Thoughts on sustainability, urban acupuncture, and moving forward.
Sustainable Urbanism: Urban Design with
Nature
In his presentation, “Sustainable Urbanism: Urban Design With Nature,” Douglas Farr
talked about some projects as examples of very ‘green’ LEED buildings that
would have been better to not have been built at all because they were located
in very un-green locations such as surrounded by a sea of parking pavement and
next to an auto oriented multi-lane Texas highway; a new school built outside
of town requiring vehicular transportation to replace one in a walkable
neighborhood; or a fitness center with an escalator to get to the front door.
My first response to Farr’s opinion was agreement – it didn’t seem to make
sense (some were just plain silly) to go to all the effort and expense for supposedly
sustainable buildings in such isolated and unsustainable environments and then
be applauded for earning LEED certification.
But, in thinking further, I do not agree that the projects should not
have been built.
We are in the process of learning to understand what
sustainability is and how to design appropriately and wisely. The process of learning includes the growing
pains of making mistakes and then learning from those mistakes. For example,
single use zoning and subdivisions in the country were thought to be good
solutions to growing city problems but have learned (hopefully) that they
actually created more problems. Not that
zoning or housing estates were bad ideas but we see now that zoning laws need
to be adjusted for an appropriate mix of uses and designs and more complete
communities need to be created to reduce dependency on vehicles – become more
sustainable. And so we continue to learn
from mistakes, like those Douglas Farr referred to, and move forward.
“The only way to avoid making
mistakes is not
to
do anything. And
that...will be the
ultimate mistake.” Goh Keng Swee, founder/chief architect of modern Singapore and former
deputy prime minister
Farr also expresses the opinion that we are not going to get
to where we need to go by doing it (sustainability) one building at a time. I feel that it has to start there,
though. One building or small project
can get the process going. In his "04.14.2010 Sustainable City" presentation, Jaime Lemer talks about what he calls urban acupuncture. He said, “Sometimes planning takes time and
it has to take time, but sometimes you can choose some focal points, focal
ideas, and you can provide a new energy that could help the whole process of
planning.” Some projects in Boise that I
think function as urban acupuncture and influence Boise city planning include:
Boise Greenbelt
This site gives an overview of the greenbelt history
(www.city_data.com)
36th Street Garden Center - a mixed-use community
and Bown Crossing
References:
Farr, Douglas. “Sustainable Urbanism: Urban Design With Nature”.
Lemer, Jaime . "04.14.2010 Sustainable City".
