AICP, Associate Professor, City and Regional Planning, and Interdisciplinary Education: Co-founder of the Sustainable Environments Minor Planning and the CAEDCollege of Architecture and Environmental Design, Cal Poly

co-founder and one of its most popular instructors, writes about this unique and popular initiative which recently received a national educational award from the American Institute of Architects. Planning is about the future. Tomorrow matters! This is one reason that the idea of sustainable communities is attractive to planners. Although defining sustainability has been a challenge to many, the idea that future generations have a rightful interest in the conduct of current human activity is basic to the planning profession (Wheeler, 2005). Another aspect of sustainability attractive to planners is reflected in the first law of ecology: “Everything is connected to everything else ” (Commoner, 1971), which acknowledges the important relationship between the economic, environmental, and social forces of humanity. Added to the mix is the need to appreciate the scale of design which defines the scope of the built environment, including products, interiors, structures, landscapes, cities, regions, and the earth (Bartuska an