By ANN RICHARDS
The legacies of communism and capitalism are strikingly similar in older, industrial cities in the U.S. and Eastern Europe. The Environmental Partnership for Sustainable Development (EPSD) believes that cross-national conversations might generate mutually beneficial solutions that will lead to more livable, sustainable urban communities.
"We are committed to engaging the world around us -- our neighbors both in the EU and outside of it -- as well as promoting this trans-Atlantic dialogue,” said David Murphy from his office in the Czech Republic. "We want to share our story, our know-how, everything that we've learned from our long transition from closed to open societies, from totalitarianism to democracies, and from planned economies to capitalism."
Murphy, EPSD's regional coordinator, was one of three staff members to visit the U.S. in November. He and his co-workers believe that one of the main benefits of the trip was affirmation that EPSD's work is relevant and important to people in the U.S. That, in turn, has helped to define more clearly the partnership's purpose and role in the future.
"During the trip, we realized that we would be meeting with people and organizations -- like the Mott Foundation -- who know us and have a history with us, a funding history. Along with that comes a preconceived notion of who we are. So the challenge was to show those who know us that we have grown as an organization. We want to surprise them and say, ‘You knew us as a grantee, but now we are coming back as a partner with whom you can work to tackle bigger, even global issues.’"
One of the goals of EPSD's trip was to create an international network to share ideas about community building.
"We believe that in order to tackle global issues, our part of the world -- Central Europe -- has to stand up and play its role,” Murphy said. “We can be a part of this by doing what we do best: ensuring that the voices of the grassroots are also heard."
Said Miroslav Kundrata, chair of EPSD's board of directors and director of the Czech Republic's Environmental Partnership Foundation: "Good ideas are not shared enough."
"One of the most remarkable things about our trip to the U.S. has been that no matter where we were -- Oregon, California, New York or Michigan -- people spoke the same language. They talked about the same things we talk about: urban sprawl, traffic, unregulated construction."
Made up of six independent member foundations representing Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Romania, EPSD is headquartered in the Czech Republic. It was founded shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 through the German Marshall Fund of the United States. EPSD has been at the forefront of reconnecting citizens with their cultural and environmental heritage in post-communist Eastern Europe.
After visiting cities as diverse as Portland (Oregon) and New York City, Murphy, Kundrata and Laszlo Potozky, director of the Romanian Environmental Partnership Foundation, ended their three-week tour in Flint, home to the Mott Foundation.
In many ways, the acres of empty parking lots and abandoned factories in Flint felt the most like home to Kundrata and Potozky. Flint's post-industrial scars are very similar to those inflicted by 50 years of communism in Eastern Europe, they say.
"Flint is a cautionary tale for us," Potozky said. "Our new, market-driven system poses many problems for the regeneration of our cities. We are very, very vulnerable right now. Everyone wants to make money, to buy a car. We can learn a lot about how we should grow by talking with people in Flint -- people who are trying to transform their economy."
Said Kundrata: "Our visit to Flint has been the most relevant of all our stops in the United States. We are struggling with problems similar to Flint's -- even if the root of those problems are not the same."
The trip also provided an opportunity to update Mott on the partnership's accomplishments. Since 1991, Mott has provided more than $3.4 million to support the growth and expansion of EPSD's community-based activities.
The partnership employs 130 people in eight offices across Eastern Europe. During the past 15 years, EPSD has supported more than 5,500 initiatives to protect 160 endangered species of flora and fauna; plant more than 225,000 trees; insulate 800 homes, schools and public buildings; create more than 4,500 kilometers of "greenways" or bicycle paths to encourage natural and cultural heritage conservation and revitalization of public spaces at the national and regional levels; and mobilize more than 21,500 volunteers. The partnership has been instrumental in creating more than 500 not-for-profit organizations in Central/Eastern Europe.
Building on its experience providing small grants and technical support for local environmental action, the partnership began to address the issue of urban revitalization in the mid-1990s, working with local communities on improving their public squares, streets and parks.
In 1993, EPSD partnered with the U.S.-based Project for Public Spaces to create a national "placemaking" program that required resident participation in planning. The program was designed to address two central needs -- developing and improving urban communities and continuing to create a public voice and encourage participation in public affairs.
At first, the challenge seemed overwhelming, according to Kundrata. Totalitarian rule and state planning has left many Eastern European cities burdened with the remnants of heavy industry -- brownfields, abandoned steel works, city centers paralyzed by ill-planned roads, canalized rivers and dehumanizing housing blocks.
"We are not experts in urban architecture or urban planning," Potozky said. "But we are expert at involving communities and starting conversations among people."
Like their ongoing work in rural communities and their signature "greenways" program, EPSD initiated community-building activities in larger cities through "petunia" projects -- inviting residents to plant trees or flowers in public spaces.
"As people become acquainted, we move to larger issues," Kundrata said.
Keeping people engaged is an ongoing struggle, say Potozky and Kundrata. Eastern Europe's growing consumer orientation has also worked against public involvement.
"But there is great potential," Kundrata said. "It is more a question of leadership."
Said Potozky: "Now is the time for organizations with this shared interest and concern to compare notes and address how to build citizen self-sufficiency.
"On this trip, we've seen a lot of enthusiasm about how people can make a difference. That is what will keep us moving forward."