SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

1. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Developing The American Community

2. Essential Dimensions of Community Regional Vitality Political Capital Financial Capital Housing and Infrastructure Workforce and Social Capital Market Drivers Physical Capital Mega-trends

3. Before Relating The Past Two Weeks to Our Town USA • My perception of sustainability • The idea of smart decline The Life Of A Community

4. Earth at 4.2 Billion Years Stick Around 50 million years – fat city Or a 150 Million Years Getting Colder But 250 Million Years is Best

5. What is Sustainable? • Essentially, being sustainable means balance and the effective use of all resources to meet today’s needs while ensuring that an adequate stock of resources is available for future generations • Development that meets the needs of the present without compro-mising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs • Sustainable planning is something that works and lasts

6. Sustainable Community • The sustainable community is a model – an ideal type comprised of a set of benchmarks that we may work towards

7. Aldo Leopold • There is as yet no ethic dealing with man's relation to land and to the animals and plants which grow upon it. Land, like Odysseus' slave-girls, is still property. The land relation is still strictly economic, entailing privileges but no obligations 1887 – 1948 Scholar, teacher, wildlife biologist, ecologist, humanist

8. Leopold’s Bottom Line “As far as you are able, tell people to make their lives BE dependent on their local place and remind them that, like their own household, it will only thrive through care and generosity”

9. Leopold’s Connection “Local Promotion has forgotten its roots - it knows nothing of commitment to generations, the place, the community, or the hierarchy of needs of people: protection; pride, shelter; a source of familiarity. We seek healthy places because healthy places nurture healthy people - the intricate and irreducible connection between people and place” Albuquerque – National Chamber of Commerce, 1923

10. Loss of Community In the past two decades the idea of community as a cohesive unit, allegiance to place and market, and the concept of provincial folk has lost its appeal and prominence as we increasingly insist that our presence is global

11. Changing Community • Before local areas can provide the sustainable quality of life that will be demanded by communities in 50 – 500 – 1000 years, we will need to change our perception of “community” and translate these perceptions into practical methods

12. A Vision • Alice Asks the Cat: “would you tell me please which way I ought to go from here?” • “It depends a good deal on where you want to go” • “I don’t much care” – says Alice • “Then it does not matter which way you go” • “As long as I get somewhere” • “You are sure to do that – if you only walk long enough”

13. A Few Discussion Points • Where are the sustainable societies? • What is the essential elements of community - the “must have at any cost” elements? • What is Fine Grained community structure mean? • What is a Good Community? • Is there idea community size? • Is there anything at all we can do for the future?

14. Sustainable Settlement Elements 1. Focus – The center; old town; medieval town Guttenberg, Sweden

15. Characteristics • A place that is in population balance • A place where the quality of life is recognized and capable of definition • A place that has a sense of itself • Recognizes and acts on our relationship to the natural environment

16. Characteristics - 2 • Optimizes its resources • Promotes public life • A place that is responsive • Place that preserves heritage • A place that “grows smart”

17. Ideas "Sustainability is the [emerging] doctrine that economic growth and development must take place, and be maintained over time, within the limits set by ecology in the broadest sense . . It follows that environmental protection and economic development are complementary rather than antagonistic processes.“ -- William D. Ruckelshaus, "Toward a Sustainable World," Scientific American, September 1989.

18. Building the Sustainable Community The SOFT construction of the community based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs ABRAHAM MASLOW 1908-1970

19. Hierarchy of Needs • Physiological needs – Air, water, food, temperature • Safety and Security – Defensible space and safe circumstances; the need for structure, order and limits; the desire for a safe place – a neighborhood. • Belonging – The need for friends, children, relationships to counteract isolation and social anxieties. The need to bond. • Esteem needs – (a) The needs for social and political standing, recognition; self respect, achievement

20. "The net worth of the 358 richest people in the world now equals the combined income of the poorest 2.3 billion, who comprise 45 percent of the world's population. "          (UNDP Choices) Just a Thought on A Sustainable World The depreciation of education, health care, environmental protection and other services diminish the well-being and resilience of human communities. The fear of job loss is destabilizing and unemployment leads to a wide range of social ills

21. Selling Sustainability “This location is a town of over 6,000 people. It was first called Poplar Grove, later InnisVail, then Innisfail. The town's name comes from the Gaelic to mean "Isle of Destiny". Its people are hard workers with a positive attitude. Today, Innisfail, is one of the most desirable places in the wild rose province of Alberta, if not all of great Canada, to live, love and linger.”

22. Selling Environment Mayor Pat Newman beamed with pride as she uttered, "the facilities we have in Innisfail for recreation and leisure enjoyment make us an attractive place for people to live." People moving to Innisfail are very impressed with the recreation facilities available.

23. Selling Location

24. Local Balance?

25. SUSTAINABLE IMAGERY

26. Growth Has Limits -PERIOD - Growth Occurs within some limits – the ultimate limit is the carrying capacity of the environment THERE IS A COMFORT ZONE IN ALL GROWTH PLANNING

27. Values Cultural Diversity SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IS ECLECTIC IN APPROACH. IT PLACES AN EXTRAORDINARY VALUE ON THE MAINTENACE AND CREATION OF REAL – AUTHENTIC CULTURAL VALUES AND ICONS

28. Respect For Other Life ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF SHARED SPACE IS AN OVERARCHING CONCEPT – but – IT IS FAR FROM AN AGREED ON VALUE

29. Adherence to Historic Features – But Always Ready To Try New

30. The Planning Form ALL PLANNING SHOULD AIM AT THE INTEGRATION OF COMMUNITY CONTAINING HOUSING, SHOPS, WORK PLACES, SERVICES AND CIVIC LIFE.

31. Neighborhoods Scale

32. Communities Must Have A Center Focus QUIT THE DAMN SPRAWL

33. Pedestrians Must Be Part of the Center System

34. Maintain The Green Our Own People Tell Use That What They Value Again and Again Are The Parks, Open Space, And The Simple Places To Go

35. Well Defined Edge Atlanta at Night - 2006

36. Local Focus THE MOST VALUABLE ASSETS OF A COMMUNITY ARE THE ONES THEY ALREADY HAVE

37. HUMAN INVESTMENT I was deeply concerned then, and have become more concerned since, that unless we can deal with the questions of development and the questions of poverty, there's no way that we're going to have a peaceful world for our children. Richard Flannery – Australian Biologist

38. If Not Sustainable Then Maybe It’s Time • TO GROW SMART • TO DECLINE SMART INSERT YOUR OWN PICTURE HERE

39. Are We Using Too Much Land? • 2.43M acres were used for single-family development each year • Between 1994 and 1997, 5.23M single family homes were built in the U.S. on lots totaling 9.73 million acres.

40. 34% of new single-family homes were on lots of 1 acre or greater, consuming 91% of the land area for all new lots.

41. How much land would be saved if new homes in the U.S. would be built at slightly higher densities? • New home construction in 1994-97 in the U.S. consumed 2.43 M acres/ year; 9.73 M acres total • Same number of units on 1/2 acre or less = 1.99 million acres/year saved; 7.99 M acres over 4 years

42. A Change in Our Attitude Toward Growth and Change • Metropolitan areas are flattening out, i.e., using more land per capita • Widespread recognition and concern regarding post-WW II dispersed development patterns • The scale and accelerated pace of the change made noticeable by a sustained economic development boom

43. What is the philosophy of Growing Smart • No one-size-fits-all • Model acts are modular, works like a Lego set • Tight/loose qualities • Provide substantive direction on plan-making and land development control--not just “enable” • Flexibility in structure, organizing for planning

44. Sustainability is a Global Issue • What you might be looking at over your career • Environmental taxation • Serious limitations in access to higher education, but an expansion of training • Adoption of a new scenario for development • A comprehensive energy policy that you are not going to like.

45. A Serious Impact • Throughout most of the century the world was marked by divergent conditions – nations and cultures were moving away from one another • Increased market and societal integration allows exploitation to become worldwide. • For the past 15 years they are converging on a few sets of common goals – the creation of wealth, production and well being

46. The Result • Worldwide exploitation brings about the realization that there are no more frontiers

47. Principles of Sustainability • The Subsidiary Principle – The Next 500 Years • When resources are scarce or perceived to be scarce, there will be an increased struggle over the available resources. “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong if it tends otherwise.“ Aldo Leopold

48. Indivisibility Principle • It is not possible to achieve sustainable development on a global level unless it has been attained on the local level. The local level is actually the key factor in the process of creating conditions for changing the behavior, production, consumption and use of space. The community is the heart and soul of the world!

49. Precautionary Principle • The precautionary principle requires us to assign the burden of proof to those who want to introduce a new technology, particularly in cases where there is little or no established need or benefit and where the hazards are serious and irreversible. It is up to the perpetrators to prove that the technology is safe 'beyond reasonable doubt'. • Stem Cell • Genetically Altered Food Product • Human Cloning

50. Precautionary Principle – Contra Positive • A lack of scientific certainty should not be used as an excuse for postponing measures that prevent major, irreversible environmental degradation