Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably
The federal EPA has a new and very handy "what you can do" web site on green homes. Click on a portion of the house and you'll be taken to a page with tips that pertain to that...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Curbing Pollution , Environmental Justice , Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably
Earlier this month I began a series of posts about Indianapolis's Smart Growth Redevelopment District, which I have had the honor of advising. The area in question is a distressed part of the city, two miles northeast of...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably , Solving Global Warming
Cool Town Studios has a very interesting new blog post about an award-winning development called The Rise in Vancouver. Although the project is anchored by big-box retail, the parking is underground, there are 90 homes above, the...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Environmental Justice , Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably
Habitat for Humanity's East Bay affiliate is retrofitting a brownfield into 54 affordable homes on two acres of land in Oakland, California. With excellent location, walkable density, great design, and green features, the Edes Avenue project is participating...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably
I am most pleased to announce the release of Green Community, a new book produced and published jointly by the National Building Museum and the American Planning Association. It's a terrific book of essays, if I do say so. (Full...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil
Last week the Urban Land Institute and PriceWaterhouseCoopers released their well-regarded annual analysis, Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2010. The report, which has been published for the last 30 years, aims to advise the industry "on where to invest, what...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably
Walk Score keeps getting better, and it was already very good. With assistance from the Rockefeller Foundation, the locational rating system has now incorporated transit service data from 40 metro regions into its service, so that its maps...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
Cincinnati voters have rejected "Measure 9," an anti-streetcar initiative, by a 56-44 percent margin. The measure was aimed at killing a streetcar plan approved earlier this year by the city council, and would have required further referenda...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Curbing Pollution , Green Enterprise , Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Lee County, Florida (Fort Myers) is moving forward with an innovative plan to use clustered, dense development instead of large-lot zoning to protect its water supply. Under current zoning the southeastern portion of the Gulf coast county has been threatened...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Environmental Justice , Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably
Last week I had the honor of being one of seven smart growth types recruited by the American Institute of Architects to work with the city of Indianapolis and community residents on the model revitalization of a distressed urban neighborhood. ...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably
Last week, I had the honor of speaking to the Indiana chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects on the subject of sustainable communities. I enjoy this sort of thing, and when I have time - as I did...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably
Medieval cities are almost by definition models of smart growth: built a long time prior to the automobile age, and built to be self-reliant and defensible, they tend to be highly walkable, dense, and self-contained with many if...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably
A planning concept that is gaining favor as a guide to creating smart, convenient places conducive to green living is the "20-minute neighborhood": a place where you can meet all of your daily needs within a 20-minute journey, preferably...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Environmental Justice , Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably
Last week's post on the architecture of the Make It Right Foundation's new homes in New Orleans brought some thoughtful comments, and it brought even more when I reposted it on another site that I also frequent. ...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably
A month-long test of a redesigned "complete street" on one of St. Louis's neighborhood thoroughfares has proven immensely popular with residents, prompting the city to go forward with full construction of the first of four planned demonstration projects...
