Written by Kristin Dispenza
Published on February 19th, 2008
Sustainability Victoria, in partnership with ICLEI/Local Governments for Sustainability Oceania, has been encouraging developers to work in accordance with the ICLEI’s Triple Bottom Line (TBL) Capacity Building Program. This program promotes a ‘bottom line’ that incorporates three measures for success: environmental, social, and financial. In 2004, the City of Victoria requested proposals to redevelop a 15-acre harborfront site using the Triple Bottom Line criteria. Windmill Development Group, partnered with Vancity (Canada’s largest credit union), produced the winning proposal, and the partnership began work on the development of a new-urbanist style community called Dockside Green. Read the rest of this entry »
Written by Kristin Dispenza
Published on December 25th, 2007
Communities full of “McMansions” seem to be everywhere these days, and they have plenty of buyers standing at the ready. Many of these oversized suburban homes are considered starter homes, making it easy to forget that the majority of middle income Americans will never be able to afford such a house in their lifetime.
This fall, the City of Portland sponsored the Portland Courtyard Housing Design Competition, which solicited ideas for urban infill housing that would appeal to families with children. In the face of rising housing costs, Portland has identified shared courtyards as offering similar lifestyle benefits to detached housing, while remaining affordable and increasing urban density.
The competition brief requested that entrants pay particular attention to the potentially conflicting roles of the courtyard space itself. Could a recreational space share turf with automobiles? Could the courtyard offer homeowners some privacy while still being connected to the larger streetscape? And could it fulfill all of these criteria while still functioning sustainably? Read the rest of this entry »
Written by Kristin Dispenza
Published on December 11th, 2007
Portland has been recognized for decades as a leader in urban planning. Today its progressive philosophies are being applied to environmental policy-making. Tackling sustainability on an urban scale, the Portland Development Commission has conceived a model neighborhood known as the Lloyd Crossing Sustainable Urban Design Plan. A massive undertaking, the Plan sets goals and objectives that are intended to guide development over the next 45 years.
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