The Eco-municipality Model for Sustainable Community Change

Success Stories

 Speaker:
Jerry Humbd
715-394-8208
jhembd@uwsuper.edu
University of Wisconsin-Superior
An eco-municipality aspires to develop an ecologically, economically, and socially healthy community for the long term, using the Natural Step framework (developed in Sweden) for sustainability as a guide, and a democratic, highly participative development process as the method. The model uses a systems approach to sustainable development. There is a network of 60 eco-municipalities across Sweden. An emerging network of communities in the U.S. includes locations in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire. Representatives from the U.S. communities participated in a summit last May to formalize next steps and held a follow-up videoconference session in November. Washburn and Ashland, two cities in the Chequamegon Bay area of northern Wisconsin, recently became the first two U.S. communities to formally adopt the eco-municipality model. This session will provide an overview of the eco-municipality model and its implications for community development. It will highlight the history of its recent emergence as a community-based development framework in the Chequamegon Bay area, the steps and actions taken thus far, and the intended future directions of the U.S. network of eco-municipalities.

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For more information about the conference, contact the conference co-chairs: Cindy Bigger, cbigger@umn.edu, (888) 241-0843, or Rick Maurer, richard.maurer@uky.edu, (859) 257-7582.

For questions, comments or concerns about the 2006 NACDEP Conference website, contact emilye@srdc.msstate.edu.