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SCOTie - An Amazon.com for Building Successful Communities
Plans, policies, and ordinances may not seem very exciting, but when they work, nothing is more vital to a community's ability to turn its vision for improved quality of life and prosperity into reality.
One of the Sonoran Institute's unique strengths is the quality of information - the details - we bring to the table when a community is ready to move from visioning to implementation. In addition to providing the latest research and reports, we offer more than 20 years of experience-based information on best practices from diverse communities throughout the Intermountain West.
To provide communities easier access to effective planning information, the Sonoran Institute, along with our partner, the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, created the Successful Communities Online Toolkit information exchange (SCOTie). Focusing specifically on Intermountain West communities, SCOTie compiles over 200 case studies, proven best practices, and the brass tacks: successful codes, ordinances, plans, and policies - all in one website.
Since its launch in 2011, SCOTie's usage has grown to almost 6,500 unique visitors and 20,250 page views. It has also gained critical acclaim, winning the Best Education and Participation Program Award in 2012 from the American Planning Association Arizona Chapter.
We're very proud of this online toolkit and hope you will read more about it in the story below and then explore SCOTie.org.
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Awarded "Best in Show" as a Community Planning Resource
Your community is interested in creating a bike trail network, protecting agricultural land, starting a water conservation program, or pursuing some other venture to improve its quality of life and economy. Where do you begin to learn more about projects like these and, in particular, ones that have worked?
In the past, such research involved sifting through hundreds of Internet search hits that may or may not have been relevant or useful. It was a time-consuming process with no guarantee of finding quality information.
All of this changed in 2011, with the launch of SCOTie.org. A user-friendly clearinghouse of innovative and progressive plans, policies, and ordinances, the Successful Communities Online Toolkit information exchange ( SCOTie) is for community planners and other interested citizens what Amazon is for consumers.
It is a one-stop shopping website providing case studies and proven best practices on a myriad of subjects designed to help communities in the West - and specifically the Intermountain West - become more environmentally and economically resilient.
"A key objective of the Lincoln Institute's work with the Sonoran Institute is to build the capacity of public officials, land-use professionals and citizens to make better land-use decisions," says Armando Carbonell, senior fellow and chairman of the Department of Planning and Urban Form for the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. "Effective decision-making requires sound information, and the SCOTie.org site provides convenient access to a wealth of materials about practices that have worked in communities across the intermountain west. As a rich storehouse of case studies and other resources, SCOTie offers practitioners and citizens alike a way to tackle the tough issues of planning for conservation and development in the West without having to reinvent the wheel."
"I've never come across a similar website where you have this amount of information in one location," says Dean Brennan, an adjunct professor teaching urban planning classes at Arizona State University. A former planner for the City of Phoenix and a consultant on healthy community projects, Brennan has spent his share of time researching on the internet. "The real advantage to SCOTie," he says, "is you can do a search on a specific topic and find best practices and case studies that you can then apply to whatever project you are working on."
SCOTie's case studies are searchable by issue category, community type, and state and provide contact information for the community represented. SCOTie also offers a webinar series, a blog, and the Fetch! e-newsletter.
"SCOTie evolved out of some of our early Western Lands and Communities work on identifying the common themes of successful communities in the West and the best practices that those communities shared on issues ranging from natural resource conservation, to downtown revitalization, to historic preservation, and preserving working landscapes," says Susan Culp, project manager for Western Lands and Communities. "The online toolkit explores these themes and practices more deeply and provides a forum for peer-to-peer exchanges, where communities can highlight successful policies and programs and learn from one other."
One of these communities is the city of Las Vegas, where Marco Vellota works as a management analyst in the city's Office of Sustainability. Vellota not only regularly visits SCOTie for information on issues such as climate change and adaptation, energy, long-range planning, and transportation, but he is also one of the site's many partners who contributes case studies and actively participates in webinars.
"We may have different sets of statutes and ordinances between states, but concepts transcend all those," Velotta says. "SCOTie gives you free access to knowledge capital and allows you to see what peer communities have done and what has worked well. When we're dealing with issues that impact entire communities of hundreds of thousands of people, that knowledge is really valuable."
By Audrey L. Spillane
For the Sonoran Institute
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Donate - We Need Your Support
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Your contribution today will help ensure that future generations have the opportunity to enjoy the West that we know and love.
Together, we can shape a great future for the West.
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Webinar - Transportation Funding
January 22, 2014, Noon MST
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Local governments in the West are facing sweeping changes in how they fund transportation projects.
This webinar will help you think about new funding options for roadways and transportation in your community.
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Noon - 1:00pm MST
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Call for Entries - Planning Awards
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The first annual innovation awards program to facilitate the advancement and utilization of innovative open access planning tools has been established. Awards will be made both for innovative tool development and for an excellence in implementation.
Deadline for submittal: Jan.31, 2014
Click here for more information
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Community Planning Grants - RFP
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Is your community interested in using exploratory scenario planning to assist in a planning or community decision-making process?
Topics could include issues such as water resources, energy, and climatic variability or change, as well as how these issues may relate to land-use planning or community futures.
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New Video - Downtown Rifle, CO
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The people of Rifle, Colorado, looked out of the window and saw ways their community could be better. Rifle chose to shape its own future. And the Sonoran Institute has been alongside them every step of the way.
Find out more about why we are celebrating the accomplishments of Rifle, Colorado. Click here.
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The United "Watershed" States of America - Featured Blog Article
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What if the Western states were formed around watersheds as famous explorer John Wesley Powell envisioned? What would that look like and could we speculate on what that might mean for the functioning of modern communities?
Read the article
Our Community Builders initiative
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New Sun Corridor Director
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 Ian Dowdy of Phoenix, Arizona was named Director of the Institute's Sun Corridor Program. "Ian elevates all conversations in which he is engaged and brings a refreshing optimism to the important work we do." says Sonoran Institute CEO Maria Baier. Find out more about Ian |
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Donate and Help Spread the Word
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Support the work of the Institute
   
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Join our mailing list today to receive updates and notices about our conservation work across the West. |
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