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...continued→
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably , Solving Global Warming
One of the more frustrating challenges for people in our field to overcome is a certain past-is-destiny argument from sprawl defenders who contend that past trends in favor of large-lot, dispersed, automobile-dependent development constitute proof that Americans want more of...continued→
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably
Dan Douglas was, until recently, chief downtown planner and director of the Urban Design Council in Raleigh, the state capital of North Carolina. He is now in private architectural practice, but his passion for the city remains, apparently. In particular,...continued→
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably
It's been terrific to observe and report on America's great downtown comebacks, quite clearly a trend at this point. The latest set of facts I have run across concerns Milwaukee, courtesy of the very well-written blog Urban...continued→
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably
People concerned with smart, sustainable development invariably end up talking about Portland (Oregon) or examples therein. This is because it has probably done more to apply the principles that we care about than any other region in the...continued→
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably , Solving Global Warming
If the Reburbia contest sponsored by Dwell and Inhabitat was all about flights of imagination to reconceive suburbs, then FormShift Vancouver, a competition sponsored by the Architectural Institute of British Columbia and the City of Vancouver, was all about...continued→
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably
"Denver wants to be the kind of place that brings a lot of innovative ideas," says Denver mayor John Hickenlooper. "What could be more innovative than to build a totally green, pre-fab, multiple- unit community on the site...continued→
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably , Solving Global Warming
I make no pretense of objectivity on this one. I've been working on LEED for Neighborhood Development for seven long years. It's now finished and awaiting final approval by the three founding partners - NRDC (in consultation with the Smart...continued→
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably , Solving Global Warming
Is it any wonder that neighbors continue to oppose density (oops, I meant "compact development") when this is what we have been giving them? We smart growth advocates have gotten lazy. The issue has evolved in the last decade but,...continued→
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably
Dwell Magazine and Inhabitat.com are currently hosting a very fun exercise called Reburbia, a design competition dedicated to re-envisioning the suburbs. As explained on the project's website: "In a future where limited natural resources will force us to find...continued→
