The Evolution Institute is committed to implementing the policies that it formulates, using the most rigorous scientific assessment  methods.  Although implementations can potentially take place anywhere, the City of Binghamton, New York serves as a major implementation site because of two programs that David Sloan Wilson directs in addition to the Evolution Institute. EvoS is the first campus-wide evolutionary studies program, which is growing into a worldwide consortium. It strives to accomplish for the world of higher education what the EI strives to accomplish for the world of public policy formulation. The Binghamton Neighborhood Project (BNP) treats the city of Binghamton as a field site for basic and applied research from an evolutionary perspective.  Together, the three programs span the full range from basic scientific research, to policy formulation, to real-world implementation.

BNP projects that are informed by EI policy include the citywide Design Your Own Park competition, which empowers neighborhoods and restores outdoor play through the creation of neighborhood parks, interventions that create a culture of good behavior in preschool and elementary school classrooms, and an academy for at-risk high school students. Projects under development include a landlord-tenant association and a plan to turn a section of the city into an “urban village”.

Another major outlet for implementation is the Promise Neighborhood Research Consortium (PNRC), which provides science-based solutions to real-world problems worldwide through its website and consulting relationships.  The PNRC was started by Tony Biglan, a senior scientist at the Oregon Research Institute and frequent participant of EI workshops.  Tony and his colleagues who form the PNRC represent fields such as prevention science, applied behavior analysis, and public health, which have a proven ability to change behavioral and cultural practices in real world settings. They are increasingly rethinking their own fields more explicitly from an evolutionary perspective and Wilson is honored to be a member of the PNRC.  Thanks to EI Executive Advisory Board member Bernard Winograd, a collaboration has been initiated between the PNRC and the Local Inititiave Support Corporation (LISC), which organizes community-building efforts in cities across America.

The EI’s Quality of Life workshop will take place in Memphis, TN to interface with the University of Memphis’s Graduate Program in City and Regional Planning headed by Ken Reardon, a longtime associate of Jerry Lieberman. This will enable both Memphis and Binghamton to quickly implement policy recommendations that emerge from this workshop. There is also considerable interest among our partnering organizations in the UK to start implementations.

A concise way to define evolutionary science is “the science of change”. Virtually anyone trying to effect change can benefit from adopting an explicit evolutionary perspective with the resources provided by the EI.