Help on the way for sustainable growth in Allegheny County, Allentown

One wants to help a main connecting artery in Western PA grow, while the other wants to make its city’s downtown a more vibrant place. Allegheny County and Allentown have different needs, but both were selected to receive expertise from the Sustainable Design Assessment Team (SDAT) through the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

The collaborative program brings together architects and other professionals from across the country to provide a roadmap for communities seeking to improve their sustainability. At the heart of the matter is a community’s ability to meet the environmental, economic and social equity needs of today without reducing the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

“Sustainable design is taking off throughout the country,” says Erin Simmons, AIA’s design director. “The sheer diversity of applications we receive each year indicates that communities both lage and small have embraced the principles of sustainability.”

Allegheny and Allentown represent SDAT’s first projects in Pennsylvania. In Western PA’s South Hills area, the study area stretches 16 miles from the Liberty Tubes in Pittsburgh to the Elizabeth Bridge in Elizabeth and looks to overcome the blight of abandoned commercial sites and an inadequate sewer system. Allentown’s study area comprises its central business district on Hamilton Street from 5th to 12th Streets, and plans to address key vacancies along the strip and streetscape improvements.

“Our teams provide communities with short-term, intermediate and long-term goals that pertain to the issues we were asked to study, so it’s easy to see results from a project immediately after its conclusion,” says Simmons.

Other communities selected for the six year-old program include Bridgeport, CT; Coos County, OR; Ithaca, NY; Oxford, MS; and Portland, ME.

Source: Erin Simmons, American Institute of Architects
Writer: Joe Petrucci