David Godschalk has published 10 books, served on the Chapel Hill Town Council and is a retired commander in the U.S. Naval Reserve.
Now he can add co-chairman of a national sustainability task force to his already lengthy resume.
“It’s the intersection of everything that I’ve been working on over my whole career,” he said.
Godschalk is a professor emeritus in UNC’s Department of City and Regional Planning, where he received both his master’s and Ph.D. degrees.
He was selected by the American Planning Association to serve as co-chairman of the sustainability task force. The group is contracted for at least two years and will work to provide city and urban planners with tools to introduce communities to more sustainable forms of living.
“He is one of the shining stars of the planning profession leadership, and it’s a wonderful recognition,” said Bill Rohe, UNC professor and director of the Center for Urban and Regional Studies
Godschalk and his task force will return to the American Planning Association’s national convention in the spring of 2011 to present a report outlining ways for planners and communities to put sustainable practices into use.
Godschalk defined sustainability as a balance between environmental factors, economic factors and social factors. The goal is to keep all of these factors in balance as the world continues to grow.
“Sustainable development is that development which serves the needs of the present population without disadvantaging future populations,” Godschalk said. “It’s an ocean of what we do today is going to affect children and grandchildren tomorrow, and we don’t want to leave them worse off than we are.”
Godschalk said he did not apply for the task force position and did not even know he was being considered until he received a phone call from the executive director of the American Planning Association.
“It just dropped like a bolt out of the blue,” he said. “I had no idea.”
After careful consideration and thought, Godschalk decided he could not pass up the opportunity.
“I’ve been advocating for this for a long time, and many times it felt like a voice crying in the wilderness because nobody was paying any attention,” he said.
But now, Godschalk has the staff and support to move forward.
“What makes him unique is that he makes translating planning scholarship into practice,” said Philip Berke, a professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning.
Godschalk gave a speech at the recent 100-year anniversary celebration of the founding of the American Planning Association in Washington, D.C., a factor that he thought contributed to his selection as co-chairman.
In the speech, he discussed the importance of positive development that leaves a place better off in terms of air quality, water quality and the amount of energy and social capital that is generated.
He noted that positive development is actually behind.
“We’ve treated the planet so badly in the last 50 years that we have a lot of catching up to do,” he said.
Godschalk said he thinks it will realistically take two or three years for the task force’s new sustainable form of planning and development to go into practice.
“This is going to be difficult because it represents such a major departure from what they’ve been used to in the past,” Godschalk said.
But if anyone can achieve this goal, it’s Godschalk, colleagues said.
“His experience goes back over decades, and he can see better than most where things are going,” said doctoral candidate Ward Lyles.
Godschalk continues to set the bar high for others in his field, Rohe said.
“I always said to myself, ‘If I can make the same type of contribution as David Godschalk, I’ll have had a very successful career’.”
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
