Devens

1. Devens
Sustainable
Community
Indicators
Peter
Lowi*,
FAICP,
Neil
Angus
AICP,
and
Vesela
Veleva,
Sustainability
Consultant
UMASS
Boston
3rd
Massachuse*s
Sustainable
CommuniDes
&
2nd
Massachuse*s
Sustainable
Campuses
Conference
April,
2013

2. Devens
as
Sustainable
Industrial
Park
• The
UN’s
Millennium
Ecosystem
Assessment
has
clearly
idenDfied
a
serious
problem
with
deficiencies
in
15
of
24
ecosystem
services
invesDgated.
Human
socieDes
and
economies
rely
on
those
services
to
prosper.
• Under
DEC’s
guidance
Devens
being
structured
as
an
ecological
industrial
park.
• Devens
Eco-­‐Efficiency
Center
provides
assistance
to
businesses
to
green
their
operaDons
and
footprint.

3. 2000
Sustainable
Indicators
Study
• Conducted
by
graduate
student
• IdenDfied
need
for
viable
reverse
commute
and
need
to
incenDvize
green
building
• DEC
adopted
Green
Building
IncenDves
• The
original
report
produced
over
$250
million
in
investment
for
the
region
as
DEC
headed
up
Fitchburg
Line
Reverse
Commute
efforts.

4. Process
• Presented
dra
to
Commission
• Presented
at
Devens
Business
Breakfast
• Presented
to
community
at
MassDevelopment
board
meeDng
• Determined
need
for
addiDonal
informaDon
and
began
conducDng
business
visits
• Survey
developed
by
consultant
with
DEC
staff
input.
• Will
present
findings
at
Sustainable
CommuniDes
Conference
in
April
and
at
ISIE
Conference
in
June.

5. Defining
and
Measuring
Sustainable
Devens:
Framework
and
Seven
Key
Issues
Figure 1. Sustainable Devens: Framework and Seven Key Issues
Economic and Business
Sustainability
Environmental
quality
Social
Transportation Public Health
Natural
resources
Governance
Sustainable
Devens

6. Table
Categories
Key
Issues:
From
Sustainable
Devens
Framework
Goal
or
Threshold:
What
is
goal
for
the
issue/threshold
limit?
Indicators:
Env.,
Social,
Economic
Indicator
we
are
measuring
2000
Data:
Data
from
2000
study
or
for
Dme
frame
applied
to
our
study
Current
Data:
Most
current
data
available
in
2012
for
indicator
Progress
made?
:
Since
2000
Yes
measurable
progress
Min
minimal
progress/insufficient
data
No
no
progress
Comments/Source
of
InformaDon:
Source
of
data
/comments
YES
MIN.
NO

7. Economic
and
Business
Sustainability
• Will
modify
unemployment
rate
for
region

8. Governance
• Entering
the
land
of
Quasi
• Would
you
parDcipate
in
a
survey
to
assess
responsiveness
of
governance
at
Devens?

9. Public
Health
• Difficulty
of
gathering
data
at
Devens
(Quasi
part
II)
• All
new
proposed
indicators

10. TransportaDon

11. Natural
Resources
cont…

12. Environmental
Quality

13. Environmental
Quality
cont…

14. Survey
• The
study
revealed
the
need
to
reach
out
to
our
businesses
to
gather
more
input
from
them.
• We
interviewed
29
of
our
90
businesses
in
the
first
quarter
of
2013.
• The
sustainability
survey
doubled
as
a
business
visitaDon
tool
and
produced
excellent
results
and
informaDon
to
assist
with
our
sustainable
redevelopment
efforts.

15. Survey
results
29
Surveys
Conducted
addressing
collaboraDon
and
Eco
Industrial
Development
issues
amongst
others

16. More
InformaDon
• As
an
Eco
Industrial
Park
Devens
needs
to
take
the
lead
in
restoring
threatened
eco
system
services.
• www.devensec.com
• Its
cool
to
be
green!