Agenda - 04-29-2004-8a - Laserfiche WebLink

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Smart Growth and Schools A summary of the December 2003 meeting of the Triangle J Council of Governments Smart Growth Committee The relationship of smart growth and schools often involves three inter-related themes: • schools as centers of community that can serve a range of conununity functions, be jointly sited with other community facilities such as parks, libraries and comrunity centers, and be linked to surrounding neighborhoods by safe and direct connections for walking and bicycling.. • high-performance schools that use green building techniques to more efficiently use energy and material resources, and minimize environmental impact. • small schools that provide a more intimate and effective environment For learning. The meeting focused on schools as centers of community, but all three themes surfaced in the presentations and discussion. Challenges associated with developing smart growth schools include the following: • Comtnunities must make much greater strides in creating more socioeconomically diverse neighborhoods if they desire more neighborhood oriented schools, since school systems are cormnitted to socioeconomic diversity within each school. ^ To comprehensively address building, site and neighborhood factors, a range of partners not usually involved in school siting and design decisions need to be incorporated into the process.. Roles and responsibilities of partners need to be clearly defined. Building trust among partners is an important element. The process itself may need to be changed or supplemented, using tools and techniques like charrettes, cross-organizational teams, siting and design principles, and planning protocols. Figure 1. Smart Gromth Schools: Brtildirrg, Site, Neighborhood school building- green building small schools school site - center of community green building school neighborhood -center of cormunity Successful approaches to smart growth schools require a comprehensive approach to the school building, the site on which it is located, and the neighbor hood within which it resides.