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November 20, 2009
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise
, Health and the Environment
, Living Sustainably
- Tags:
- greenbuilding, homes, smartercities, smartgrowth
The federal EPA has a new and very handy "what you can do" web site on green homes. Click on a portion of the house and you'll be taken to a page with tips that pertain to that...continued→
November 19, 2009
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Curbing Pollution
, Environmental Justice
, Green Enterprise
, Living Sustainably
- Tags:
- brownfields, community, communitydevelopment, neighborhood, revitalization, smartercities, smartgrowth, vacantproperties
Earlier this month I began a series of posts about Indianapolis's Smart Growth Redevelopment District, which I have had the honor of advising. The area in question is a distressed part of the city, two miles northeast of...continued→
November 18, 2009
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise
, Living Sustainably
, Solving Global Warming
- Tags:
- bigboxstores, greenbuilding, markettransformation, smartercities, smartgrowth, transitorienteddevelopment
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→
November 17, 2009
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Environmental Justice
, Green Enterprise
, Living Sustainably
- Tags:
- brownfields, community, greenbuilding, habitatforhumanity, LEED-ND, neighborhood, oakland, revitalization, smartgrowth
Habitat for Humanity's East Bay affiliate is retrofitting a brownfield into 54 affordable homes on two acres of land in Oakland, California. With excellent location, walkable density, great design, and green features, the Edes Avenue project is participating...continued→
November 16, 2009
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Environmental Justice
, Living Sustainably
- Tags:
- community, education, redevelopment, schools, smartercities, smartgrowth
Today I am pleased to present a very good guest post by my friend and frequent collaborator Lee Epstein: Reading Kaid's recent posts on the great value (and sometime dearth) of environmentalists engaging on urban redevelopment issues made me recall...continued→
November 13, 2009
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise
, Living Sustainably
- Tags:
- community, greencommunity, nationalbuildingmuseum, neighborhood, smartercities, smartgrowth, sustainablecommunities
I am most pleased to announce the release of Green Community, a new book produced and published jointly by the National Building Museum and the American Planning Association. It's a terrific book of essays, if I do say so. (Full...continued→
November 12, 2009
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Health and the Environment
, Living Sustainably
- Tags:
- bicycling, community, driving, neighborhood, safety, smartgrowth, streetdesign, transportation, walking
Transportation for America's website introduces its important new report, Dangerous by Design, with an attention-grabbing statistic: "In the last 15 years, more than 76,000 Americans have been killed while crossing or walking along a street in their community. More...continued→
November 11, 2009
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Environmental Justice
, Health and the Environment
, Living Sustainably
- Tags:
- cities, community, homeless, housing, housingfirst, seattle, smartercities, smartgrowth, veterans
On this Veterans' Day, when we remember those who have served, it is troubling to note that, although veterans make up around 9 percent of our population, they comprise 23 percent of our homeless population and fully a third of...continued→
November 10, 2009
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise
, Living Sustainably
, Moving Beyond Oil
- Tags:
- greenbuilding, infill, investment, realestate, smartgrowth, sprawl, suburbs
Last week the Urban Land Institute and PriceWaterhouseCoopers released their well-regarded annual analysis, Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2010. The report, which has been published for the last 30 years, aims to advise the industry "on where to invest, what...continued→
November 9, 2009
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Living Sustainably
- Tags:
- infrastructure, newyork, revolvingfund, smartgrowth, sprawl, water
According to a press release issued last week, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Pete Grannis has announced that the agency will update the system used to score applications for clean water infrastructure loans. The changes will...continued→
November 6, 2009
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise
, Living Sustainably
- Tags:
- community, neighborhood, realestate, smartercities, smartgrowth, walkability, walkscore
Walk Score keeps getting better, and it was already very good. With assistance from the Rockefeller Foundation, the locational rating system has now incorporated transit service data from 40 metro regions into its service, so that its maps...continued→
November 5, 2009
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Living Sustainably
- Tags:
- communities, housing, planning, smartercities, smartgrowth, sustainable, transportation
"Sustainable communities" was the phrase of the day at the annual symposium of the American Institute of Certified Planners, held last week at the National Building Museum. Federal officials from the Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development...continued→
November 4, 2009
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise
, Living Sustainably
, Moving Beyond Oil
, Solving Global Warming
- Tags:
- cincinnati, community, measure9, neighborhood, smartercities, smartgrowth, streetcars
Cincinnati voters have rejected "Measure 9," an anti-streetcar initiative, by a 56-44 percent margin. The measure was aimed at killing a streetcar plan approved earlier this year by the city council, and would have required further referenda...continued→
November 3, 2009
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Curbing Pollution
, Green Enterprise
, Health and the Environment
, Living Sustainably
, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
- Tags:
- agriculture, conservation, density, florida, mining, smartgrowth, sprawl, watershed, wetlands
Lee County, Florida (Fort Myers) is moving forward with an innovative plan to use clustered, dense development instead of large-lot zoning to protect its water supply. Under current zoning the southeastern portion of the Gulf coast county has been threatened...continued→
November 2, 2009
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Environmental Justice
, Green Enterprise
, Living Sustainably
- Tags:
- brownfields, community, indianapolis, neighborhood, redevelopment, revitalization, smartercities, smartgrowth
Last week I had the honor of being one of seven smart growth types recruited by the American Institute of Architects to work with the city of Indianapolis and community residents on the model revitalization of a distressed urban neighborhood. ...continued→