With this award, the Philadelphia International Airport holds the only two Envision-verified projects in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

The Taxiway Y & U Rehabilitation Project at Philadelphia International Airport (PHL), operated by the City of Philadelphia Department of Aviation (DOA), has been recognized for its commitment to sustainability with an Envision Verified Award from ISI. As a large-hub airport accommodating 25 airlines and serving over 30.8 million passengers annually, PHL plays a vital role in the nation’s aviation network. Located approximately seven miles from downtown Philadelphia, PHL operates in the nation’s sixth-largest city, offering nearly 388 daily departures to more than 125 destinations worldwide.

The rehabilitation of Taxiway Y and U at PHL returned the facilities’ pavement, markings, signage, lighting, and electrical infrastructure to a state of good repair, and reconfigured intersections to the new geometry consistent with the current FAA standards. Taxiway Y and U are critical to the function of the airport’s airline and cargo operations as they provide a key connection between the passenger terminal areas and Runway 9R-27L, and are the only connections to the United Parcel Service (UPS) cargo apron.

Using the Envision framework alongside other sustainability tools, faculty share valuable sustainability knowledge for real-world applications.

Increasing numbers of college and university professors are incorporating ISI’s Envision Sustainable Infrastructure Framework, responding to their students’ strong desire to learn sustainability concepts and knowledge that can be readily applied in their careers.

Envision is a framework and rating system designed to help infrastructure stakeholders implement more sustainable, resilient, and equitable projects. Envision includes 64 sustainability and resilience indicators, called ‘credits’, organized around five categories. Each credit includes criteria questions to help project teams examine options for incrementally improving a project’s sustainable performance.

When asked about the importance of sustainability education, Dr. Kandiah Ramanitharan, Professor of Environmental Engineering in the Department of Water Resources Management at Central State University in Ohio, stated, “Sustainability education plays a crucial role for students pursuing careers in engineering, as well as for all individuals who are mindful of the well-being of their fellow human beings and the quality of life for future generations.”

Envision is helping educators to address evolving needs. Prabh Banga, VP of Sustainability for Aecon, who also is a part-time Professor at Seneca College and the University of Toronto, teaching Corporate Sustainability, uses Envision because it “helps to foster critical thinking about how to balance environmental stewardship with social impact and economic growth, preparing students to be more responsible and innovative future leaders in sustainable infrastructure development.”

Undergraduate and graduate students in civil and environmental engineering, urban planning and environmental science, in particular, benefit from Envision in the classroom. The framework can be used to expand students’ thinking around potential sustainability trade-offs and benefits in the context of actual projects, and it can support course work. Banga noted that Envision exposes students to “tools used in real-world projects to evaluate the sustainability of various infrastructures, making their education more relevant to contemporary challenges in the field.”

Dr. Diana Byrne, an assistant professor in the University of Kentucky’s Civil Engineering Department, obtained her Envision Sustainability Professional (ENV SP) credential to better understand Envision and integrate it into the classroom — and valuable learning has resulted. After introducing the framework, she takes up a select number of credits in more detail with her class before leading into small-group discussion and presentations linked to specific project examples. “We spend some time looking at a few specific Envision credits that are highly related to course topics we discussed earlier in the semester, such as life-cycle cost analysis with LD3.3, greenhouse gas emissions with CR1.2, and water consumption with RA3.2,” Byrne explains. Students then apply this knowledge to consider the project focus, potential stakeholders, sustainability considerations, and relevant Envision credits for an Envision verified project.

“I use Envision in the classroom because from my perspective, sustainability rating systems like Envision are the most likely way that our civil engineering students will interact with sustainability in their careers in industry,”

— Professor Diana Byrne, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Kentucky

A similar perspective was shared by Dr. Ramanitharan, who says Envision equips students with the necessary tools to measure and implement sustainable practices effectively and a methodology to “evaluate both the sustainability accomplishments and the potential for sustainable practices in civil or environmental engineering projects.” With sustainability education playing a crucial role for students pursuing careers in engineering, Ramanitharan says he also benefitted from taking ISI’s Train the Trainer course. “It was instrumental in enhancing my ability to teach topics related to sustainability.”

The rise in interest in Envision among professors is no surprise to Dr. Leslie Brunell, ISI’s Director of Education, who was a civil engineering professor at Stevens Institute of Technology for 14 years before coming to ISI. In the latter part of her academic career, she observed how students and faculty gravitated to frameworks and tools designed for implementing sustainability in a professional context as opposed to those focused on theory. Specifically created for use in civil infrastructure, Envision was also unusual in having grown out of a collaboration with academia, through the then-Zofnass Program for Sustainable Infrastructure at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. “The Envision Framework’s development embodies the growing momentum in both academia and professional practice that has put a stronger focus on sustainable solutions,” Brunell notes.

Achieving sustainability goals in infrastructure development is not confined to civil engineering; it requires collaboration among experts from many fields, including urban planning, environmental studies, and construction management, to name a few. Envision is a good fit in the classroom because students tend to reflect the cross-disciplinary makeup of teams working on sustainability projects, creating an opportunity for early cross-functional collaboration. This is supported by Envision’s common language for sustainability in infrastructure, which is not highly technical — or exclusive to one discipline. This can be especially helpful for introducing topics outside students’ major or concentration. “It’s very helpful for me to communicate environmental planning specifically – environmental planning, environmental impact assessments, sustainability reporting, those kinds of topics,” says Dr. David Abraham of Rice University, the current chair of ISI’s Academic Committee.

Envision offers a unique benefit in response to a growing emphasis on sustainability accreditation and certifications for students. Through engagement with Envision in the classroom, many students have an introduction to Envision. They now have the opportunity to pursue the credential on their own should they choose to.

Academic Community Engagement

Leslie Brunell

ISI has collaborated with faculty and members of the academic community on the role and use of Envision in education since the framework’s introduction in 2012. An Academic Committee was established in 2013 to focus on Envision in the classroom, exploring student credentials and tools and resources over the last decade. Dr. Brunell joining ISI in 2023 energized this collaboration.

“We have currently three subcommittees that are tasked with developing content that we can disseminate to anyone who is interested in using Envision in the classroom,” explains Brunell. One subcommittee is tasked with developing a curriculum matrix – essentially mapping any courses in sustainability that would benefit from the application of Envision. A second is working on short presentations for faculty members to introduce Envision in the context of their course, mainly focused on the five sectors (transportation, water, energy, land-environmental, and waste).

A third committee is developing case studies that faculty can use within their courses, that not only integrate Envision but also might address some of the requirements of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) through the development of discussion questions.

“There is a lot of work to do, but strengthening engagement with academia and students is an important goal for ISI,” says Brunell. “This is the generation that will have the greatest influence on how projects are planned, designed, and delivered in years to come.”

Each year, the ISI Annual Conference hosts a poster competition, providing a platform for students to present Envision-related posters as part of a professional conference. The 2025 ISI Annual Conference will be held October 22–23. Both the call for posters and the call for abstracts were recently opened.

Read Part 2 of this article: How students and young career professionals are benefiting from Envision in practice

In line with our continuing focus on water and wastewater, this post offers key insights from three Envision-awarded projects.

On a hypothetical wastewater treatment plant upgrade project, discussions around service reliability might lead to discussions of inter-related aspects, such as factors contributing to the project’s social licence, or increased community satisfaction.

Sustainable infrastructure is no longer just an aspiration— it’s essential to the long-term viability of communities. Sustainable infrastructure includes renewing the assets that will provide critical services well into the future. Achieving this requires a holistic approach, recognizing and balancing many interconnected factors through a sustainable planning lens. The essence of sustainability lies in safeguarding an asset’s long-term viability while preserving resources and minimizing harm — striking a balance between interconnected trade-offs and benefits.

The Envision Sustainable Infrastructure Framework was tailor built for this purpose. Specifically, ISI’s framework is a decision-making tool and holistic system that helps project team  identify and track progress against the full range of sustainability indicators. Water and wastewater projects of every size frequently use Envision, so much so that this category makes up 40% of ISI’s portfolio of projects. The framework is effective for new facilities, as well as upgrading and replacing aging infrastructure, including drinking water systems, wastewater treatment plants, and stormwater conveyance systems. Often these projects are complex, yearslong undertakings involving numerous variables and potential impacts throughout design and construction. To navigate these challenges, project teams rely on proven tools to assess performance and set measurable goals for improvement. For many, Envision provides that structured approach.

Consider a hypothetical wastewater treatment plant upgrade project:

Project primary goals: Service reliability and water quality

Owner and project team focus: Enhancing treatment processes to remove emerging contaminants or to reduce nutrient discharges.

The goal of service reliability might lead to deeper discussions about capacity expansion — ensuring the system can accommodate population growth or increased demand, operational efficiencies, and long-term maintenance.

The project team might ask themselves questions like:

• Are there new technologies that can reduce costs, energy use, or chemical consumption?
• Can the design be configured to improve access for routine maintenance tasks?
• Should systems or equipment be added to monitor operational performance?

Resilience and climate adaptation may also be important considerations to meet the primary goals; and could warrant a system-wide review to determine the need to upgrade systems to withstand extreme weather, sea level rise, or other hazards or threats.

The discussion also might draw attention to inter-related aspects, such as factors that would contribute to the project’s social licence, or increased community satisfaction from adjacent neighborhoods or the communities it serves. The owner and the project team might look for enhancements that go beyond the project’s functional goals to support social sustainability and contribute to the community’s quality of life.

The project team might ask themselves questions like:

• Could the project add opportunities to provide education about the facility and/or the wastewater process?
• Are there on-site or adjacent public spaces that could be improved or created?
• How can construction impacts be minimized to alleviate negative effects on community safety and mobility?

Forward-looking water/wastewater owners and project teams are focusing beyond service reliability by connecting projects to broader community goals. Many recent Envision projects illustrate this philosophy. They’re leading the way in recognizing aspects like public health, energy and water use, climate resilience and protecting/enhancing ecosystems — even as they deliver much-needed water/wastewater service improvements. Here is a brief look at three Envision-awarded project examples: the Bee Ridge Water Reclamation Facility (BRWRF) in Florida, the NE 16th Street & Jefferson Avenue NE Stormwater Green Streets Project in Washington, and the Holland Area Wastewater Reclamation Facility Anaerobic Digester Project in Michigan. Departing from a traditional single-objective focus, these projects provide wide-ranging community benefits while offering valuable lessons in sustainability, innovation, and stakeholder engagement.

Bee Ridge Water Reclamation Facility is being expanded and upgraded to incorporate advanced wastewater treatment.

Lesson 1: Infrastructure Can Enhance Environmental and Community Resilience

The BRWRF Expansion and Advanced Wastewater Treatment Conversion Project in Sarasota County, Florida, exemplifies how infrastructure can address both environmental and community needs. This $25-million (USD) project increases wastewater treatment capacity by 50%, while implementing advanced technologies to reduce nutrient pollution. With Florida’s largest membrane bioreactor system and biological nutrient removal basins, the facility will significantly cut nitrogen and phosphorus discharges, helping to prevent algal blooms that impact ecosystems and tourism.

Beyond its technical achievements, BRWRF integrates climate resilience by incorporating design features that withstand sea-level rise and extreme weather events. Its emphasis on water reuse helps conserve potable water, while financial innovation—securing a $105M low-interest federal loan—ensures affordability for ratepayers. The key takeaway might just be that sustainability is not just about engineering, it’s about integrating resilience into financial planning, environmental protection, and long-term community benefits.

Lesson 2: Community-Led Design Strengthens Equity and Environmental Outcomes

The NE 16th Street & Jefferson Avenue NE Stormwater Green Streets Project in Renton, Washington, highlights the power of community-driven infrastructure. Built in the Sunset neighborhood—an area with outdated infrastructure from the 1940s—this $3.5-million (USD) project prioritizes both stormwater management and social equity. Through extensive community engagement, including multilingual meetings and neighborhood surveys, residents directly influenced the project’s design.

Sustainability features such as permeable pavers, vegetated strips, and stormwater runoff treatment units improve water quality while enhancing neighborhood aesthetics. By integrating bioretention systems and pervious pavement, the project reduces the burden on larger stormwater networks, mitigating flooding risks and enhancing climate resilience. The result? A project that not only manages stormwater effectively but also revitalizes a historically underserved community, proving that equity and environmental sustainability go hand in hand.

The Holland Area Wastewater Reclamation Facility operated by the Holland Board of Public Works (HBPW).

Lesson 3: Circular Economy Principles Improve Long-Term Viability

In Michigan, the Holland Area Water Reclamation Facility’s Anaerobic Digester Project demonstrates how sustainable infrastructure can embrace circular economy principles. Faced with rising costs and regulatory challenges around biosolids disposal, the facility turned to anaerobic digestion to reduce wastewater solids by approximately 50% while generating renewable energy.

By capturing methane-rich biogas and converting it into heat and electricity, the project will meet 100% of its own energy needs and produce surplus energy for other facility operations. The transition to producing Class A biosolids also eliminates the need for lime stabilization, reducing potential water pollutants and operational costs. This $34M project not only addresses immediate waste management challenges but also aligns with broader sustainability goals, demonstrating how infrastructure investments can create long-term environmental and economic benefits.

The Future of Sustainable Infrastructure

These projects underscore key principles of the Envision framework like environmental resilience, community engagement and resource efficiency, and indeed highlight similar concepts in other sustainability management systems. Through advanced wastewater treatment, green stormwater management, biogas generation, etc., these projects demonstrate how infrastructure can simultaneously support environmental and ecological health, economic development, and social sustainability.

As cities face increasing pressures from climate change and population growth, the projects’ lessons learned provide a roadmap for building forward-looking infrastructure. Their success highlights a powerful truth: updating or replacing infrastructure assets requires more than technical knowledge and perspectives — it calls for adopting a sustainable infrastructure lens in order to create lasting value for generations to come.