Finding common ground: Theory meets practice for sustainable cities

by Jessica McCann

Theoretical inquiry and scientific research have long been the domain of universities. For centuries, this knowledge creation has led to many of the important breakthroughs that have helped make the world a better place. But that's no longer enough.

As the world's urban areas grow at an increasingly rapid pace, humankind must find ways to apply that knowledge more strategically – and more quickly.

"The people who make real-world management and policy decisions work on a different time scale than many of my colleagues and I work on," says Charles Redman, the Julie Ann Wrigley Director for the Global Institute of Sustainability (GIOS) at Arizona State University. "We work in months and years to figure out things. They need to know what's going on next week."

A new initiative within GIOS is called the Sustainability Partnership Enterprise (SPE). Jim Holway heads the group. Holway is a former assistant director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources. SPE seeks to bridge the chasm between researchers and practitioners through regular dialogue and applied projects. The goal is to develop new methods to apply research in practical ways and to ensure that public-sector needs help to inform and guide research. It addresses such areas as urban growth, environmental protection, resource management, and social and economic development – all with an eye toward sustainability.

SPE staff members do not do the actual research. They don't manage public sector projects either. Rather, they serve as intermediaries. They work as interpreters between researchers. They are educators, policy makers, and practitioners.

"It's their job to help find the common ground," explains Redman. "It's not to force any one of us to go all the way to the middle, but to serve as translators between researchers and managers, to be the bridge across that gulf that never gets crossed."

To learn more about urban ecology research, see "Enrich the present, ensure the future."