Designing Sustainable Communities


Book Description

The movement towards creating sustainable communities has gained increased prominence with approaches such as New Urbanism, yet there are few examples of the successes. This text offers an analysis of one such example: Village Homes outside Davis, California. The area offers features including extensive common areas and green space; community gardens, orchards and vineyeards; narrow streets; pedestrian and bike paths; solar homes; and an innovative ecological drainage system.




Design Charrettes for Sustainable Communities


Book Description

A step-by-step guide to more synthetic, holistic, and integrated urban design strategies, Design Charrettes for Sustainable Communities is a practical manual to accomplish complex community design decisions and create more green, clean, and equitable communities. The design charrette has become an increasingly popular way to engage the public and stakeholders in public planning, and Design Charrettes for Sustainable Communities shows how citizens and officials can use this tool to change the way they make decisions, especially when addressing issues of the sustainable community. Designed to build consensus and cooperation, a successful charrette produces a design that expresses the values and vision of the community. Patrick Condon outlines the key features of the charrette, an inclusive decision-making process that brings together citizens, designers, public officials, and developers in several days of collaborative workshops. Drawing on years of experience designing sustainable urban environments and bringing together communities for charrettes, Condon’s manual provides step-by-step instructions for making this process work to everyone’s benefit. He translates emerging sustainable development concepts and problem-solving theory into concrete principles in order to explain what a charrette is, how to organize one, and how to make it work to produce sustainable urban design results.




Sustainable Communities Design Handbook


Book Description

The objective of Sustainable Communities Design Handbook is to ensure a better quality of life for everyone, both now and for generations to come. This means creating a better and safer environment internationally through the sustainable use of natural resources, encouraging sustainable development which supports a strong economy, and ensuring a high quality environment that can be enjoyed by all. Sustainable Development Partnerships brings together in one reference today's most cutting edge technologies and methods for creating sustainable communities. With this book, Environmental Engineers, Civil Engineers, Architects, Mechanical Engineers, and Energy Engineers find a common approach to building environmental friendly communities which are energy efficient. The five part treatment starts with a clear and rigorous exposition of sustainable development in practice, followed by self-contained chapters concerning applications. - Methods for the sustainable use of natural resources in built communities - Clearly explains the most cutting edge sustainable technologies - Provides a common approach to building sustainable communities - Coverage of sustainable practices from architecture to construction




Seven Rules for Sustainable Communities


Book Description

Questions of how the design of cities can respond to the challenge of climate change dominate the thoughts of urban planners and designers across the U.S. and Canada. With admirable clarity, Patrick Condon responds to these questions. He addresses transportation, housing equity, job distribution, economic development, and ecological systems issues and synthesizes his knowledge and research into a simple-to-understand set of urban design recommendations. No other book so clearly connects the form of our cities to their ecological, economic, and social consequences. No other book takes on this breadth of complex and contentious issues and distills them down to such convincing and practical solutions.




Sustainable Communities


Book Description

This classic text is a practical vision of how different types of communities can make the transition to a sustainable way of life that balances production and consumption, reduces resource waste and produces long-term social and ecological health. Our old patterns of growth are built on isolation-an isolation from the environment, an isolation between activities and ultimately an isolation between individuals. Whether city or suburb, these qualities of isolation are the same. Buildings ignore climate and place, uses are zoned into separate areas, and individuals are isolated by a lack of convivial public places. Sustainable patterns break down the separations; buildings respond to the climate rather than overpowering it, mixed uses draw activities and people together, and shared spaces reestablish community. -from Sustainable Communities




Toward Sustainable Communities


Book Description

The single most useful resource out there on how to build and grow sustainable places The need to make our communities sustainable is more urgent than ever before. Toward Sustainable Communities remains the single most useful resource for creating vibrant, healthy, equitable, economically viable places. This comprehensive update of the classic text presents a leading-edge overview of sustainability in a new fully illustrated, full-color format. Compelling new case studies and expanded treatment of sustainability in rural as well as urban settings are complemented by contributions from a range of experts around the world, demonstrating how "community capital" can be leveraged to meet the needs of cities and towns for: Energy efficiency, waste reduction, and recycling Water, sewage, transportation, and housing Climate change and air quality Land use and urban planning. Fully supported by a complete suite of online resources and tools, Toward Sustainable Communities is packed with concrete, innovative solutions to a host of municipal challenges. Required reading for policymakers, educators, social enterprises, and engaged citizens, this "living book" will appeal to anyone concerned about community sustainability and a livable future. Mark Roseland is director of the Centre for Sustainable Community Development at Simon Fraser University and professor at SFU's School of Resource and Environmental Management. He lectures internationally, advises communities and governments on sustainable development policy and planning, and has been cited as one of British Columbia's "top fifty living public intellectuals."




Dynamic Urban Design


Book Description

Advance Praise for Dynamic Urban Design “Finally, in one book a complete guide to the theory, practice, and potential of urban design by one of Canada’s preeminent urban designers.” —David R. Witty, former dean, School of Architecture, University of Manitoba, Canada “Michael von Hausen has given us a clear and hopeful path to the creation of a sustainable urbanism, one that will be inspiring and instructive to practitioners, students, and all those who are focused on the most fundamental issue of our time.” —Jim Adams, architect and principal, McCann Adams Studio, Austin, Texas “Dynamic Urban Design establishes Michael von Hausen as a sustainable urban design authority. Sharing insights taken from six millennia ... von Hausen articulates a clearly understandable and masterfully illustrated process.” —Kevin Harris, architect and principal, Kevin Harris Architect, Baton Rouge, Louisiana Whether we are practicing urban designers or interested citizens, virtually all of us want to live in communities that are safe, attractive, and healthy. Yet our good intentions face conflicting goals. How are we going to improve community health, reduce crime, and improve mobility in cities while at the same time expanding our cities to accommodate growth? How are we going to do all this with seemingly limited financial resources? How do we do more with less, live within our means, and still create a higher quality of life? The list of challenges is almost endless. Urban design is emerging as a critical interface that brings various professions together to address these challenges and improve our communities. For future human survival and quality of life, the world needs a more inclusive, rigorous, socially inspired, and comprehensive urban design model integrated with sustainable development. This book delivers that model—a reference guide for doing it right.




Creating Cohousing


Book Description

The cohousing ?bible” by the US originators of the concept.




Transition Strategies for Sustainable Community Systems


Book Description

This book presents five critical dimensions on relationships, institutions, produc-tion, organisation, and governance from design and systems perspectives for thesystematic transition of unstable and vulnerable communities across the world tosustainable community systems.• The first section discusses features of relationships and processes to deepencooperation and trust within a community.• The second section examines institutions within and outside a district tofoster synergy across institutions within a district and to minimise negativeexternalities on local communities within a district.• The third section deals with food production systems that are nature-friendly, resilient, efficient and sustainable.• The fourth section discusses the design of producer organisations that cangraduate to become sustainable community enterprise systems.• The fifth section focuses on community governance that can facilitatedecentralised, participatory, transparent and democratic local governancesystems. This book• offers a fresh perspective on design thinking for optimising internal designconsistencies.• provides a systems perspective on building sustainable community systemsat the lowest governance unit in different countries, such as Ward/GramPanchayat/Panchayat Council/Gewong/Union Council/GN.• gives insights into design & systems perspectives towards buildingsustainable community systems within a district of any country across the/divworld.




Engineering for Sustainable Communities


Book Description

Engineering for Sustainable Communities: Principles and Practices defines and outlines sustainable engineering methods for real-world engineering projects.