Sustainable Community Development & Urbanism

1) Mixed use developments contribute to more sustainable communities through providing amenities and resources within relatively close proximity. Mixed use promotes resource sharing, diversity of income, people, and businesses. When this happens it creates a backdrop that allows for social mobility within a community and also allows people to obtain what they need from within a close range as opposed to traveling greater distances in a car.

Jane Jacobs, in her book "The Life and Death of Great American Cities" extolls the positives of mixed use and its role contributing to the health and vitality of a neighborhood. She points out her own neighborhood in Greenwich Village and also the North End in Boston as examples of mixed use that has created vibrant communities. In those areas, residents and business owners are able to obtain most everything they need through the vast array of stores and people.

How is quality of life improved by sustainable urbanism?

2) According to Douglas Farr, sustainable urbanism is able to satisfy many of the daily and lifelong needs of community members from within. It moves people away from the need of a car and instead allows people to do most things on foot. It creates a new way for people to connect and interact, thus strengthening the bonds of the community.

It also presents an important means for people to connect back to nature and the immediate world around them. Furthermore, it creates an added cognizance toward resource depletion.

3) Union Point, a development project recently started just south of Boston is an example of sustainable urbanism currently underway. Once a Naval air base, the 1,400 acre site is being built from the ground up taking into account the changing needs of people and a community. The site will feature 4,000 residential units and 10,000,000 square feet of commercial space. It is using modern technology to monitor energy use and occupy renewable resources, such as solar to provide for the community. The ultimate goal is to run completely on renewable power by 2050. In addition, the site will feature parks and green space throughout and has access to more than 50 miles of hiking/bike trails around it.

The design embodies all of the major concepts of sustainable urbanism: resource sharing, mixed use, condensed area, diversity of people and business, and proximity to nature.

Union Point Renderings








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