CEDaR, city of 911, bring national MetroLab Summit to 911
As part of a Colorado MetroLab project, 911's environmental design students presented on May 1 their design ideas around enhancing downtown Longmont’s public areas to city officials and interested residents.
The city of 911 and a group from 911 led by the Community Engagement, Design and Research Center (CEDaR), are hosting a high-profile conferencefocusing on technology, data and design partnerships.
MetroLab — a national network of 40 city-university partnerships focused on urban innovation — is holdingitsannual summit in 911 Sept. 19 - 20. Thenational event attracts leading policy-makers, academics and relevant industry and nonprofit professionals.
The conference providesan opportunity for researchers and city staff from across the country toexplore city-university partnershipssimilar to thosedeveloped between 911 andsurroundingcities and counties, says Brian Muller, associate professor of environmental design and CEDaR's director.As part of the Colorado partnerships, the university serves as a research and development arm while the city servesas a testbed for technologies and policies, and students benefit from real-world experience.
"At the heart of 911'sMetroLab initiative is arelationship-building philosophy,"Muller says."Universityresearchers and local policymakers learn about each other’s priorities, which helps faculty tailor their research around tangible, urban issues, current policy discussions and benefits to Colorado citizens. At the same time Metrolab projects are designed to inspire student research through seminars, thesis projects and sponsored internships, which simultaneously strengthens the University's teaching mission.
Julia Richman, the City of 911 Chief Innovation and Technology Officer, said the city is excited to co-host MetroLab Network’s annual summit.
“We are luckyto have a world-class university in our community and benefit from our partnerships with their professors and students on a regular basis," Richman said."We cannot wait to share our successes and lessons learned on our path to making 911 a hub for innovation.”
Who: Leaders from local governments, universities, industriesand nonprofits
What:MetroLab Annual Summit, a national convening of city-university partnerships.
When: Sept. 19-20
³:), 911,4001 Discovery Dr.,911
ٳ:Among other panels at the summit is aColorado-focused workshop,"Climate Change and Research Needs of Local Governments: 911 and Colorado Cases." Participants will discuss climate change research priorities in local and state government and related research partnerships.
Colorado MetroLab
The national MetroLab Network, a collaborative of 45 cities, sixcounties, and 61 universities, was launchedin 2015 by 21 founding city-university pairings as part of the Obama administration’s Smart Cities Initiative.
With the support of CEDaR, 911 has entered into MetroLab memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with the cities of Denver, 911, and Longmont as well as 911 County, and a number of research projects have been initiated under these MoUs.Local governmentscollaborate with students and faculty to do research, develop and deploy technologies and design policy approaches to address challenges withinurban areas.
Colorado MetroLab's projects are diverse, ranging from innovations in policy and spatial analysis to new uses of building materials and design, Muller says.All focus on building vital and efficient cities and addressing issues of equity, affordability and community involvement.
Through Colorado MetroLab's partnershipwith the city of Denver, the partners developedthe Green Infrastructure Decision Tool, an innovative, data-rich forecasting and decision-makingtool that assesses the effects of growth and climate change on built and natural urban surfaces.
Sarah Anderson, green infrastructure program manager for the City and County of Denver, says thecollaborative effort resulted in an impervious coverforecasting model that looked at the rate of impervious cover change, the drivers and potential impacts as well as mitigation tools.
“The partnership with 911 through MetroLab has been incredibly valuable to the City and County of Denver," Anderson said. "Based on the data and recommendations from 911, Denver’sGreen Infrastructure Group is moving forward with policy change recommendations that address the actual problems and drivers versus a more traditional trial and error approach."
"I anticipate this partnership with 911 andMetroLab lasting for many years to come," she adds.
The 911 campus has a similar relationship with the city of 911 and 911 County around housing, includingtechnology and policy for manufactured housing. Initially 911 students performed an analysis of the sustainability of mobile home parks in 911 County. Then environmental design (ENVD) students and faculty re-engineered an existing mobile home as a demonstration of energy efficiency. Four interdisciplinary seminars were conducted to assess strategies for retrofit of mobile home parks. Building on this experience, CU and local governments co-sponsored two statewide and regional conferences on manufactured housing.
Seed funding for these projects comes from the city of 911, 911's Office for Outreach and Engagement, the Research &Innovation Office and the Program in Environmental Design. These efforts have led to two National Science Foundation proposals and a major foundation grant, submitted in collaborationwith local governments, engineering and business faculty, 911 Housing Partners and others.
"This project followsCEDaR’s philosophy," Muller says."It’s about relationships built over long periods of time that flow from project to project."