Community.
Mayor Peter Clavelle. March 2002. Personal interview with author.
Mayor Peter Clavelle, "Strategies for Implementing Sustainability," presentation to the ICLEI Municipal Leaders 2002 World Summit Preparatory Meeting, June 21, 2001, Ann Arbor, U.S.A.
Earth Charter International Secretariat. Earth Charter Initiative Handbook.
[For more information on the Earth Charter, visit www.earthcharter.org]
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Author and Researcher: Corey Helm
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Case Studies of Local Government Success This case study is part of Local Strategies for Accelerating Sustainability: Case Studies of Local Government Success. This series of case studies highlights the diverse ways in which local governments and their partners have instituted strategies for action that are accelerating the transition to sustainable, equitable and secure communities. The series was prepared as part of the local government contribution to the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg, South Africa, 2002). The case studies were researched, written and produced with financial support from the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, The Netherlands. |
© May 2002, ICLEI-Canada. All Rights Reserved.
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Kolding, Denmark In 1994 the Town of Kolding, Denmark, signed the Aalborg Charter and committed itself to pursuing sustainable municipal development. This commitment was acted upon in the town's Municipal Plan in 1998. Among other actions, this document obliges the municipality to increase its environmental management through green planning and purchasing. Kolding evaluates all products and services on environmental criteria as well as on price and quality. Kolding is the area's largest employer and this action has considerable potential for widespread impacts. Contact: Michael Damm, Head, Section for Environmental Protection, City of Kolding, Nytorv 11, Teknish Forualtning, DK-6000 Kolding, Denmark Fax: +45-75/30 16 55; Email: mida@kolding.dk
(Source: ICLEI; Eco-Procurement Programme. 2000. |
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Jinja, Uganda In 1995, Jinja, the second largest urban center in Uganda, launched its Local Agenda 21 (LA21. Before this an unemployment rate of 70% and widespread poverty prevented the municipality from collecting sufficient taxes to provide basic services. Most residents lacked access to clean water and the waste management system was inadequate. Jinja's LA21 set out to improve services to residents while protecting the natural environment. A wide variety of stakeholders participated and the process was particularly successful at including women. The LA21 initiatives eventually resulted in the identification of numerous self-run community projects. Projects include a profit-generating composting initiative and a biogas digester which uses human waste to generate methane that is then used as an energy source for lighting and cooking. These projects are run by elected management committees independently of the municipality, provide essential services to the community and have nurtured community capacity. Working together for a more sustainable future has become commonplace in Jinja. This process has changed residents' attitudes, instilling a spirit of volunteerism, demonstrating the value of resources, and, perhaps most importantly, building their capacity. Local people are more positive about their ability to influence their situation, take care of their environment, and improve their living conditions. Decentralization promoted by the national government has undoubtedly been a facilitating factor to the LA21 process, and conversely, LA21 has encouraged residents to participate in local government. Contact: Joseph Bagonza Birungi, Coordinator, Jinja Municipal Council, P.O. Box 720, Jinja, Uganda Fax: +256-43/130002; Email: jmcla21@source.co.ug
Source: ICLEI. 2000. |
