2010 Projects
2010 Student Projects
Two graduate students in the Community and Regional Planning (CRP) are engaged in thesis projects related to economic development. These include:
- Greyfields: Exploration of Empirical Methodologies. This project is focused on identifying underutilitized or underperforming commercial or industrial land assets. It will use areas of Eugene as a case study to apply an empirically-based GIS methodology for identification of potential redevelopment sites. The project has the support of Eugene City staff.
- Barriers to Local Produce Purchases by Chain Grocers. This project is exploring how grocery chains make produce purchasing decisions and what opportunities and barriers exist to purchase of locally grown produce.
Other EDA projects
City of Silverton Municipal Services and Economic Development Survey. The Community Planning Workshop developed and administered a survey to 3000 Silverton households. The survey included a set of questions about economic development in Silverton and will be used by the City Council during its annual goal setting session.
Clean energy strategy for Oregon communities. The Center for Sustainable Business Practices is working in partnership with the nonprofit group Climate Solutions to help communities create strategies to transform their energy systems, upgrading infrastructure, improving efficiency and harnessing local, renewable sources of energy. These strategies are intended to help build resilient local economies, while addressing critical needs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The CSBP helps create a 20-year Roadmap and 3-year Action Plan for each community, and provides support for capacity-building and project development (see http://www.newenergycities.org). Albany is the first city in Oregon to participate in this program.
Business development for Oregon bamboo production and value-added manufacturing. The CSBP conducted research and analysis on the potential for Oregon bamboo timber production, tied to expansion of value-added manufacturing of bamboo products that can offer substantial benefits in terms of reduced ecological footprint for those products. As part of this work, students are working with partner companies to explore the potential for use of bamboo as a bioremediation technique for contaminated sites. This work will continue into additional phases throughout 2010-11.
Eugene Construction and Demolition Market Analysis. We are working with the City of Eugene to analyze economic opportunities related to diversion of construction and demolition materials from the solid waste stream. This study, a high-level market analysis, will broadly identify opportunities and make recommendations for how to develop markets. The City is contributing $6,000 of program income to the effort.
’New Energy City’ projects. This will be a continuation of our work with Albany, as well as initiation of new projects with Hillsboro, Klamath Falls, and one other Oregon city to be determined. These projects will involve a first phase that includes research on current energy use, efficiency and renewable energy activities, and community outreach and engagement efforts. This research will feed into the development of a community workshop that builds shared understanding of the community’s energy system, key policy and program areas that can advance efficiency and clean energy technology deployment, financial strategies to support project implementation, and infrastructure efforts to support next-generation energy performance.