Portland State Magazine Winter 2009

economy and environment. "In the long run, you just can't have one without the other." To people who question the relevance of social sustainabil– ity, Hammer points our pragmatic reasons to pay attention: social inequalities can spread far beyond the poverty line. Costs associated with crime, health care, and a weak workforce, for example, jeopardize the well-being of society as a whole. But it's a cause that's been slower to gain momentum, she notes, partly because we don't have effective language for social sus– tainability, let alone a way to measure and quantify it. Compare this cause to the increasingly ubiquitous Leader– ship in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system prescribed by the U.S. Green Building Council. New buildings and even entire neighborhoods can earn LEED certification essentially by accumulating points on a checklist. While the program has its flaws and critics (who say it's too expensive, too prescriptive, and limits innovation) LEED has emerged as the de facto designation of environmentally sustainable construction. But a true triple bottom line assessment of investment performance means looking beyond constructing "green" buildings. "Does the project benefit the people who live there?" Hammer asks. She references the Market Creek Plaza development in San Diego as a project that exemplifies that social component of sustainability. Built on a 10-acre abandoned factory site, the project is owned in part by nearby residents of a long-impoverished neighborhood, who bought shares through the nation's first 16 PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE WINTER 2009 community development "initial public offering." Residents rook part in planning the development and identifying the types of businesses that the neighborhood would prefer. The result has been new jobs and job training, economic development, a grocery and other shops serving the community, public art and gathering spaces, and a renewed sense of pride replacing urban blight. Through the Social Equity and Opportunity Forum's Social Bottom Line Project, Hammer has developed a draft frame– work to assess social dimensions of development investment. More than 100 leaders from business, community, develop– ment, finance, government, labor, and research sectors helped define what constitutes a "good social bottom line." Four overriding themes emerged: the investment responds to and benefits the community; fosters healthy living; strengthens the community fabric; and fairly distributes the burdens and benefits of growth. Over the next year, Hammer and a team representing those sectors plan to refine and test the draft framework to see whether it works, and how developments in the Portland region stack up. The goal is to encourage more organizations to adopt a triple bottom line approach, with results they can measure. "We want to elevate the social dimension of sustain– ability and reintegrate it," says Hammer. "The bottom line is: Are we building healthy communities?" ■ J David Santen, Jr. , is the director ofcommunications for sustain– ability initiatives at Portland State.