EUGENE, Ore. -- (Oct. 26, 2009) - Improving the sustainability and livability of a city isn't enough for University of Oregon professors Robert Young, Nico Larco and Marc Schlossberg. They intend to revolutionize higher education with a new program that provides opportunities for community engagement, interdisciplinary collaboration and sustainability study.

The innovative program is called, "Sustainable Cities Year - Gresham." This academic year, 250 UO students and 14 professors are collaborating with the City of Gresham, Ore. in a unique way to further sustainable design and planning. The program provides students with real-world experience to apply their training and serve a city that is ready to transition to a more sustainable and accessible future.

According to faculty leaders, students are inspired by cross-disciplinary experiences that have real significance. "Real world projects like Sustainable Cities Year involve client interaction, political issues and other complex situations that are impossible to simulate and lead to a higher quality of work," said Larco, professor of architecture and co-director for Sustainable Cities Initiative.

Sustainable Cities Initiative (SCI) is one of five interdisciplinary themes, coined "Big Ideas," that are shaping the future academic priorities at the UO as a result of a campus-wide discussion and selection process. Started at the UO School of Architecture and Allied Arts, SCI now extends across disciplines into other schools and colleges on campus. The goal is to promote research, education, service and public outreach related to the development of sustainable cities.

The Gresham projects will be conceptual in principle, but the work will provide insight to the city for its future development. Classes will analyze suburban development, possible designs and locations for future buildings, including a brownfield site, how to incorporate natural light into transit hubs and how to make schools more sustainable.

SCI synthesizes faculty research from professors and instructors, representing four departments and institutes, under a single theme and serves as a catalyst for expanded research and teaching endeavors. The curriculum, including 11 courses during fall term, integrates architecture and landscape architectural design, planning, ecology and public policy education to encourage an understanding of sustainability issues that cuts across disciplines. In addition, there may be courses in law and business as the program continues in winter and spring term.

"Sustainable Cities Initiative creates opportunities to educate students and educate a city with service learning and teaching," said Larco. "The need is immense with cities around the state of Oregon and the U.S. eager to understand what sustainability and livability mean and how to advance."

As part of the Sustainable City Year, one city in Oregon is "adopted" per year by the UO program and students work with that city through a variety of studio projects and service learning.

The first year of the program focuses on Gresham, Oregon's fourth largest city with 100,000 residents. Over the last 20 years, Gresham has experienced rapid growth from a rural, farming community to a burgeoning urban area that provides a high quality of life for its residents and business community.

"Every city is in transition now in terms of sustainability. We no longer have the luxury of 50 years to get our act together and Gresham is moving forward in this process," said Young, whose expertise is in Green Cities and environmental and economic policy and planning.

Gresham was selected for the first year of the program for its size and situation as a city in transition from a Portland commuter suburb to a city developing its own identity. The program will build from efforts already underway with the broad support of Gresham leaders.

"The program and its curriculum will build on the innovative work in sustainability the city has done to date while providing us with new ideas around sustainable communities," said Gresham City Manager Erik Kvarsten. "Additionally this partnership will give students first-hand knowledge of what it is like to do this type of work given some of the challenges local governments in Oregon face today."

About the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon is a world-class teaching and research institution and Oregon's flagship public university. The UO is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an organization made up of the 62 leading public and private research institutions in the United States and Canada. The University of Oregon is one of only two AAU members in the Pacific Northwest.

Contacts: Julie Brown, UO media relations, 541-346-3185, julbrown@uoregon.edu; Laura Bridges-Shepard, Gresham communications, 503-618-2247, Laura.Bridges@greshamoregon.gov

Links: UO Sustainable Cities Initiative, http://sci.uoregon.edu; City of Gresham, http://greshamoregon.gov/

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