Your role is to work with the community to understand what types of redevelopment uses they would like to see, communicate and negotiate these with the developers, and explain to the former which are feasible and which are not.
Given that previous attempts at green developments in Trenton have not always worked, working with the project manager and economist, the political person would: gain and maintain smooth relations with all stakeholders, which requires a cultural and political sensitivity; search for and constructively deal with lurking people and institutional issues; find the high level support for this project (which needs to be maintained when Administrations change or people change jobs), and make the deals that at the end of the day succeeds in getting a sustainable brownfields project in the ground, while maintaining as many of the original concepts of sustainability as possible.
You will prepare the following:
- A prioritized list of measurable sustainability indicators for your specific area of expertise
- An evaluation of all twelve brownfield sites with specific recommendations for each site in the context of your area of expertise and sustainable development
- A report with an evaluation and recommendations not exceeding 5 pages to be e-mailed to the project manager, all team members, and the instructor
You should respond to the following in the preparation of your report:
- How will you determine What uses for the redeveloped land is the community likely to desire? What factors do you anticipate will affect the feasibility of the projects?
- What are some of the relevant lessons learned from the Magic Marker experience, or from any other green development projects in Trenton or elsewhere? What seem to be the main reasons that green development sometimes does not work; and when it does work, what seems to explain that?
- How would you keep your sensors working to see what problems are lurking? What people and institutional problems do you envision, and how would you address them?
- How might you explain unfamiliar sustainability ideas to conventional developers and to those in government who focus on economic development? Which aspects of sustainability do you think will be the easiest sell, and which the toughest? What strategies would you use to convince developers of the advantages of sustainable communities?
- How would you develop positive media relations for your company?
The project manager will conduct a meeting to discuss all twelve brownfield sites. The company will discuss each site and then propose a preliminary plan including which site or sites (totaling 10 acres) should be redeveloped and the type of redevelopment.
Experts will then customize their original research to fit the goals and objectives of the preliminary plan and e-mail it to the project manager and all team members.
The project manager will coordinate collaborations between specific areas to ensure that the final plan is (appropriated) balanced and addresses the most measurable sustainability indicators possible.
The final plan (project) will be prepared and presented in a ½ hour oral and visual presentation. Each (team) member of the consulting firm will be responsible for 5 minutes of the ½ hour presentation to the “Trenton City Council” (the class).