People are at the core of everything GBA does and supports. Now more than ever, we must seek to explore how to best integrate community planning with transformative sustainability objectives that focus on stakeholder engagement, community-scale infrastructure, and leadership development so we can create environmentally, economically, healthy, and socially vibrant communities for all people.

We must seek to fully integrate our work into addressing the social and environmental factors of the built environment and change the context to create healthy, thriving places for all. This is why GBA started the Sustainable Communities Program.

As an organization, GBA believes that all community development should be sustainable development. We want to ensure all voices and perspectives are incorporated into the community visioning process and translated into tangible implementation and meaningful change.

Moving Forward

GBA will continue to use the power of our partnerships with industry and community leaders to address the negative health and socioeconomic impacts of poor air, water quality, food access and other systemic inequities disproportionately affecting low-income communities and disfavored populations. We will work to ensure investments are made to build resilient neighborhoods and foster healthier futures. All communities should be walkable with access to healthy food.

All communities should be comprised of healthy indoor environments and affordable utility bills. They should have access to quality education and well-paying jobs. With a growing body of research correlating home zip code to life expectancy and quality of life, the qualities and impacts of a sustainably built environment are essential points of conversation in shaping a “Just Pittsburgh.” In many ways, the built environment is the most visible representation of inequity in our society. As socially responsible citizens of this world, we must urgently question and systemically transform how we design and occupy our built environment and our communities to address this inequity.

In 2020 and beyond, GBA is committed to increasing the capacity and resiliency of the built environment and to providing resources to a wider diversity of people - creating sustainable, healthy, and just progress. We will leverage our industry leadership and position of privilege through sustainable communities’ programming to open conversations to new voices and work to intentionally include people who have historically been left out of discussions and decision-making. We will work to intentionally embed equity and inclusion throughout all we do.

At GBA, we envision a world where every building and community is sustainable so all people can feel safe and healthy and thrive where they live, work, learn, and play.