Maybe the best little video yet on smart neighborhood-building
Posted September 20, 2010 in Green Enterprise, Living Sustainably
California-based architect and co-founder of new urbanism Peter Calthorpe was one of my early inspirations for getting into this field. Reading Peter's work in the mid-1990s, I felt for the first time that I had a positive vision to advocate as an alternative to sprawl.
Among his substantial contributions to sustainability, I'm not sure if Peter coined the phrase "transit-oriented development," but he certainly popularized it. I mention that because this awesome little video in which Peter appears purports to be about Portland and TOD. But, really, I think the title is misleading: it isn't so much about TOD as about the elements of a complete, walkable neighborhood, whether or not it is also transit-oriented. And, although the photography happens to show Portland, the narrative doesn't (and needn't) mention any particular location. This is about simply about good neighborhood-building, period. Enjoy:
Move your cursor over the images for credit information.
Kaid Benfield writes (almost) daily about community, development, and the environment. For more posts, see his blog's home page.
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Laurence Aurbach — Sep 20 2010 09:50 AM
That video is from the PBS series e² ( “the Economies of being Environmentally conscious”). If you liked that, check out more of the series online at the PBS site. There are a few more recommendations here: e²: Good Urbanism on TV.