• Green Neighborhoods
  • Learn
    • Leading Actions
    • Envisioning Green Neighborhoods
    • GHG Reductions
    • Other Benefits
    • Approaches and Principles
    • Organizations
  • Plan
  • Act
Envisioning Green Neighborhoods
It is easy to envision green neighborhoods, because they reflect and improve on the best of America’s historical neighborhoods.
Denver’s old Stapleton airport has been reborn as a mixed-use, mixed-income, walkable neighborhood with single-family homes, apartments, and townhouses. Coutesy of: EPA

The future of neighborhoods

This is Smart Growth (1) envisions the future of America’s neighborhoods as “strong, healthy, beautiful places where neighbors know one another; job opportunities are abundant; and people of all races, incomes, and backgrounds are welcome.”

Green neighborhoods incorporate smart growth principles as well as green features. A simple way to remember these principles is to think of 5 D's for smart growth neighborhoods and 2 G's for green neighborhoods.

  • Highly Diverse:
These are places where people of all sorts feel comfortable and safe. People at many different stages of life may live in the same neighborhood, coming and going at different times.  A broad mix of  housing types, institutions, shops, offices, and other businesses makes this possible.
  • Moderately Dense:
In order to reduce the main negative impacts of suburban living – obesity, traffic congestion, and isolation – green neighborhoods accommodate more people while maintaining a comfortable human scale.  As shown through aerial photography in the book “Visualizing Density,”(2) a mix of single-family, townhouses, and low-rise apartments can create appealing neighborhoods with  densities of about 15 units per acre, enough to have significant benefits in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Designed for people:
Public spaces are highly valued. In green neighborhoods, they are designed to be highly functional, enjoyable and safe.
  • Destinations are easy to access:
Long blocks and widely spaced streets discourage people from walking. That’s why green neighborhoods have fine-grained networks of streets and green corridors that make it easy to access destinations within and around the neighborhoods.
  • Short Distance to transit:
Access to regional destinations is assured through fast, convenient transit service past and through the neighborhood.
  • Green network:

A system of green elements is integral to the neighborhood, from landscaping on each parcel to street trees and a broad network of green spaces. These elements work together to produce a wide range of environmental benefits.

  • Green buildings:

High-performance buildings minimize their environmental impacts.