Urban development should be guided by a sustainable planning and management vision that promotes interconnected green space, a multi-modal transportation system, and mixed-use development. Diverse public and private partnerships should be used to create sustainable and livable communities that protect historic, cultural, and environmental resources. In addition, policymakers, regulators and developers should support sustainable site planning and construction techniques that reduce pollution and create a balance between built and natural systems.
New sustainable urban developments or re-developments should provide a variety of commercial, institutional, educational uses as well as housing styles, sizes and prices. The provision of sidewalks, trails, and private streets, connected to transit stops and an interconnected street network within these mixed-use developments provides mobility options and helps reduce pollution by reducing vehicle trips. Walking, bicycling, and other mobility options should be encouraged throughout the urban mixed-use core and mixed-use neighborhoods with easily accessed and well-defined centers and edges.
Fighting Sprawl
The application of land-use based zoning, real-estate tax laws, and highway design regulations, has created automobile-dominated sprawl conditions where cars are required for almost all activities, leading to ever-increasing congestion and longer commute times. Decentralized suburban or exurban expansion has created developments with no sense of place, which consume exorbitant amounts of land, necessitating huge infrastructure commitments, and often contribute to the deterioration of urban centers.
Development patterns that result in sprawl are not in the long-term interest of cities, small towns, rural communities, and agricultural lands. As communities plan for growth and change, in-fill and redevelopment should utilize existing infrastructure. Public agencies should promote and facilitate processes for remediation of urban sites to relieve pressure to develop at the urban fringe. Plans should identify open lands that can be sustainably developed into green spaces or left alone. In fact, preserving open green spaces in cities is crucial to fighting sprawl because these spaces provide important outlets within the city.
Sustainable urban development means responsible growth and development strategies that are broader in vision and more regional in scale. There are a range of sustainable growth strategies: For instance, urban in-fill, suburban redevelopment, and open-land development can all lead to more diverse housing styles and multi-modal transit. As there is no such thing as a ¡°one-size-fits-all¡± solution for every community, appropriate principles must be developed for each. Responsible and innovative development strategies at the federal, state and local levels are needed to guide private development.
Organizations
, World Resources Institute: Urban Sprawl
, University of Maryland
, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
, Maryland State Government
Resources
, The Dirt blog, The Dirt blog, Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵ
, The Dirt blog
Research
, U.S Environmental Protection Agency, 2014, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2013, Smart Growth America, 2011 , Ellen Dunham-Jones and June Williamson, Wiley & Sons, 2008
, Ellen Dunham-Jones and June Williamson, Harvard Design Review, Spring/Summer 2008
Sustainable Zoning
The replacement of conventional zoning codes that control land use with those that control physical form can benefit growth and development. Implementing form-based codes can result in communities that fit their place and time, have a mix of uses that are appropriately scaled, enjoy pedestrian friendly well-defined public realms, and are generally more sustainable.
Research
, Smart Growth Network
, American Planning Association
¡°.¡± Janis Birkeland. Earthscan Publications, 2008
"," Chris Duerksen, American Planning Association, January 2008
, American Planning Association
Reusing Brownfields
The redevelopment of ¡°brownfield¡± sites enables communities to reuse abandoned areas that are often located in urban centers with existing infrastructure. Communities should take advantage of programs which focus on facilitating the cleanup and reuse of these areas by awarding grants, capitalizing loan funds, providing technical assistance and training, and absolving innocent prospective and contiguous landowners of liability.
Resources
"," The Dirt blog
"," The Dirt blog
"," The Dirt blog
Research
, American Planning Association
¡°,¡± Greg Lewis, Northeast-Midwest Institute, March 2009
¡°,¡± Soji Adelaja, Judy Shaw, Wayne Beyea, and Charles McKeown, Land Policy Institute, January 2009
Projects
ChonGae Canal Source Park: Sunken Stone Garden (Mikyoung Kim Design)
, Wellesley, Massachusetts (Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc)
, Brooklyn, New York (dlandstudio)
Port Lands Estuary: Reinventing the Don River as an Agent of Urbanism, Toronto, Canada (Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc.)
Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan, Los Angeles, California (Mia Lehrer + Associates/ Civitas, Inc./ Wenk Associates)
, Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province, China (Turenscape)
, Shanghai, China (Turenscape)
, Tianjin City, China (Turenscape)
Animations
, Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵ
, Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵ
Investing in Downtowns
Encouraging businesses, non-profits, governments, and cultural institutions to locate their offices and other facilities within the urban core as opposed to suburban or fringe locations can support sustainable urban development. Investing in an urban core can help support urban core revitalization efforts, and attract and retain businesses and services. Often, tax credits or other incentives are needed to encourage the preservation or rehabilitation of historic properties or green spaces within the urban core.
Resources
"," The Dirg blog
Research
, USDA
Projects
Buffalo Bayou Promenade, Houston, Texas (SWA Group)
, Toronto (Janet Rosenberg + Associates, Claude Cormier Architects, and Hariri Pontarini Architects)
, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Sasaki Associates)
Spadina Wavedeck, Toronto (West 8 and DTAH)
Open Spaces
Communities should take advantage of government and private initiatives, such as conservation districts and open land trusts, to preserve open space. Open space can help curb scattered development, protect watersheds and natural habitat, maintain historic and cultural assets, and provide diverse recreational opportunities.Emphasis should be placed upon the creation of a diverse mix of uses and housing options within communities, such as an infill redevelopment instead of developing on open spaces.
Organizations
, Sustainable Cities, UK
Resources
"," The Dirt blog
"," The Dirt blog
"," The Dirt blog
Research
¡°,¡± National Association of Realtors, 2009
¡°¡± The Trust for Public Land¡¯s Center for City Park Excellence, June 2008
¡°,¡± Marc G. Berman, John Jonides, and Stephen Kaplan, University of Michigan, 2008
¡°,¡± University of Southern California GIS Research Laboratory and Center for Sustainable Cities, Los Angeles, California, 2007
Projects
, New York, New York (James Corner Field Operations, Diller, Scofidio + Renfro)
The Lurie Garden, Millennium Park, Chicago, Illinois (Gustafson Guthrie Nichol Ltd)
,¡± California (Ken Smith Workshop West and Mia Lehrer Associates)
, Seattle, Washington (University of Washington, Open Space Seattle 2100 Coalition)
, Hangzhou, China (Hangzhou Landscape Architecture Design Institute, Beijing Forestry University, Atelier DYJG)
Animations
, Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵ
Sustainable Landscapes and Buildings in an Urban context
Decreasing impervious pavement areas; providing abundant (usable) interconnected greenways and open space; implementing sustainable stormwater techniques; and planting or preserving vegetation will all help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from urban areas. In addition, siting buildings to maximize passive heating / cooling, using energy-efficient building technologies, including green or cool roofs can help mitigate building emissions.
Communities should also move toward energy conservation and non-oil and coal based alternatives, such as solar, wind, thermal, and biomass, which can reduce dependency on non-renewable resources, as well as minimize air, water, and thermal pollution.
Organizations
Resources
"," The Dirt blog
(Whole Building Design Guide)
"," The Dirt blog
"," The Dirt blog
Government Resources
(NYC Government)
(National Park Service)
Research
¡°,¡± McKinsey and Company, July, 2009
¡°,¡± Chief Building Official and Executive Director, Toronto Building and Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, March 2009
¡°.¡± Susan Weiler, and Katrin Scholz-Barth. Wiley, 2009
¡°,¡± Sustainable South Bronx, October 2008
¡°,¡± Tim Love, Harvard Design Magazine, Summer/Spring 2008
¡°,¡± Water Environment Research Foundation, June 2007
Projects
California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, SWA Group
Geos Net Zero Energy Neighborhood, David Kahn Studio
If you know of useful resources we've missed, please send your recommendations to: info@asla.org