Urban Innovate TALKS

Speaker 2 (00:14)
Hi everyone and hi Tammy. So nice to have you with us today on Urban Innovate Talks.

Speaker 1 (00:22)
Thanks for inviting me. It's nice to be here.

Speaker 2 (00:24)
Yeah, and the reason I really wanted to have you on board from this webinar series on the topic of sustainability, that you are professional ⁓ in this area, very much working on climate action. You are a principal at Placeworks. And my goal really from the discussion today with you is to really understand what motivated you to work in this area and also discover more about Placeworks and what you are doing.

so that we get a better understanding on what can be done on a really professional level around climate action. And yeah, and learn about your private motivation behind that. So thanks again for joining us. So my first question, starting maybe very, very big, and that's when we got to know each other, you mentioned this big word of climate action. Can you tell us more about it and how does it fit in the entire concept of sustainability?

Speaker 1 (01:20)
So the field that I specialize in now is climate action planning. And I think of it as a part of the larger practice of planning, of environmental planning and urban and city and urban planning. ⁓ my degrees are in planning. And for the last 25 years, I've focused on the local level. So working with cities and counties and regional planning agencies.

So climate action can be done at the individual level. can be done by cities and counties. It can be done by businesses and state, sub-national governments. so there's different levels of climate action. And where I focus my work is with municipalities. Thinking about when cities, how do cities operate, how counties operate in the day-to-day operations of a community. What is it that we're doing to...

that releases greenhouse gas emissions that have a negative effect on all of us. And then how also are these places, the communities being affected by climate changes now? So I focus on what we call climate mitigation. So the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from energy, transportation, waste, know, how we move around in our communities, particularly.

And then I also work in climate adaptation. So that's understanding the climate hazards that are happening in communities, how they're being exacerbated by changes in temperature and precipitation and sea level rise. And what that means, how communities are prepared to handle more wildfire or extended drought or extreme heat days. So I get to work on both at this point, being an environmental planner, we have to do both. We have to actively work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while also acknowledging and

and being ready for the fact that we're absorbing impacts because we haven't reduced our greenhouse gas emissions fast enough globally. Another big part of our work is also then in transportation. So we work with communities to ⁓ support reducing vehicle miles traveled, because right now that's where a big part, most communities, over 50 % of the greenhouse gas emissions come from transportation. So those are from tailpipes for the most part.

And while we also recognize we're going to transition ⁓ from fossil fuels in our vehicles to electrification and zero emission vehicles, we also need to just reduce VNT during that transition.

And local planning is working toward public health, safety and welfare. And we're always mindful of that. think planners are when we're making policy decisions and understanding that comfort is part of that. There's general safety. you be sure you can be in your home and in public places in a way that doesn't compromise your health? That you have clean air, you have clean water, you're not exposed to environmental hazards.

Speaker 2 (04:13)
So the peak

of heat and how houses can be insulated from a temperature point of view, makes home more comfortable, also in a daily life.

Speaker 1 (04:22)
So that's, education's a big part of it. So if we say you can't do something or you need to do these other things that you weren't doing five years ago, you have to explain this to people in the language and an approach that works for them. You just had to transition for a little bit to do, you know, learn. it's just, and the technology changes on us all the time, right? We all very easily adapt to the new bone.

whenever we buy a phone, we're always eager to learn that new phone and we have to kind of take that or new TV or computer, right? There's always challenges with learning some of these things we've gotten to using every day and we should be thinking about our appliances in the same way. Yeah, there's gonna be a little change, but you still have the clothes dryer. It's just.

from it's on electricity now, it's not natural gas. And you don't have to suddenly stop using it and hang your clothes out to dry if you don't want to. Yeah, I think people ⁓ that's getting out of this fear based thinking and thinking about you can still do the things you love and they're gonna be healthier. They're gonna have healthier outcomes over time. It should be cheaper for you as well.

Speaker 2 (05:30)
with the same level of comfort, if not higher.

Speaker 1 (05:33)
Yeah, mean, my electric car is far more comfortable than most cars that I've been in, easier to drive and quieter.

Speaker 2 (05:41)
I found interesting that from the start of your introduction, you mentioned the topic of technology, because it may not always be obvious that sustainability can work and in hand and be supported by technology. And that's something that Urban Innovate put an emphasis on, is we don't need tech and high tech everywhere. So we don't need to overthink as a usage of technology.

But on the other side, I can see some movement of low tech almost going in the direction of degrowth and this idea of frugality and minimalism, et cetera, which for me is attractive more as an aesthetic level. So it's kind of an aesthetic level where I think, yeah, this idea of living in a house very minimal is nice. But then at the end, I do want my comfort that technology provides.

There is for me an obvious link between technology and sustainability and I'm very happy you brought that. What other technology you think of? Because you mentioned EVs, electric cars. Do you have other technology in mind where you think they are worth exploring maybe if they are not very spread out yet?

Speaker 1 (06:54)
We see things, just basic stuff can make all the difference like synchronizing traffic signals, ⁓ helping with the flow. That's a big concept in transportation planning. Well, that also reduces greenhouse gas emissions, right? So there's simple things, even though those are still challenging for some communities to get that technology. There's all the innovations we've seen on light bulbs.

A big change that happens in communities is replacing, upgrading their streetlights. Extremely impactful. It reduces energy costs and reduces GHG emissions as well. So there's still these kind of, there's things we've seen light bulbs innovate pretty regularly, right? So there's always going to be some sectors that are always raising the bar on themselves. And then there will be new ideas and new thinking like we've seen with the heat pump technology for.

for space and water heating. And there's a lot of growth that I expect we'll see there. And there's a great opportunity and where we'll see expansion is in carbon storage and sequestration. And there are industrial technological solutions and there are natural solutions. And so in my work with communities, we mostly focus on natural solutions, how we use natural lands, ecosystems, working lands to maximize their carbon storage and sequestration.

Speaker 2 (08:15)
Can you give an example?

Speaker 1 (08:17)
Well, just that, you know, having more trees allows us to hold more carbon in a community. also provides more shade, which can reduce the urban heat island impact, right? So that's something, having an urban forestry program and planting more trees helps reduce emissions and is in the climate adaptation strategy. That's pretty basic. You don't need technology to do that. You just have to have the right species and a planting plan and some water for your community. So we're still getting our

You know, the science is still evolving there. There's a lot of studying and a lot of calculating to be done to see what, you know, we have now in our communities that's already providing this carbon sequestration benefit. And then where there's opportunities to do more of that. And that could be, ⁓ you know, making sure open spaces are protected and managed in a way that secures, you know, stores carbon and also creates wildfire mitigation or

you know, flood mitigation. So there'll be some, there's always going to be technology in some of this, but it's also what I am encouraged by, at least here in California, is that we're pulling up nature-based solutions equally with technology, particularly when we talk about climate adaptation.

Speaker 2 (09:32)
This

has a big impact on the costs and the investments to be put in place. Yeah, thank you so much for giving all these examples, the things they help, understanding a bit the way things can be done. And I can see that it goes on multiple levels from lower investment to bigger one and with, I guess, also various impacts behind. Is there a project in particular that you have worked on at Placeworks you would like to share?

to complete the various examples that you gave. What was the request? What was the request for?

Speaker 1 (10:04)
You know, there are a lot of projects I think about fondly. Some of them we wrote about as case studies in the book, Climate Action Planning, that I co-wrote with Mike Boswell and Adrienne Greaves. And one community I'd like to highlight for their work is the city of San Mateo. They're, you know, a community of about 100,000 people just south of San Francisco. I have worked with them on their climate action plan at least three times. And I always am really excited when I get invited back to work with the community.

second time or more than once. And then what's really encouraging is that usually if I'm going back somewhere twice, it means they've done everything in the first plan that could be done. And it's time to think again, you know, to push the planning horizon out, to have a higher stretch goal and to, you know, what's more, what more can be done. And I like highlighting San Mateo because they, they started in the early 2000s with their sustainability initiatives.

And they then expanded to doing greenhouse gas reduction strategies in a program and a climate action plan. did climate action plan with them in 2015. And I think we were almost proud of the process where there was a dedicated staff person at the city, a sustainability coordinator to lead it. There was a sustainability commission appointed by the city council to work with staff and the consultant and to report back to the city council how the plan was being developed.

and then a consultant team that I led, you know, to bring our technical expertise. And then the city staff were supported by a regional collaborative. And so all of these things came, were important and we would have one-on-one staff meetings. We would have group staff meetings. We would have meetings with commission and meetings with community and with stakeholders. And we knew by the time that we took that plan to the city council, that we had a plan that everybody had bought into. It was a

Fast City Council meeting, it was a unanimous adoption. And, you know, the meeting was really about honoring and appreciating the work of every, everyone had done to the process. And the next day staff, you know, had an implementation plan and a path forward. They knew their top five things to do. And within a couple of years, they had helped create a QSCCA. They were moving forward on reach codes to ensure that buildings would be moving toward electrification and that they had.

appropriate EV infrastructure, while also inviting development in their community, focusing on mixed use development and adding more housing, in particular, know, workforce housing. So they showed that, you you can have climate action that works with the other community goals, that it was fundamental to their quality of life, they greenhouse gas emissions, and to do so in a way that allowed them to continue on the economic growth objectives that they had.

And then we've since I since I've come to place works. We've worked with them on two updates of the climate action plan and our larger group of staff here worked with them on their general plan and they continue that path forward. Now they're aiming to be carbon neutral by 2045. They continue to have dedicated city staff. have a dedicated commission. They have committed city council members. have community champions and they have resources from.

a county and a larger regional collaboratives. But if you go to talk to them, they'll tell you, it's day to day. You've got these long range goals and then you pull this back to what's my work plan for the fiscal year and then who's on my city team to move forward. are all their...

Speaker 2 (13:39)
responsibilities

and who is doing what and kind of a metric to see how.

Speaker 1 (13:44)
They have integrated climate thinking across the programs. And so if, you know, when they've done changes at the wastewater treatment plant or when they're buying vehicles or equipment, it's, you know, it's just part of the thinking about how does that purchase further the city, you know, help the city achieve its carbon neutrality goals. Yeah, they're not the only ones though. There's lots out there.

Speaker 2 (14:06)
Because that's a great example and just to picture a bit more how it looks like, maybe a ⁓ difficult question to end and that I would like to have your personal opinion on that is something I realize more and more and that have been mentioned by sociologists maybe at the society level is polarization of the world we can even say and like kind of you have to choose side and it's kind of horrible for me because I always see myself.

attracted by so many things and so that I don't feel like I fit in any side. So how do you deal with that, maybe personally? And do you think we have to choose a side and that the health of the planet is depending on that? Or do you think we can manage to create bridges and we can do compromise? And how do you see this whole pluralization and ⁓ how it's difficult that...

we all get isolated from one another. So how do we deal with that? What's your view on that? And do you have this impression to start with?

Speaker 1 (15:09)
Yeah, I see the polarization that's out there. don't totally, I don't fully understand it. I mean, I do and I don't, right? I can talk about it and break it down and appear that I understand it. But I would say emotionally, I don't understand it. I really do believe that we have more in common than what people want to, you know, to divide us. You know, there's a lot of things around that, but part of my work is

always figuring out what's important in a community. And when I go through visioning exercises, whether we're doing like a comprehensive plan or a specific plan or a climate action plan, I've done all kinds of plans and policy development in my career. Early in my career, I focused on parks and recreation planning. And we would pull all the different users of a park into a room. And we were told in advance, well, the horseback people don't like the mountain bike people.

Now the runners don't like the mountain bike people. The runners don't like the horse people. And I'm just kind of generalizing now. Right. And it's just like, well, but really, you know, like what it, so we go in a room and you'd say, I'd say, okay, what's the most important, what do you value about this part? You know, what's most important to you about having access to this park? And it was the same answer across every user group. You know, they wanted.

Speaker 2 (16:13)
It's a good egg, it's a good egg.

Speaker 1 (16:33)
They valued that as a natural space where they could go and unwind and appreciate the beauty of the natural experience to be outside, to breathe clean air, to go with their friends or to be alone, right? To have this kind of special access in this very beautiful space, whatever the park was. And then you get to the bottom of it and you would talk about like, okay, well, why can't you share the trail with a mountain biker? Why can't you share the trail?

And then you realize, well, they all want the same thing. And if you just get them in and they would have misconceptions about the other person's interest or intent. And when you get them in the room and they talk through and see they have shared values, they have the shared vision, then it was really easy to work through. I mean, it was easier to work through some where they thought they had an impasse. We could say, okay, well, you're going toward the same place. So how do we, you know, where can each of you maybe flex a little bit or

What are some rules we can create or practices that allow you to share the space? How easy it is you get past this initial maybe hostility or resistance that people bring. And a lot of times that's based on misinformation, misunderstanding, arrogance, fear, all these things. And you have to create a space to have a conversation where that can get set aside. We can focus on what we value and what we love and what we want to work toward together.

And how then our solution pulls that forward, that that's at the top of the list. I think that always helps move the conversation. And we're not all going to agree on everything. mean, some, there's a reason for that, but I think some of these just real basic principles of, having clean air, clean water, ensuring that, you know, there are safe places or kids to be in for us to age in communities where we're not always at risk at wildfires or flooding. ⁓

It's not unreasonable to ask for these things.

Speaker 2 (18:30)
I think we are reaching the end of the conversation. was fantastic. Tamim, thank you so much to have shared your personal views, but also what Placeworks is doing and your projects. Is there anything you would like to add to conclude? Something you would like to advertise? You mentioned your book, so I will make sure that we reference it. People can check into detail. I guess we need a new book from you, an update of it.

Speaker 1 (18:56)
Yeah, I don't know if that it'll show here, this is nice. Yeah. So I co-authored that with Dr. Michael Boswell and Dr. A.J. Engreve. And for folks who are interested in the research, think following their research is always a way to continue to learn. They're both continuing to study climate action, know, local climate action and implementation and getting a good sense of where there are challenges and what works. ⁓

Speaker 2 (19:00)
Fantastic.

Speaker 1 (19:23)
So as a practitioner, you know, I'm always reading research studies that come out too. And I know I've left you with a lot of comments. So I think, you know, if you're interested in climate action planning, our book is a great place to start. There are also, you know, you can take a look at climate action plans at our place works website. We have examples of our work there and you can always. ⁓

you know, flip through what my group does for the climate action and resiliency practice, as well as the sustainable work being done by urban design, environmental planning, and our comprehensive planning team too.

Speaker 2 (19:58)
I'll

make sure that all these links are available so that the audience can find them. Thank you very much. And yeah, let's continue the discussion and make sure we can change things even little by little, but have big impact at the end. Thank you, Tammy.

Speaker 1 (20:14)
Yep, thank you. Thanks for the invitation.