Contact: Robbie Ward
STARKVILLE, Miss.--A prominent Washington, D.C., institution formally is recognizing Mississippi State and its home city of Starkville for being "green."
A project developed by the university's Carl Small Town Center currently is being featured at the National Building Museum as part of the yearlong "Green Community" exhibition, a showcase of U.S. communities that promote environmentally friendly and sustainable lifestyles.
Created by Congress in 1980 as both a repository and public forum, the museum works to spotlight examples of innovative architecture, design, engineering, construction, and urban planning.
Titled "Bike Starkville! And Walk, too!" the MSU-Starkville project was produced several years ago to serve as the foundation for a grassroots effort encouraging more cycling, walking and other non-motorized vehicle travel. As a result, numerous citizens in the Oktibbeha County municipality of some 24,000 residents came together to establish a non-profit organization called Starkville in Motion.
Over the intervening years, S.I.M. largely has been credited for the city's first bike paths linking downtown and the MSU campus, as well as other initiatives.
Museum curator Susan Piedmont-Palladino said the exhibition included the Mississippi entry to demonstrate how simple changes within a community can lead to big payoffs. Starkville's success "sends a message" to others throughout the nation, she added.
"In many cases, like Starkville's, simple changes bear complex benefits in the form of healthier citizens, a healthier civic realm, and, ultimately, a healthier planet," she said. "That's a lot for sidewalks and striped lanes to accomplish."
CSTC director John Poros echoed her remarks.
"Just as importantly as the design, the Carl Small Town Center wants to help communities see that their future needs to move toward sustainability, and the 'Bike Starkville! And Walk, too!' project is one of the ways we can point communities toward the future."
On display through late October 2009, the "Green Community" exhibition is the third in a series geared toward illustrating the importance of green spaces. "Bike Starkville!" is located in the "Elements and Technology" section that offers vignettes on air, water, fire, and earth technologies and policies on resource management.
S.I.M. president Devon Brenner, an associate professor in MSU's curriculum, instruction and special education department, said goals illustrated in the "Bike Starkville!" project include:
--A Safe Routes-to-Schools program,
--Bike racks set up at area schools and businesses,
--A University Drive bike path,
--Plans for the future creation of historical walking and biking tours, and
--Development of city regulations requiring sidewalks within new subdivisions.
The organization continues to promote a culture of biking and walking, Brenner emphasized.
"We've got a half-dozen major initiatives in the works," she said. "I really feel the city is changing, with more people getting on their bikes to ride to work."
MSU officials also continue working to make the 830-acre campus more pedestrian-friendly. With a free shuttle system in place for many years, the 130-year-old land-grant institution most recently has increased the number of bike racks and created an office of sustainability and campus planning, among other initiatives.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.