Portland area regional map, from Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies, http://www.pdx.edu/ims/regional-map
A critical first step in any study of regional sustainability is determining what has already been done. This post will be the first on this website to begin to gather such links. The information below complements the “Links of Interest” on this website, and also provides some insight into questions raised in the SHP post “On the history of sustainability in the Pac NW.”
This post highlights the work of the Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies at Portland State University, and The Diggable City PSU Master of Urban and Regional Planning workshop.
—- Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies at Portland State University —-
The Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies at Portland State University, created in 1992, strives to “connect the university to issues of concern to communities in the six-county Portland-Vancouver Metropolitan Area, and to bring new attention to key issues of metropolitan significance.” The IPMS website provides access to a number of fascinating current and past projects, including:
- ** Asset Mapping is an ongoing project to create GIS maps that provide “a better understanding of community assets and the possible connections among them.”
** Portland Region Community Gardens is “a comprehensive directory of community gardens in the Portland region.”
** Metropolitan Knowledge Network “offers the community a comprehensive resource for analysis and data relevant to the key issues facing our metropolitan region.”
** Forum on Sustainability and Economy, “a monthly discussion series about issues related to livability and economic development in the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan region.”
—- The Diggable City: Making Urban Agriculture a Planning Priority —-
The Diggable City initiative was a PSU Master of Urban and Regional Planning workshop project produced in response to a resolution of the City Council. This project analyzed “opportunities for using vacant public land to expand urban, sustainable agricultural uses within the Portland area” and “won praise from Mayor Tom Potter and several city commissioners including Dan Saltzman, a long-time supporter of local and regional food systems.”
For a comparative analysis of this project with a similar project in Vancouver, B.C., see Wendy Mendes, Kevin Balmer, Terra Kaethler, an d Amanda Rhoads, “Using Land Inventories to Plan for Urban Agriculture: Experiences From Portland and Vancouver,” Journal of the American Planning Association, 74:4 (Sep. 2008), 435-449.
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Sustainability History Project 
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