ENVS 361 - Sustainable development

Sustainable development

"Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." - Balance economic, environmental, and social needs or The Three Es (environment, equity, economics) - requires restructuring of government at all levels

Transportation

- TDM (Travel demand management) - Pedestrian and bicycle planning - mass transit

Resilience

- capacity of urban areas to withstand perturbations and maintain their structure and function - social-ecological systems

Smart Growth: Urban revitilization/infill

-Local Government: --planning, urban design and economic development --incentives, investment, bargaining w. private sector -Extremely varied results - Some sprawl reduction - Social equity --central city tax base, jobs --gentrification issues

Government

-National -State -Metropolitan Governance: -- Council of governments: organization of local governments for addressing regional issues; acts as forum with no power but distribution of federal grants -- Public authority: Est. with specific purpose(s) and powers by government -- Metropolitan government: Single tier (Est. one municipal government for entire metro area), Two tier (upper (metro) and lower (municipal tiers) -County -Municipal

Smart Growth: Growth management

-Regulation of the amount, timing, location, and character of urban development -- anticipates and reduces impacts of development -- greater integration of regulatory techniques and public investment -- regional, comprehensive view of location of development -- timing and phasing of development

The future of SD

Current paradigms present a palette of techniques to be adapted and applied in accordance with local, environmental, economic, social, cultural and political conditions The future: -- the evolution and integration of techniques may result in a coherent paradigm of sustainable -- the concept of sustainable design may remain a goal approached with a fluid palette of techniques

Environmental Planning

Difficulties: complexity, large-scale of many problems, emotionally and politically charged issues Government: National- lead (laws, state mandates, funding) -- National environmental protection act (1969) -- Clean Air Act (1970) -- Clean water act (1972) -- Corporate average fuel efficiency standards (1975) -- comprehensive environmental response , compensation and liability act (1980) -- Superfund (greenfield vs. brownfield) State: -- assigned roles in implementation of federal legislation -- state environmental protection laws Local- increasing role

Green building (LEED) & Passive environmental Design

Green Building (LEED): -- sustainable sites -- water efficiency (landscape, internal use, waste) -- energy use and air pollution -- materials and resources (recycle, local) -- indoor environmental quality Passive environmental design: -- sun, wind, light

Planning & Building Paradigms and Sustainable Development

Leading paradigms (what to do) - Smart growth (growth management, urban revitalization, infill) - New urbanism - Transportation ( alt. approaches) - Environmental planning - Green building and passive environmental design - Issues of Gov. (How to do it)

Smart Growth: Growth management

Local growth and management: -Timing and phasing controls (Methods: annual permits, concurrency, urban growth areas) --Goals: fiscal sustainability, push growth into core (potential to have opposite effect) -- Side effects: can raise housing prices (winners and losers) - Farmland and wilderness preservation --Methods: zoning, acquisition, TDR, conservation easements, tax relief --Goals: focus growth in core, local jobs, local produce

Smart Growth: Growth management

State-wide Growth Management - Programs require or encourage: --Plan development --Plan consistency (vertical and horizontal) --Eliminates displacement effects (if consistent) --Reduced social inequity

New Urbanism

Urban design , site planning - Link neighborhood- region - compact greenfields