Page 554 - Sustainable Cities and Communities Design Handbook

The Power of Sustainability: The Story of Kent, Ohio Chapter j 26 523

Commission was tasked by the city to help monitor local environmental
initiatives and, most recently, evaluate the outcomes and accomplishments of
the City’s Comprehensive Plan (KSU Special Collections and Archives).
In 2002, the city recognized the need to update its comprehensive plan and
assigned this task to the Community Development Department and its director
and staff. The director was aware of an innovative approach to community
development and planning, i.e., sustainable development, that was beginning
to emerge in the United States and had gained a foothold internationally. He
decided that approaching their comprehensive plan update from a sustain-
ability perspective would be desirable. Partnering with a retired sociology
professor at the KSU, Kent’s Community Development Director began to
promote the concept to city officials and to leadership at the KSU, gaining
support and buy-in.

CREATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE KENT
SUSTAINABLE PLANNING APPROACH
Sustainable comprehensive planning wasanewly emergingapproachtothe
development of a community land use plan, and the city recognized the need
to find a “consultant” who could help to design and provide guidance
throughout the process. Faculty at Ohio State University (OSU) Extension
had just finished piloting such a planning approach in a rural southeast
county and established a website to present their process and results. Upon
finding the website, the City Community Development Director and the KSU
Professor contacted OSU Extension to secure their assistance. Kent would
become the first city in the State of Ohio to create a Sustainable Compre-
hensive Plan.

Ohio State University Extension: Sustainable Planning Model

In 1998, the Extension faculty at OSU formed the Sustainable Development
Team. The purpose of this initiative was to help communities address
their planning efforts from the perspective of sustainability. The most
commonly used definition at that time was articulated by the United Nations
“Bruntdland Commission”: “Sustainable development is development that
meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability
of future generations to meet their own needs” (WorldCommissionon
Environment and Development, 1987, p. 8). Core to the many definitions of
sustainability that followed were a number of key concepts: intergenerational
equity, balance of social, environmental and economic needs, and inclusion
of diverse populations in determining the long-term future.
OSU Extension’s planning model (Moss, 2016) reflected the core concepts
of sustainable development. The process was guided by a shared community