&EPA
www.epa.gov/research
science in ACTION
INNOVATIVE RESEARCH FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
PLACES Program Helps Communities onto the Path of Sustainability
Research Value:
Land use changes from natural to
more man-made environments
that are done with no community
level planning, shorten the life
span and lessen the quality of life
of a community.
Land use decisions are largely
responsible for loss of ecosystem
services that sustain us and
provide us with quality of life.
These include the air we breathe,
the water we drink, plants and
animals that sustain us and add to
our quality of life, and provide
the raw materials on which all of
our economy is based. Because
development usually involves
many small land use changes by
individuals over time, not guided
by a larger plan, these necessary
ecosystem services are being lost.
A community armed with a
master plan with a number of
alternative strategies that
consider the natural, social, and
economic needs of the
community can secure these
services and thus a long future
with an excellent quality of life.
PLACES (Planning Land And
Communities to be
Environmentally Sustainable) is
an EPA program that encourages
and enables communities to
voluntarily get their development
strategies on a path that will
sustain the environmental
services that are necessary to
protect the environment and
human health. This program is
modeled after popular green
building programs such as
Leadership in Energy &
Environmental Design (LEED),
Smart Growth, Sustainable Sites
Initiative, Green Globes, etc. that
focus on site development,
except that it is applied to entire
communities.
Research Details:
Because all land uses will
degrade ecosystems that sustain
human life, development
decisions must account for their
effects on ecosystems. This
requires: (1) that local and
regional ecosystem functions and
processes be identified,
establishing a context for making
site-level land use decisions that
minimize impacts on ecosystems;
and (2) a way to counteract the
cumulative effects on ecosystems
that will inevitably occur, but are
beyond local property boundaries
and, therefore, beyond the reach
of site-level land users. Because
this task is beyond the ability of
any individual land user to
accomplish, this program focuses
on the smallest form of social
institution that has the authority
and means to act, i.e., the
community.
EPA Land management
researchers created the PLACES
program to enable communities
to voluntarily:
Identify the natural systems
context for making land use
decisions so that each land use is
aligned with the natural systems
that sustain human life
Develop public/private community
programs to counteract
incremental and cumulative
environmental impacts so that
natural systems remain functional
This program is designed to solve
environmental problems in the
planning process, so that the
environment is not compromised,
and costs to resolve
environmental problems are
largely avoided.
Outcomes and Impacts:
The PLACES program is an
evolving one whose guidelines
are expected to undergo
modifications as they are
applied to more communities
where the science of human-
environment relationships can be
developed.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Research and Development (ORD), National Risk Management Research Laboratory (NRMRL)
Land Remediation and Pollution Control Division (LRPCD)
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Through programs like PLACES,
the EPA has shown a
commitment to sustainability and
working with entire communities
for maximum effect.
The PLACES program is
building upon the successful
collaboration of the EPA, Kansas
State University, and EPA
Region 7 with the town of Stella,
Missouri to help it adopt more
sustainable development policies.
This EPA program has shown the
ability to facilitate the awakening
of a community's sense of place
so that they make decisions that
lead to a better quality of life.
The program enables community
planning decisions informed by
an awareness of the natural
aspects of each unique place.
Sustainability efforts in Stella
illustrate how the town can
improve social and economic
systems while maintaining intact
and functioning ecosystems.
Some of these efforts include
development of a park, rain
gardens, habitat protection, and
more monitoring of local water
quality.
Another test of PLACES begins
this year under the aegis of the
US/German Bilateral Work
Group in the town of Biedenkopf
in Germany. The EPA is
currently seeking additional
candidate communities in the
U.S. to participate in this
program.
LAND RESEARCH PROGRAM
WEB SITE: www.epa.gov/nrmrl/lrpcd
CONTACTS
Technical Inquiries.
Verle Hansen, 513-569-7326, EPA/
ORD/NRMRL/ LRPCD/RRB
hansen.verle(@,epa. gov
Communications Inquiries
Roger Yeardley, 513-569-7548.
EPA/ ORDMRMRL/ LRPCD
veardlev.roger(@,epa.gov
REFERENCES
Hansen, Verle. 26 June 2009. Planning
Sustainable Land-Use: The Experience of
Stella, Missouri. Presentation to the
Workshop on Institutionalizing Sustainability
Assessment: The Case of Land-use Decisions,
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental
Research- UFZ, Leipzig, Germany.
Hansen, Verle. 7 May 2008. Considering
Environment, Economy, and Society in Land-
use: A Caste Study — Stella, Missouri.
Presentation at 2008 Brownfield Conference,
Detroit, MI.
Hansen, Verle. 2 August 2007. Starting Small
in Stella: Learning How to Plan for
Sustainability. Paper and presentation to
"Forum on the application of sustainability
theory to urban development practice",
College of Design, Art, Architecture, and
Planning, University of Cincinnati.
EPA/600/F-11/005
National Risk Management Research Laboratory
Land Remediation and Pollution Control Division
www.epa.gov/nrmri
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