Bob Wise Co-authors InterPlan Article on Taipei EcoCity 2050 Vision

Bob Wise, Senior Project Manager with Cogan Owens Cogan, LLC and Director of Team Oregon, LLC, recently collaborated with Dr. Yuh-Chyurn Ding, the Commissioner of the Taipei Department of Urban Development (combining planning, urban development and housing), on an article featuring their work on an EcoCity 2050 Vision for Taipei, Taiwan.  The Taipei EcoCity 2050 Vision project employs The Natural Step system conditions and Civic Ecology approaches for the visioning process, including backcasting, to develop three increasingly sustainable visions. The article is anticipated to appear in the fall edition of InterPlan, a newsletter of the International Division of the American Planning Association. We will post an update to this story announcing publication of the article and any links to view the article online. For more information about the Taipei EcoCity 2050 Vision project, contact Bob Wise at bob.wise@coganowens.com.

COC in the Oregonian: Planner to present Portland’s green policies in Taiwan

Following is the write-up on Bob Wise’s sustainability efforts in Taiwan taken from the Oregonian‘s Web site. Enjoy!

Planner to present Portland’s green policies in Taiwan
by Dylan Rivera, The Oregonian
Thursday June 04, 2009, 10:37 AM

A leader of Portland planning firm Cogan Owens Cogan is traveling to a national conference in Taiwan to present the latest Oregon and Portland-area sustainability efforts.

Bob Wise, senior project manager for the firm, is helping draft the Taipei 2050 EcoCity Vision, a long-range planning document for Taiwan’s largest city. He’s been asked to make a presentation about Oregon sustainability efforts to the Taiwan National Council for Sustainable Development’s annual conference.

“We’ve worked in Taiwan off and on for 10 years,” Wise said. “They’re always interested in what Portland and Oregon are doing.”

The sustainable development conference includes business leaders and cabinet-level members of Taiwan’s federal government. Wise said he plans to explain how Portland became the No.1 city in the nation for sustainability in rankings by SustainLane. He also will discuss the Living Building Challenge, which is a new green building standard, and the eco-district concept, which would have buildings share water and energy infrastructure to achieve greater efficiencies.

Wise was chairman of the Portland/Multnomah County Sustainable Development Commission when green building policies and climate change plans were developed.

Cogan Owens Cogan’s Taiwan work is performed through Team Oregon, a joint venture with SERA Architects and Century West Engineering of Portland.

– Dylan Rivera; dylanrivera@news.oregonian.com

http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2009/06/portland_planner_to_present_gr.html

COC and Team Oregon win Taipei EcoCity Vision Project

The Taipei City Government awarded the Taipei EcoCity Vision project to Team Oregon and its partners: Origin International and Chinese Culture University.

Team Oregon is led by Bob Wise at Cogan Owens Cogan, LLC and Tim Smith at SERA Architects.

The project will employ the Natural Step system conditions and Civic Ecology approaches for the visioning process. The team will provide the City with the vision context necessary for making decisions about capital investment, economic revitalization, business growth, neighborhood improvements, and mobilize the region to achieve the common good.

Well done, Team Oregon!