UVA urban planning expert to highlight community-oriented design – VCU News

Report on the Morton B. Gulak Lecture: Fostering Sustainable and Resilient Communities

Event Overview

• Event: The Morton B. Gulak Lecture in Urban and Regional Planning
• Host: VCU’s L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs
• Speaker: Dr. Barbara Brown Wilson, Associate Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning, UVA School of Architecture
• Lecture Title: “Building Adaptive Community Capacity in Stressful Times”
• Focus: The lecture will examine co-design strategies for communities addressing socio-environmental crises, directly contributing to the advancement of global sustainability targets.

Alignment with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The lecture’s themes are fundamentally aligned with several key United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), emphasizing the need for integrated approaches to social and environmental challenges.

1. SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
   • The core topic of building adaptive community capacity directly supports Target 11.b, which aims to implement integrated policies for inclusion, resource efficiency, and resilience to climate change and disasters.
   • The emphasis on “co-design tactics” and “inclusion of community in planning” promotes Target 11.3, which calls for enhancing inclusive and sustainable urbanization through participatory planning.
2. SDG 13: Climate Action
   • By focusing on communities grappling with crises, the lecture addresses Target 13.1, which seeks to strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters.
3. SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
   • The promotion of community-led design processes aligns with Target 16.7, which aims to ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory, and representative decision-making at all levels.
4. Interlinking Social Goals (SDG 1 & SDG 10)
   • Addressing “socio-environmental crises” through community-oriented development provides a framework for reducing inequalities (SDG 10) and alleviating poverty (SDG 1) by empowering vulnerable populations to build resilient futures.

Speaker Profile and Expertise in Sustainable Development

• Dr. Barbara Brown Wilson is a specialist in ecologically and community-oriented design and development.
• Her work contributes to the practical application of sustainable development principles, focusing on creating systems that are both environmentally sound and socially equitable.

Legacy and Programmatic Context

• The Gulak Lecture series honors the legacy of Dr. Morton B. Gulak, who helped found VCU’s Master in Urban and Regional Planning program.
• This tradition highlights a long-standing commitment to urban revitalization and physical planning, foundational elements for achieving the targets outlined in SDG 11.

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

Explanation of Identified SDGs

• SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities: The article’s core theme revolves around urban and environmental planning, urban revitalization, and making communities resilient. Phrases like “urban and environmental planning,” “working with neighborhoods, towns and rural regions,” and “urban revitalization” directly connect to the goal of creating sustainable human settlements.
• SDG 13: Climate Action: The lecture topic, “Building Adaptive Community Capacity in Stressful Times,” and the mention of grappling with “socio-environmental crises” strongly imply a focus on adapting to the impacts of climate change and strengthening resilience, which is a central component of SDG 13.
• SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions: The emphasis on “inclusion of community in planning” and “creative and successful co-design tactics” points to the development of inclusive and participatory institutions at the local level, which is a key aspect of SDG 16.
• SDG 4: Quality Education: The article is about a university lecture series (the Morton B. Gulak Lecture) and a Master’s program in Urban and Regional Planning. These educational initiatives serve to disseminate knowledge and build skills related to sustainable development, directly aligning with SDG 4.

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

Identified Targets

1. SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
   • Target 11.3: “By 2030, enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacity for participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management in all countries.” The article’s focus on “inclusion of community in planning” and “co-design tactics” directly addresses the need for participatory and inclusive planning processes.
   • Target 11.b: “By 2020, substantially increase the number of cities and human settlements adopting and implementing integrated policies and plans towards inclusion, resource efficiency, mitigation and adaptation to climate change, resilience to disasters…” The lecture’s theme of “Building Adaptive Community Capacity in Stressful Times” to handle “socio-environmental crises” aligns with this target’s goal of creating plans for resilience and adaptation.
2. SDG 13: Climate Action
   • Target 13.1: “Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries.” The concept of “Building Adaptive Community Capacity” is a direct reflection of this target, aiming to help communities better withstand and recover from climate-related stresses.
3. SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
   • Target 16.7: “Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels.” The article highlights “co-design tactics for working with neighborhoods” and the “inclusion of community in planning,” which are methods for achieving participatory decision-making in urban development.
4. SDG 4: Quality Education
   • Target 4.7: “By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development…” The article describes the Gulak Lecture and the Master in Urban and Regional Planning program, which are educational platforms designed to equip students and the public with knowledge on sustainable urban planning and community development.

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

Implied Indicators

• Existence of participatory planning mechanisms: The article implies this indicator through its mention of “creative and successful co-design tactics” and the “inclusion of community in planning.” The adoption and success of such tactics in urban planning would be a measure of progress towards Target 11.3 and 16.7.
• Development of local adaptation and resilience strategies: The lecture topic, “Building Adaptive Community Capacity in Stressful Times,” suggests that the creation and implementation of community-level plans to address “socio-environmental crises” is a key outcome. This serves as an indicator for progress on Target 11.b and 13.1.
• Availability of educational programs on sustainable development: The article explicitly mentions the “Morton B. Gulak Lecture in Urban and Regional Planning” and the “Master in Urban and Regional Planning program.” The number and scope of such educational offerings can be used as an indicator to measure progress towards Target 4.7.

4. Table of Identified SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

Source: news.vcu.edu