EcoDistricts Incubator Goes to Pittsburgh

After eight years of hosting the EcoDistricts Incubator in our home city of Portland, we’re taking our flagship workshop program on the road to Pittsburgh, PA. Over the years, Incubator, the multi-day intensive workshop designed to inspire and accelerate sustainable community development, has gathered over sixty teams from more than forty cities representing five countries to our little western corner of North America.  Well known for its livability, transit system and approach to urban planning, EcoDistricts has used the living laboratory of Portland to showcase how a multitude of thoughtful decisions add up to sustainable development at the district-scale.

The EcoDistricts movement in Pittsburgh began in 2014 when the Uptown Eco-Innovation District attended Incubator to identify how the EcoDistricts Protocol could support and direct their own community development projects. The team shared their experience with other neighborhoods, including Millvale, Homewood Children’s Village, and the Homewood Ecodistrict Initiative, all of which attended subsequent Incubators.

Fast forward to 2019 and Pittsburgh is now home to the greatest concentration of EcoDistricts Certified projects in the United States. It only made sense for the city of Pittsburgh to be our location of choice. With its rich history, economic might and inspiring resurgence from the the collapse of the American steel manufacturing industry, Pittsburgh also reigns as the EcoDistricts Summit 2019, 10th Year Anniversary, location.

With our attendees at the forefront of our decision-making, this exciting location adaptation provides a reduction of time and expense for east coast teams that may have encountered traveling barriers in the past. It also allows an opportunity for those communities to showcase their work on a national scale. leveraging EcoDistricts resources and convening capacity brings new stakeholders together to work on issues and collaborate as the resources that are needed in the movement for positive change within our communities.  

Our Pittsburgh local partners include:

  • The TriBoro EcoDistrict-  Milvale, Sharpsburgh and Etna – is comprised of three communities facing similar challenges with the legacy of their industrial past. Milvale is the longest established EcoDistrict in the area with an impressive list of accomplishments including the creation of an award winning community plan which embeds the EcoDistricts Protocol, storm water infrastructure and solar micro grid installations.  
  • New Sun Rising  A nexus of community activity with a demonstrated track record of success, NSR is a national leader in the EcoDistricts movement.  Among their many accomplishments is the renovation of The Moose- a community and event space that will be home to Incubator this year.  
  • Larimer Consensus Group Dedicated to being the forefront of community driven change, LCG has been working for years spearheading economic development, housing and education efforts in their community.
  • The City of Pittsburgh EcoDistricts has been working to support the revamping of the Neighborhood Planning Process to ensure equity, climate protection and resilience are important aspects of the planning process.
  • EvolveEA Providing architecture and design services, EvolveEA is a multidisciplinary practice at the intersection of sustainability and the built environment.  Christine Mondor will return as the Incubator Master Facilitator for the second year, this time in her own town.

Pittsburgh Incubator will take place April 25-27th.

If you are interested in learning more or have a team that would like to attend please check out our website for more information.

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