This September 24-26 the District of Columbia and the surrounding region will host the sixth annual EcoDistricts Summit a unique gathering of the world’s most innovative city makers.

Each year the host city provides a programmatic element to the conference. More than a mere site the conference region serves as host curriculum and teacher. In 2014 the Washington Region’s active projects (SW Ecodistrict; DowntownDC ecoDistrict Congress Heights/St. Elizabeths and more) will create a rich opportunity to explore how community-driven sustainability works across different contexts.

Urban development leaders of all stripes see the EcoDistricts approach as the powerful way to address many of their pressing challenges from climate change to neighborhood revitalization. Districts or neighborhoods provide an important scale to accelerate local sustainability goals—small enough to innovate quickly and big enough to have a meaningful impact to inform broader policy and community-wide investments.

EcoDistricts is creating a powerful convening advocacy technical assistance and research platform to serve the growing number of sustainable development practitioners policymakers and change makers who are activating a demonstrable impact in their communities—strategic in nature collaborative in approach and practical in application. This closely aligns with COG’s recent work to bring public private and non-profit leaders together and share best practices on building sustainable communities.

COG is an EcoDistricts partner and we encourage participation in the conference using COG’s 10% off discount code AD_WMCG1. We’ll see you there!