The Regional Plan Association, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (Region 2), the New York City Department of Environmental Protection and the Milano Graduate School of New School University, have organized this conference on regional sustainability to obtain a broad-based assessment of where the region stands with respect to environmental, economic and social sustainability and to pool the best thinking, knowledge and experience of our distinguished body of regional stakeholders on what initiatives the region’s public agencies and private sector leaders should pursue to begin to transition the region towards sustainability.
Sustainability, by emphasizing righteous cycles of investment and treating the environment as a source of wealth instead of as an obstacle to economic growth, will enable the region to find the resources it needs to address not only its environmental problems, but its economic and social problems as well.
As invitees to this conference, you share a long practical experience with the many interlocking economic, environmental and social problems that the region seems perennially unable to solve. The goal of this conference is to draw on your expertise to make a broad based initial identification of both the needs and opportunities for creating sustainable regional polices.
Your insights will provide the starting point and an initial impetus for what the sponsors hope will be an increasingly organized and widespread effort to turn the promise of sustainability into a reality for this region. On June 18, 2003 Regional Plan Association and EPA Region 2 called upon a small group of stakeholder to begin discussing the major issues of sustainability and how they relate directly to our region.
The following is an overview of how sustainability can shape the future of our region as well as summaries of the six working sessions that took place in June on the regional economy, mobility, public finance, land use, designed systems, and energy.