There are so many trendy words all describing green something or is it sustainable? Lately we hear about living communities or in some circles “eco urbanism”, I decided to investigate this further and here is what I found.

Eco Urbanism is an old idea with a new name “sustainable building” or in this decade “the green building movement”. Eco Urbanism defines the development of multi dimensional communities striving for balance between human settlements and built environments. Historically we can trace concerns for the built and natural environments back to 100 AD where an urban planner and architect Vitruvius made recommendations on natural lighting based on site location and orientation as well as designing the spaces of the Roman town of Timgad to be traditionally smaller then those of its time. Currently about 50% of the world’s population lives in urban areas where at the turn of the 21st century only 10% of the population lived in urban areas primarily on other continents such as in Europe and Asia. With an increased demand for urban dwelling we are seeing a rise in “Ecourbanism”. It seems that the green building movement has never been more successful then in the last year in this country mostly due to successful green criteria’s such as LEED a product developed from the US Green Building Council and local “Built Green™” programs.

We as a building industry are beginning to ask what is sustainability and how are we going to achieve it? The “three legged stool” philosophy looks at sustainability from three aspects striving for balance Environment, Economy and Social Equity are the components that build the three legged stool. This new agenda in building is about design, development and management of sustainable communities. Ecology and the environment are breaking free as a notion of being solely about ecosystems made up of nature alone and are being recognized for the viability in a healthy economy that supports its local communities. We are learning to not only invest in natural capitol in the form of conservation of space but to also borrow from the capitol investment as a form of doing business “green business”. Programs like LEED and Built Green introduce comprehensive holistic approaches to building techniques for site development, energy efficiencies, and resource efficient materials. These criteria’s also teach us how to build as an investment in our future and commence into the building industry as green business. We are looking at “sustainable building for multiple reasons so a holistic approach allows us to address multi dimensional issues like affordability, utility costs, health, natural and local resources and waste. As progressive groups of thinkers helped to socially evolve these ideas in the 70`s most of the concept was based around energy. In the late 60`s early 70`s a lack of confidence in science and technology began to prevail coinciding with an energy crisis. A back to nature approach emerged for a brief period of time where consumers were looking for a more harmonious balance between man and nature. The oil crisis became the catalyst for a second wave of research in non fossil energy resources. We are experiencing a resurge of that movement today and the building industry is doing a lot to drive that movement.

We are experiencing progressive changes around the country for more affordable housing thru energy efficiencies. An energy efficient, low-income housing development in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood is expected to use 50% less energy and cost 25% less to build the comparable homes in the area. These homes were developed using engineered systems that take advantage of downsized heating and cooling equipment that use better insulation. These systems because of their size reduce the amount of construction costs incorporated into the buildings while providing healthier indoor environments. Progress in the area of photovoltaic is also helping reduce costs in other regions, The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power approved its first funding for a multi-year solar program that provides residential, commercial and industrial customers to install photovoltaic systems. This program has a five year plan that will allow for its customers who purchase the systems and install them to receive up to $5 per watt reimbursable. On average this program offers an incentive to offset consumer costs by approximately 50% average costs to install a 1,000 watt system is $2,500.00.

Forward looking urban planning and green building are also starting to address mobility as an issue and another driving force (no pun intended) in creating these communities. Americans today are still not looking at traffic as a problem according to one of the latest “gallop polls”, however strategic planning is being addressed in the green building industry. Many consider transportation as part of that holistic approach to the building industry and address it through development of community environments around mass transit corridors. Rising home costs push families to the edge of urban communities and have increased the need for cars this also effects family spending on the actual home. Redmond Ridge a registered “Built Green” project which has proven to be a successful green development that was built to capitalize on public transportation while building smaller units using a type of co-housing model incorporating green belts and public meeting spaces. The other success in our community is the Traugott Terrace a low-income housing project and the first LEED certified affordable housing project.

Traugott Terrace is built in the heart of downtown Seattle in the Belltown neighborhood. Ryan Reichman engineer for Swenson Say Faget who engineered the project said they were “very successful in their portion of the certification and documentation for LEED and did not experience additional costs working on this green project”. Ryan commented that green materials do not compromise the structural integrity of buildings and the recycled content materials such as flyash concrete and steel are becoming a part of good business practice. The building has a second floor deck as a common area for its residents, it used recycled wood from a preexisting building and is easily accessible by public transportation eliminating the need for low income residents to maintain and support their mobility thru car ownership. This is a huge success story for low income green building and a great reflection of what we are achieving in the Pacific Northwest.

Creative approaches using old ideas as well as new technology add to the holistic approach in this budding industry. Recycling materials and resourcing locally adds to the sustainability of a community as well as maintaining a healthy ecosystem. Points given in these new building criterias include waste water conservation and credits for job site recycling. Since a typical new home generates 5 tons of waste and uses excessive amounts of water resources these additional points in the criteria help to reduce the environmental impact in the building process and preserve the local ecosystems. Wood resources are a huge component of the construction and demolition portion of building, recycling wood and other resources from preexisting buildings or wood milled from the clearing of the sites helps to lower costs and utilize the site. The additional points for materials add to the sustainability components by encouraging better air quality through low voc finishes, biodegradable materials such as linoleum and efficient modular type materials such as SIPS panels reduce waste on and off site to help complete the final holistic approach.

Eco Urbanism is an old term being practiced everyday thru new and old technology. The evolving thoughts in the building industry is that this is good building and business practice being put to work not just by environmentalists and protectionists but also by the public sector governments, developers, designers and most importantly consumers.

Let me know about your favorite “eco urban” community.