Livable City Year Contact Info
Teri Thomson Randall
Program Manager
terir@uw.edu
206.221.9240

University Faculty Contact
Scott Meschke
Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences
Professor
jmeschke@u.washington.edu
206-221-5470

Local Government / Community Contact
R. Elwell

In January 2017, the City of Auburn was issued a declaration of covenant for the
maintenance and operation of Low Impact Development (LID) facilities, as part of
the Western Washington Phase II Municipal Stormwater permit provided by the
Washington State Department of Ecology. This permit required Auburn to begin
maintenance best management practices of the existing 22 facilities within city
limits and to develop new budgetary allocations for these facilities to fulfill permit
requirements. Maintenance and Operation (M&O) costs are new to Phase I and
Phase II permittees. Data from other areas remains limited, which challenges cost
forecasting accuracy.
This report offers an analysis of costs derived from a literature review and Phase
I permittee respondents’ data from western Washington to evaluate anticipated
costs and help streamline investments in LID. We specifically focus on exploring two
main types of LID facilities found in the City of Auburn: bioretention and permeable
pavements to evaluate M&O costs. We then offer suggestions for moving forward,
and a detailed outline for further research

Our project centers around how to create a sense of place
and connection to place, both within sub-communities,
and the larger City of Auburn. Our work first focuses on
gaining an understanding for the reasons behind residents’
feelings throughout Auburn and more specifically those in
neighborhoods that do not feel as connected.

Technion Social Hub

Website |

The Social Hub is an academic unit of the Technion that specializes in research, education, and technological involvement in the community. The Social Hub promotes a social agenda grounded in theories and technological applications that is aimed at enabling Israeli society to contend with its social and economic challenges in an optimal manner. In this way, the Social Hub promotes a vision of the Technion as a leading institution responsible for the development of human capital, leadership, and the production of knowledge.

The Social Hub supports courses in different Technion faculties that combine learning with the development of projects for social change. Also involved in this activity are staff members, lecturers, students, residents from different communities, local authorities, economic and social organizations, educational institutions, and more

Goals of the Social Hub:

• To intensify the social-technological commitment of Technion students as agents of change, public-opinion leaders, and leaders of the future.
• To create interfaces for communication and cooperation for the purpose of facilitating the mutual flow of knowledge between different social arenas and the academic research community.
• To develop and to promote technological solutions to problems with which organizations and communities are contending in a manner that facilitates the reduction of social and economic disparities in Israel.

Fun Facts about The Social Hub

Technion Social Hub was the first �鶹��Ƶ program founded outside of the United States and the first Israeli program.

Public or Private Institution | Public
Number of students at institution | 14,000

Year Program Established | 2011
Country | Israel

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City Partners

City of Haifa • Population: 279,247

Contact Details

Dr. Meirav Aharon-Gutman
Academic Director

Ronit Piso
Head Director

Ariel Gorbet
Coordinator

Nili Furman
Coordinator, Technology in the Community

The Social Hub Contacts


socialhubt@gmail.com
Mobile: 972-4-829-4450

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Following the African regional �鶹��Ƶ training in November 2017, the City of Durban and the University of KwaZulu-Natal began implementing the Durban �鶹��Ƶ pilot project within the Durban Research Action Partnership. The Durban �鶹��Ƶ pilot project connects Environmental Planning and Climate Protection Department (EPCPD) from eThekwini Municipality (city of Durban) and related departments from the University of KwaZulu Natal (UKZN).

In January 2019, DRAP implemented a full �鶹��Ƶ pilot programme across multiple city line functions and academic disciplines, within the City-funded Global Environmental Change research programme. At the moment the School of Built Environment and Development Studies with the following disciplines: Housing, Planning, Community Development, Development Studies and Population Studies, as well as the School of Engineering are involved in the programme. The pilot included an internship component for students within eThekwini Municipality.

The Durban �鶹��Ƶ pilot programme was implemented through the School of Built Environment and Development Studies (BEDS), within the Palmiet Catchment Rehabilitation Project (PCRP).

The PCRP is led by a Community of Innovators, including academic staff and emerging researchers at BEDS, staff of the Environmental Planning and Climate Protection and other departments (EPCPD) of eThekwini Municipality, Palmiet-based civil society groups and community leaders of the Quarry Road West Informal Settlement (QRWIS). The PCRP established a list of research questions, mostly focused on challenges within the QRWIS, and often related to climate change, which BEDS post-graduate MSc students focused on in one month action internships within EPCPD.

The Durban �鶹��Ƶ pilot is a part of the �鶹��Ƶ Africa network which was established by city/ academic partners who attended the November 2017 training. In the Durban �鶹��Ƶ, the partnering departments at the University of KwaZulu Natal, offer a taught �鶹��Ƶ A module which aims to acquaint students with contemporary issues through an internship-based model. It grants students the opportunity to engage in practical work which complements the theory-oriented modules. The student’s research projects are co-developed by student and municipal officials to ensure that research outputs feed into the work of the municipality. Students are expected to write policy briefs which are submitted to the municipal and used by relevant departments. The themes on which the projects are focused, are identified by municipality as important for the work of the city, the research outputs then feed directly to municipality.

Fun Facts about the Durban �鶹��Ƶ

The focus of �鶹��Ƶ Durban is not only to promote interdisciplinary approach, but also to build capacity for young professionals and students, and this aligns well with the national focus on capacity building. During the first semester of the 2019 academic year, �鶹��Ƶ Durban trained seven students and three young researchers from UKZN. The �鶹��Ƶ program plans to have continuous engagements with student researchers to mitigate the challenges impacting the city during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Expected �鶹��Ƶ pilot outputs

• Summary report which will be based on the student’s project, this report will unpack results from the students’ work and how those outputs can be used by municipality. This report will be compiled by �鶹��Ƶ Durban coordinators and Climate Protection Scientist from eThekwini Municipality
• Policy briefs from students
• Poster presentations for selected good projects from the students
• 5- to 10-minute video clip which will focus on the pilot,

In the upcoming year, the Durban �鶹��Ƶ hopes to:

• Extend the ‘hub’ of municipal officials, academics and post-graduate students that are committed to and will support the development of the Durban �鶹��Ƶ as it evolves.
• Engage other university departments and municipality officials about the Durban �鶹��Ƶ with a possibility of working with them in future projects. �鶹��Ƶ is about employing an interdisciplinary approach.

Public or Private Institution | Public
Number of students at institution | 46,539

Year Program Established | 2018
Country | South Africa

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Coming Soon

City Partners

2018 | EThekwini Municipality • Population: 3,442,361
2021 | EThekwini Municipality • Population: 3,176,000

Contact Details

Smiso Bhengu
Climate Protection Scientist – EThekwini Municipality
smiso.bhengu@durban.gov.za

Dr. Catherine Sutherland
Senior Lecturer – University of KwaZulu Natal
sutherlandc@ukzn.ac.za

Snothile Mkhize
�鶹��Ƶ A Coordinator – University of KwaZulu Natal
mkhizes17@ukzn.ac.za

Join conversations about �鶹��Ƶ Africa .

SHC work a “tremendous asset” for Lawrence County towns

The county turned to the program (SHC) from . As part of the Educational Partnerships for Innovation in Communities (�鶹��Ƶ) Network, SHC brought in about 550 students during the 2017-2018 school year to focus on projects community members from Lawrence Country prioritized, ranging from opioid abuse to tourism to economic development to public health.

Bedford Mayor Shawna Girgis called the initiative “a tremendous asset” to the community. “We are putting many of the plans that have been developed into action,” she said. Work on the area’s endemic opioid abuse problem was especially relevant.

“We are especially grateful that we can continue our collaboration to determine how local leaders and organizations can best assist individuals and families that are impacted by addiction, given the ramifications that this issue has on every aspect of our community,” she said.