• Green Neighborhoods
  • Learn
    • Leading Actions
    • Envisioning Green Neighborhoods
    • GHG Reductions
    • Other Benefits
    • Approaches and Principles
    • Organizations
  • Plan
  • Act
Organizations
A number of organizations provide excellent resources on green neighborhoods. These are listed below.

Key Green Neighborhoods Resources

  • Enterprise Community Partners’ Green Communities Online: This has information and resources on affordable green developments, from building to community scale, including funding for design charrettes. 
  • EPA’s Green Communities: The U.S Environmental Protection Agency provides a toolkit for Green Communities, built around a five-step planning process.  In each step, the toolkit provides strategic guidance and links to resources, case studies model codes and tools.
  • U.S. Green Building Council: The USGBC has developed a rating system for neighborhoods: LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED ND). It and related resources are available on their website.  Developed by the USGBC with the Congress for the New Urbanism and the Natural Resources Defence Council, the rating system is being piloted in 2007, and has had widespread uptake by developers and local governments.
  • Center for Neighborhood Technology: This group promotes the development of more liveable and sustainable communities. It strives to recognize, preserve and enhance the hidden value of assets and undervalued resources inherent in the urban environment.
  • Congress for the New Urbanism: This is a leading organization promoting walkable, neighborhood-based development as an alternative to sprawl.  The excellent resources page includes reports, an image bank of great places, and a database of projects. CNU’s Charter is an excellent statement of principles and intent relating to great neighborhood design.
  • Local Government Commission:  This organization provides guidance and resources to local government.  Their Community Design page is particularly relevant to green neighborhoods, and offers a number of resources.

Other Related Resources

  • American Institute of Architects Communities by Design: This clearinghouse for technical assistance programs and resources supports better quality of life and community sustainability.
  • Department of Energy Smart Communities: This website has good information, resources and links on how to help your community become more sustainable.
  • Environmental Protection Agency Smart Growth:  The website is a good entry point for information on Smart Growth.
  • Mayors Institute on City Design: This organization helps mayors learn about good urban design through practical, interactive workshops.
  • National Energy Center for Sustainable Communities: Research center promotes healthier and more sustainable communities, with a focus on integrating cleaner energy systems and energy-smart planning and design into development.
  • Natural Resources Defence Council: NRDC provides some good resources on Smart Growth, including three books of case studies.
  • Project for Public Spaces: This organization encourages the creation, preservation and enhancement of great public spaces, from streets, parks and small squares to major public plazas.
  • Smart Growth America: This coalition of national, state and local partners “supports citizen-driven planning that coordinates development, transportation, revitalization of older areas and preservation of open space and the environment.”
  • Smart Growth Leadership Institute: Smart Growth America and partners provide this site to help state and local elected, civic and business leaders with training, implementation strategies, and technical assistance
  • Smart Growth Online: This is probably the premiere entry point for Smart Growth information in the United States.  A knowledge storehouse, the site is sponsored by a partnership of government, business and civic organizations that came together in 1996.   Much of this information is applicable to green neighborhoods.
  • Sustainable Communities Network: This site links citizens to resources and to one another to create healthy, vital, sustainable communities.
  • The Urban Land Institute: ULI has a Smart Growth Alliance program to create partnerships in support of Smart Growth, and Smart Growth News, a monthly e-newsletter of related information.