Local governments can look at neighborhoods through two lenses: the impacts residents and businesses have while occupying them, and the impacts of building them in the first place. Most smart growth programs and neighborhood design principles focus on the first of these lenses. However, the second is another opportunity for leading local governments to support climate protection, and minimize other environmental and health impacts.
To reduce neighborhood greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, focus on location, then emphasize pedestrian design, moderate density, and mixed uses.
Addison Circle, a pedestrian-friendly mixed use neighborhood in Addison, Texas. Photo Credit: RTKL Associates
- Green neighborhoods can reduce the greenhouse gas emissions related to daily life if their location puts residents close to jobs, businesses, and recreation. Design and density also play important roles.
- A recent lifecycle cost assessment study(4) suggests that construction of buildings and infrastructure is responsible for about 20 percent of neighborhood energy and greenhouse gas emissions over a 50-year assumed lifespan.
A 138-acre redevelopment of the Atlantic Steel site with links to nearby rapid transit, this project...
An exhaustive review of research relating urban form and greenhouse gas emissions, this report explo...
Lifecycle analysis of energy and GHG emissions, comparing high- and low-density neighborhoods
A guide to designing walkable and transit-oriented communities
Compact development generates three times less storm water runoff per household than low-density development does. (Heaney, Pitt, & Field, 1999)
