Tool puts focus on community visions  

Participants at the Selma community Vision to Action workshop show a Multi Vision Integration they created for a more sustainable Selma. (Courtesy photo)

Mar. 28, 2008

By James Waddell, South Atlantic Division; Susan James, Portland District, and Nancy M. Porter, HQ USACE

A joint U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) tool is helping to capture and integrate individual and community visions of how sustainable communities should look.
 
Vision to Action/Multi-Vision Integration involves an innovative interview and visualizing technique using art produced by individuals and supported by impartial professional artists and facilitators.  The Vision to Action tool, which encourages sustainable development, is used at open community forums.  Participants are encouraged to first listen, obtain diverse individual visions and assessments, whatever they might be, and then seek to integrate the individual visions into a regional or community vision.  
 
Two Corps "Visioneers", James Waddell of South Atlantic Division and Susan James of Northwest Division, recently facilitated Vision to Action workshops with the two cities in Alabama, Selma and Valley.   
 
Situated on the Alabama River, Selma was founded in 1820, and boasts the largest historic district in Alabama with more than 1,200 structures, many dating back to the 1800s.
 
Selma's residents and officials participated in a Vision to Action workshop on Feb. 12 and 13 with Waddell and James.  The visioning session revealed a rich and diverse set of economic, ecological and social benefits between the riverfront on the Alabama River and the connectivity between Selma and the communities up and down stream.  Fresh ideas emerged on how the riverfront can be developed and how the interconnectivity can create a system of interdependence of the communities along the river.    
 
Selma Mayor James Perkins sent a letter thanking the "visioneers" for their superb support in energizing the community to develop a vision for their historic district, riverfront and former military base. 
 
"I am excited about the technical expertise and visioning support that you brought to the City of Selma and would like to extend an invitation for you to return to Selma to do a more extensive Community Visioning workshop in the near future," Perkins wrote.
 
The Multi-Vision Integration of the art produced by the community, elected and local government officials provided Perkins with overall themes, ambitions, ideas and ultimately a consensus that will lead to commitments and actions for the community. 
 
Although Valley is a mere 25 years old, its history dates back to the late 1860s when twin textile mills and towns, Langdale and Riverview, were built on the banks of the Chattahoochee River.  In the early 1900s, two additional mills and mill villages, Shawmut and Fairfax, were built.  The city of Valley was born in 1980 when the four mill towns incorporated.
 
On Feb. 18-20, Valley community members sketched their ideas for the sustainable redevelopment of two mill properties, Langdale and Riverview.  Both mills are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 
 
Working with Waddell and James, community members "visioned" a vibrant community center integrating their water resources, the Chattahoochee and the Langdale and River View dams, and the adaptive reuse of the mills into shops, condos and restaurants.  Mayor Arnold Leak's vision included a walkable river trail extending across three islands and reusing iron truss bridges available through the Alabama Department of Transportation.  Although the bridges are no longer suitable for highway travel, they are very safe for foot travel and have become an integral part of Leak's vision. 
 
Valley officials developed a proposal from the integrated visions and presented the proposal to the Governor of Alabama.  Currently Architect-Engineer firms are developing detailed plans based on the visioning outputs.   
   
Integrating water resources into community visioning is a common and connecting theme throughout Vision to Action workshops, which draw upon the sustainability ethic espoused in the Corps Environmental Operating Principles.  
 
Vision to Action/Multi-Vision Integration is a collaborative effort between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers South Atlantic Division and EPA Region 4, with EPA having provided the funding to develop the tool. The Corps and EPA debuted Vision to Action/Multi-Vision Integration at the 2003 Brownfields Conference in Portland, Ore.  Since then Vision to Action has become a regular hands-on exhibit at the Brownfields national conferences.
 
During the past two years, 13 communities have participated in Vision to Action workshops.  Communities located along a river reach are good candidates to demonstrate the Multi-Vision aspects, benefits in a water basin and the interconnectivity of communities located in the water basin. 
 
Vision to Action/Multi-Vision Integration workshops facilitate information sharing and briefings from various state, federal and local agencies leading to a cohesive community vision and revitalization.  These sessions create a potential for partnerships and positive image enhancement of the Corps through waterway-related projects.
 
Additional information can be found at:  http://www.epa.gov/ciconference/previous/2007/myvision.htm or by viewing a video and PowerPoint presentation at: https://ekopowered.usace.army.mil/ecop/tools_info/.  To schedule a Vision to Action workshop, contact Jim Waddell, South Atlantic Division, at 404-562-5270.