Tacomaness.com: Portland and Sustainable Development

Portland and Sustainable Development

For those I don’t know well, I’m currently a part-time student at the University of Washington in Tacoma. My experiences thus far in the Urban Studies program played a major role in the creation of this place.

Well last weekend I headed down to Portland for class, sort of. It was a 2 day group trip planned by students and sponsored by UWT’s urban studies program. We spent some time with the Sisters of the Road – an organization that provides low-cost meals to Portland’s homeless and low income communities, we toured the Eco-Trust building and the Pearl District and before we headed home we stopped at Dignity Village which is this amazing community that started as a homeless and often displaced tent city.

My first thought as we began to tour the city is that I’m a complete idiot for not having spent more time in Portland all these years! We like to give people a hard time for driving right past Tacoma on their way to other places and I now owe the residents of Portland a rather large apology. What a great city! Like many others on the trip, I several moments where I was ready to walk into the nearest real estate office and buy myself an artists loft in the Pearl District.

The trip could not have been more perfectly timed as I’m enrolled in Planning for Sustainability this quarter. Portland is often cited as a model for “smart growth” and considered one of the most livable and sustainable cities in the US. One of the texts for my class is called Portland Edge Edge which seeks to provide a balanced look into Portland’s success and challenges.

Enough for now, I’ll likely reflect more on Portland and sustainability in the near future, but in the short term if you haven’t spent any time in Portland lately.. Go! Now!!

I uploaded a few images to Flickr, and if for some reason this image gallery doesn’t work well, please let me know.