Pittsburgh Councilman William Peduto plans to spend 40 days exploring the summits of sustainability over the summer, and has sworn off a 2009 bid for the political promised land of the mayor's office.

The second-term councilman, two-time mayoral candidate and Moses of some Pittsburgh progressives said he's decided to become the itinerant councilman because his innovative nature "was being burned out by pettiness and politics at its worst."

Starting Monday, he'll spend 40 days out of the next 105 in Boston, Turkey, Washington and Norway, seeking to rewrite the book on being a councilman in preparation for "one last term" in his current job.

"I want to work on restoring Pittsburgh," he said yesterday. "I want to learn as much as I can on how to do so."

He admitted to some concern about what he'd be missing, while traveling, but said he'd join some meetings by phone.

Mr. Peduto's new role could change the dynamic on the fifth floor of the City-County Building, where he's been a key part of a council that has sparred with Mayor Luke Ravenstahl.

Mr. Peduto's travels start with a trip Monday to Harvard University for a national conference on the use of pension funds to revitalize neighborhoods. He said the city will pay about $600 for airfare and one night in a hotel -- the only part of his travel plans he expects taxpayers to cover.

Shortly after that, he'll take an 11-day trip to Turkey, courtesy of the Pittsburgh Dialogue Foundation, which fosters communication between cultures. That trip, which will take him from urban Istanbul to the cave warrens of Cappadocia, is about "tolerance and understanding," he said. "We'll be studying the cultural interaction between Christians, Muslims and Jews in five cities."

Going along is Laura Armesto, vice president for academic affairs at Chatham University.

Mr. Peduto got a letter from the city's Ethics Hearing Board approving the trip, noting that the foundation has no business dealings with the city.

Next up is an Aug. 14 jaunt to the GreenGov Conference, where he'll talk about Pittsburgh's environmentally friendly initiatives.

The big trip, without recent precedent in city government, has him in Norway from Aug. 25 through Sept. 21. The Rotary Club is sending him to study that country's environmentally friendly government.

"Norway is where I have been getting a lot of my ideas for green government," he said.

Is this what East End voters elected him to do, and what the city is paying him $56,405 a year for? He thinks so.

"I think it's going in a different direction than council in the past," he said. "There's just this entire international movement toward new urbanism that Pittsburgh hasn't been a part of in the past. I've had an opportunity to build up national networks so Pittsburgh has a seat at the table that we haven't had in the past."

In 2005, he finished second to Bob O'Connor in the Democratic mayoral primary. After Mr. O'Connor died in 2006, and Mr. Ravenstahl ascended, Mr. Peduto announced his bid in last year's special election. Faced with daunting poll numbers and hesitant to go negative, he pulled out.

That got him thinking about his career.

"It's not about politics with me," he said. "It's about what my passion is."

He won't challenge Mr. Ravenstahl next year, he said. He'll run for just one more council term.

And then what?

"I don't know," he said. "I don't want to leave Pittsburgh."