The Edward J. Blakely Center for Sustainable Suburban Development grew from two initiatives.

In the late 1990s, it became apparent that, much like its surrounding region, the University of California Riverside campus was destined for astonishing growth. The student population would triple in size by 2015. Under Executive Vice Chancellor David Warren, the campus set out to create Vision 2010, a plan for raising the campus’ level of excellence while accommodating the growth.

One of the key initiatives under the Vision 2010 plan was to unite the school more closely with the communities that surround and nurture the campus. The model was the College of Engineering’s Center for Environmental Research and Technology. CE-CERT focused on controlling air pollution -- a research mission that was both international in its relevance and a particular problem of UCR’s region.

The idea of creating more international research initiatives that were responsive to regional needs found its second catalyst in Ali Sahabi, chairman of SE Corporation.

Sahabi was developing Dos Lagos, a project along Interstate 15 south of Corona which was planned for housing, shops, a hotel, a golf course and industrial space. The project offered considerable environmental challenges. The sensitive channel for Temescal Wash ran through it. The two lakes of its title were actually two abandoned mining pits. By building support from a broad range of community groups, Sahabi won all the necessary approvals and began construction.

In the course of his work, Sahabi became even more convinced that good planning, facilitated by a development process that brought all interested parties to the table, was the best way to promote sensible growth.

These ideas had first been nurtured when Sahabi was earning his Master’s degree in real estate development at the University of Southern California. There, he found a mentor in Edward J. Blakely, then Dean and Lusk Professor of Planning and Development at USC’s School of Urban Planning and Development. When Sahabi formulated the idea of endowing a program to reflect his ideals of development, he wanted to name it after his mentor.

Sahabi broached the idea of a gift to UCR to found such a program. Patricia O’Brien, dean of the school’s College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, tapped Gary Dymski, an economics professor and associate dean to oversee the program. Dymski brought in Andy McCue to run the center on a day-to-day basis.

The planning process began in mid-2002. Two breakfast events were held to draw out community ideas on what issues the Center should focus on. An academic planning conference was held in February 2003 to present information on suburban trends and to gain the academic perspective on what the Center should be doing.

When Dymski left to take up leadership of the University of California’s new Sacramento Center, the University chose James Lents to be the Blakely Center’s Director.

In 2003, Sahabi finalized a $2 million gift agreement to UCR to found the Edward J. Blakely Center for Sustainable Suburban Development. The gift will allow the Center to operate for five years while simultaneously providing the seeds for an endowment that will allow it to continue well into the future.

In 2005, the Center held its first annual Conference on the Suburbs at the Mission Inn. Over 300 people heard speakers from Peter Calthorpe to Dowell Myers discuss the theme of Smart Growth on the Edge – applying the urban-based principles called “Smart Growth” to the growing communities on the fringes of metropolitan areas. In 2006, the conference was titled The New Collaborative Region: Suburbs and Cities working on the Future. The audience at the San Bernardino Radisson heard speakers from around the country, the state and the region discuss their efforts to create and maintain regional planning efforts.

Also in 2005, the Center began the Randall Lewis Seminar Series, a monthly event focused on an issue of regional significance or policy making. Sponsored by Randall Lewis of the Lewis Group of Companies, the series took up such issues as regional air quality, inclusionary zoning, how to finance transportation infrastructure and how a city plans for massive new developments.

In early 2006, David H. Warren was named director, succeeding Lents, who retired. Dr. Warren had served for nine years as the university’s Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost. Warren brought Dr. Juliann Allison aboard to serve as Associate Director with an emphasis on research programs.

In October 2006, Joseph Norbeck was appointed as Director, succeeding Warren. Dr. Norbeck is the Yeager Families Professor of Environmental Engineering and Director of the Environmental Research Institute at UCR. Norbeck has been at UCR since 1992 and was the founding director of the Bourns College of Engineering-Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CE-CERT).

Dr. Norbeck played a key role in the hiring of three new faculty positions with direct affiliation to the Center. During his tenure, new Center research projects also were funded. Dr. Norbeck relinquished the Director post at the end of 2007 because of increasing responsibilities associated with his research, added teaching responsibilities and his continuing duties as Director of ERI.

Succeeding him is Dr. David Swanson, Professor of Sociology at UCR. A nationally known demographer, Dr. Swanson previously was at the University of Mississippi, where he was Professor and Chair of the Sociology Department and Director of the Center for Population Studies. His applied demography experience includes service as the Dean of the Helsinki School of Economics, Professor of Urban Studies at Portland State, and State Demographer in the Alaska Department of Labor. He also has conducted demographic research in Saudi Arabia.