Last year a group of Healdsburg citizens applied to the American Institute of Architects (AIA) for a Sustainable Design Assessment Team (SDAT) visit. An SDAT is an AIA program that was developed in 2005 to show communities how to use design to create a sustainable future.
This involves assessing the community’s current conditions and making recommendations that will help to preserve the economy, the ecology and the culture for a sustainable future.
The SDAT program helps communities develop a vision for a sustainable future and a realistic and attainable roadmap to get there.
In April an advance team from the AIA came to Healdsburg for a preliminary visit. During their brief visit the AIA team toured Healdsburg, met with city staff, city councilmembers and in four separate group sessions with a diversity of community members, culminating in a potluck dinner and a bilingual session with the Latino community organized by Corazón Healdsburg.
On April 30 the SDAT steering committee was notified that Healdsburg has been chosen by the AIA for an official SDAT visit on August 13-15.
At this time an interdisciplinary group of professionals assembled by the AIA will again meet with the community to imagine what a sustainable Healdsburg could look like in 2040.
Those interested in participating in the SDAT visit check out www.healdsburg-SDAT.org to sign up for the email list. Following the SDAT visit, the community will receive a report from the AIA. How this report is received and implemented will be determined by community members, city staff and elected officials.
Healdsburg residents are encouraged to join in to “Imagine Healdsburg 2040” and create a roadmap toward a sustainable future.
— submitted by Carla Howell
