Our goals include returning healthy biodiversity to the heart of our cities, agriculture to community gardens and the streets, and convenience and pleasure to walking, bicycling and transit.

We work to build thriving city and neighborhood centers while reversing sprawl development; to build whole cities based on human needs and “access by proximity” rather than cities built in the current pattern of automobile driven excess, wasteful consumption and the destruction of the biosphere.

We visualize a future in which waterways in neighborhood environments and prosperous downtown centers are opened for curious children and native plants and animals.

Our palette for painting this future includes pedestrian streets, car-free buildings, “keyhole plazas” (plazas and squares with an opening to celebrated views), mid-block pedestrian passageways, bridges between buildings and buildings that are bridges over pedestrian streets. We promote rooftops with gardens, restaurants and public places with spectacular views to the local bioregion. Our organization represents more than an inspired vision of a vibrant future: Ecocity Builders is also equipped with an abundance of original ideas and urban reshaping tools, along with considerable experience working to create that vision.

Through our educational materials, newsletters, activist mailers, conferences (both local and international) we promote and help create the built human habitat in balance with living systems. Through hands-on projects in our community we build pieces of the real thing. Join in! Only together will we succeed.

We are sustained largely by our members’ dues, contributions, and participation in projects and events. Buy our books, read up, and join today!

Staff

Richard Register, President bio

Kirstin Miller, Executive Director bio

Jane Wardani, Development Associate
Jane recently graduated from UC Berkeley’s concurrent Master of City Planning and Master of Landscape Architecture program in environmental planning. She specializes in community engagement in environmental and land use planning and has incorporated teaching into her work in various settings including in Richmond and in West Oakland. She has served as independent consultant for nonprofit clients in the areas of organizational development, research and writing, and project assessment.

Richard Smith, Project Associate
Rick Smith is a doctoral student in social welfare at the University of California, Berkeley studying sustainable community development. Prior to his involvement with Ecocity Builders, he served as a Presidential Management Intern at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and US Agency for International Development. As a desk officer for the Empowerment Zone and Renewal Community Initiative at HUD, he developed performance measures, coordinated information systems and advised CEOs and local government staff on ways of enhancing community development strategies. Smith also served in Peace Corps Mongolia, managed the Spring Institute English Language Center and consulted with the World Bank, UNDP and UNICEF. He is also a graduate of the University of Michigan and Western Michigan University.

David Reid, GIS Specialist
David Reid - Coastal Geologist / GIS Contractor with U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Pacific Science Center in Santa Cruz, CA. Dave works on the National Assessment of Coastal Change Hazards Project in which he uses historical maps, lidar (light detection and ranging) data, and geographic-information-system (GIS) technology to calculate long-term (120-year) shoreline-change rates for the entire Pacific Coast of the U.S.

Stephanie Hsia, Mapping Intern
Stephanie Hsia is an environmental consultant and resident of Oakland, CA.  She recently graduated from the Bren School at the University of California-Santa Barbara with a Master of Environmental Science and Management and an emphasis in Conservation Planning. Her current work involves solar energy permitting, writing environmental assessments and coordinating corporate recycling programs.  In the past, she's had the opportunity to intern with the non-profit Conservation International as a research assistant studying panda habitat preferences in China. Her main interests lies in urban ecology, sustainable living and conservation.

Christian Runge, Project Intern
Christian is a Masters student in landscape architecture at the University of Michigan. He is interested in urban ecological design and restoration, community oriented/participatory design work, urban design, social justice in design. In addition to his academic work at the University of Michigan, he has also studied landscape design and horticulture at Merritt College. Before returning to school, he worked for five years as a K-12 educator in a variety of formats, and with many demographic groups.

Penelope Grzebik, Project Intern
Penelope is a seasoned environmental marketing manager who handles project coordination for Ecocity Builders. Prior to joining Ecocity, she was marketing manager for WeatherTRAK, a smart water management company located in Petaluma. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, her successes include database marketing, website creation, e-marketing, and multi-media collateral development. She is currently earning certifications in green building and environmental planning from both Sonoma State University, and the University of California at Davis. Penelope is a member of the Congress of New Urbanism, Urban Land Institute and U.S. Green Building Council.

Max Heim, Webmaster
Max Heim developed the design identiy for Ecocity Builders' website and other presentation materials, including the website for Ecocity World Summit 2008, and Green City Visions (Ecocity Builders' 2005 conference for World Environment Day). Max is a Principal with Studio L'Image, a collaborative creative studio.d compelling visual communications across a broad range of disciplines.

Our Supporters

Foundations, Organizations, Government Agencies

Helen & William Mazer Foundation

Bay Area Air Quality Management District's Climate Protection Grant Program
www.baaqmd.gov

Foundation for Sustainability and Innovation
www.fsifoundation.org

Sustaining Patrons

Diana and Arjun Divecha

Marco Vangelisti

Joell Jones

David Eifler

Bill Mastin and Susan Felter

Sylvia McLaughlin

Members

Sustaining Members $250 - $500

David Beach, Cleveland, Ohio

Lisa Hawes, San Francisco, California

Patron Members $100

ADPSR/New Village, SF Bay Area, California

Alan Gould, Berkeley California

Ralph Kratz, Point Richmond, California

Dixie M La Grande, Williams, California

Paul and Peggy Miller, Missoula, Montana

Cissy Monroe, Burlingame, California

Patricia Parisi, Berkeley, California

Michel Saint-Sulpice, Santa Barbara, California

Leslie Schneider, Seattle, Washington

Richard Smith, Berkeley, California

isabel Wade, San Francisco, California

Sigrid Wright, Castro Valley, California

Bryan Zhou, Stockton, California

Regular Members $35 - $50

Jason Archibald, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Kevin Bayuk, San Francisco, California

Joan Bokaer, Ithaca, New York

Venkata V. Chebrolu, Columbus, Georgia

J Michael Cobb, Lawrenceville, New Jersey

Michael Cohen, Port Elizabeth, South Africa

Ellen Doudna, Berkeley, California

Dana Ecelberger, Dallas, Texas

Sharon Ede, Adelaide, Australia

Rick Ernst, Benicia, California

Brian Fox, San Francisco, California

Marsha Golangco, Alamo, California

Jeffrey A. Gold, Caledon, Ontario, Canada

Patricia Gordon, Ste Anne de Bellevue, QC, Canada

Matt Gunderson, San Francisco, California

Al Green, Richmond, California

Graham Greene, AIA, Dallas, Texas

Kim Gyr, Empire, Michigan

Besim Hakim, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Bridget Hardy, Oakland, California

Stephanie Hsia, Oakland, California

Aidan Hughes, San Francisco, California

Danielle Kahn, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Benjamin Keh, Los Gatos, California

Stephen Kelley, Oakland, California

Louis Kern, Oakland, California

Jan Kindel, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Andrew Kunz, Alexandria, Virginia

David Mandel, Oakland California

Stacey Meinzen, Cotati, California

Joe Mellett, Cincinnati, Ohio

Anne Marie Mifsud, Malta, Europe

Mark Moulton, Redwood City, California

Erin McDaniel, Oakland, California

Mitch Neuger, San Francisco, California

Amy Jo Newlun, Chillicothe, Ohio

Suzanne Nolan, San Francisco, California

Bob Odland, Chico, California

Brian O’Flynn, San Francisco, California

Michael O'Hara, Hudson, New York

Siti Korota Aini Omar, Selangor, Malaysia

Magali Paris, Grenoble, France

Holly Pearson, Oakland CA

Perry Phillips, Kent, Ohio

Melina Planchenault, Montreal, QC, Canada

Greg Proefrock, San Francisco, California

Gary Purves, Snohomish, Washington

Hank Resnik, Berkeley, California

Cleon Ricardo Dos Santos, Curitiba, Brazil

Jean Rogers, San Francisco, California

Eva Ruland, Berkeley, California

David Seaborg, Walnut Creek, California

Ingrid Severson, Oakland, California

Elizabeth Slate, Syracuse, New York

Dolly Cristina Palacio Tamayo, Bogotá D.C., Columbia

Tommy Tolson, Austin, Texas

Ann Tonks, Seattle, Washington

Joanneke Verschuur, Oakland, California

Gwen Sharada Wade, Berkeley, California

Atsushi Watanabe, Novi, Armenia

Herbert Wedge, Huston, Texas

Julie Whitcomb, San Francisco, California

Jean Woo, Berkeley, California