LEED is a Work in Progress

A good New York Times article today discussing some of the kinks in LEED, specifically how some LEED certified buildings perform with regard to energy and water usage ("life cycle costs" in LEED terms). Newer versions of LEED seem to be taking this into account by requiring higher minimum numbers of energy credits so that "gas guzzler" buildings can't qualify by getting all their credits in sitework and materials and ignoring energy completely.

The USGBC plans to continue raising the bar, and the article cites that it is considering moving more toward the Energy Star model, in which buildings only get kudos for energy usage for the year or period in which the award is given.

The bar for LEED will also inevitably get higher and higher as we move forward. A presenter at CNU 17 described an aggressive track for increased standards that many are pushing the USGBC to implement. With this model, the standards for LEED Gold today will ultimately become the standards for simple LEED certification over the next decade. Concurrently, net zero energy usage for buildings would become a requirement to attain a higher-tier award like gold or platinum, and ultimately would be demanded of any LEED certified building.

The time is now to start pushing designers and builders with more stringent requirements. The fifth paragraph of the NYT article from before describes how "builders covet LEED certification" as a major marketing tool and a way to obtain tax credits. LEED has become so recognized by the general public that developers are now pursuing certification to attract clients. This is great - we want sustainability to be "in", the norm, the next cool thing, but as long as it's the right kind of sustainability. The USGBC needs to tweak the standards higher and higher starting now and over the next few years now that it has the collective attention of the nation. If this does not happen now or soon, LEED risks being lost forever in the growing greenwashing market.

High Speed Rail: A "Case Study"

This is the second part of a group of posts on high speed rail (HSR) in America.

I recently completed a four-week grand tour of the East Coast of the United States - well let's be honest, four weeks of couch surfing with family and friends. At different points on the trip, I tried to imagine making the journey without a car, either by plane or by train... and each time I realized that it would be nearly impossible.

I'll chronicle one leg of the trip, a long jaunt I made from Hilton Head Island, SC to Lewes, DE, 655 miles total:

The Question of High Speed Rail: Concerns

The first of several parts of a series of posts on high-speed rail in the United States.

High speed rail (HSR) is the most important component of Obama's recovery package. Folks all over the country have been crowding town hall style meetings with signs, chanting "No we won't!" at their senators as security tries to escort them out of the room...

Awesome Project

Every now and then you found a project that really makes you smile and have hope for the future of urbanism.

This Sacramento Railyards project looks absolutely awesome. It has everything an urbanist could want to start: abandoned but very usable historic buildings, a brownfield/infill site, adjacency to downtown, and an economy ready to grow again (how many LEED credits do we have already?) Even better, Sacramento is building a new transit hub just across the tracks from this project.

But what really made me like the project was its plan:

This plan is smart, compact, and easy to understand - because it is a grid that actually cites the exact urban fabric (even the scale!) of downtown. Unlike many newer projects with all sorts of funky twists in the roads, odd-shaped plazas, and streets that never run for more than a few blocks, this plan is actually good. It doesn't try to be anything more than a warped grid, and that is certainly commendable. It even includes a "Regent Street"-type avenue with a gentle curve that, if done right architecturally, could become something really special.

Bravo to this one.

Your Vote Counts

Dwell Magazine solicited submissions for a design contest called "Re-Burbia", for innovative solutions for sprawl remedy. They picked twenty finalists, one of which was submitted by a CNU regular, Galina Tahchieva of DPZ, who has been working on "sprawl repair standards" for the SmartCode for several years. You can go here to see the finalists, or go directly to Galina's project. If you like it, I highly recommend that you vote for her to win (allegedly you just click the pink arrow and it records your vote). It would be great for something like this to get the recognition of Dwell and the attention of the more "avant garde" designers:As usual, there are some truly bizarre and also a few awful solutions in the running. My favorite is the first on the list, Airbia, the "suburban airship" - seriously? They tried to use dirigibles in the '30s as a new form of transportation and it failed miserably. How does this help anything?

Interesting Article

The graphic below, from this article on Streetsblog, shows what Manhattan would look like if the 388,000+ people who commute in daily were to start driving to work and their cars had be accomodated on the island:

A rather jarring view - even moreso when you realize that this is what a lot of American city centers actually look like:

That's Fort Worth (top) and Jacksonville (bottom), just two examples. Freeways, surface parking, bloated streets and eroded urban fabric - but we can still save them!!

Signs of a Systemic Problem

Three articles I've seen in the past 24 hours about alarming trends prove once again that there is a systemic problem with the way we live and the way we treat the world around us:

• There is a growing patch of garbage in the Pacific, now about the size of Texas (ironic? see below). It is composed of slowly-degrading plastic, most of it smaller than can be seen from the surface, but large enough to be choking the ecosystem there.
• Immigrant groups that move to the U.S. see large spikes in cancer incidence. Researchers are seeing it in Hispanics now and saw it in Asians a few decades ago. Maybe something to do with our sedentary lifestyle and the massive amounts of processed foods we eat? I can't posit these things scientifically, but the article makes reference to them.
• Thanks to my good friend Mike B. for sending me this third article, in which it appears that recycling isn't "Texas" enough for Houston.

Maybe Wall-E was the most prescient movie ever made?

An Old City with a New Good Idea

With all the talk of "freeway teardowns" going on in the CNU, I can't believe I missed out on Providence's big project, relocating an interstate along a shorter, waterfront route that will open up several new blocks in the city for infill redevelopment:

While we normally try to see waterfronts today as assets that should NOT have freeways along them, Providence's harbor is still home to refinery tanks, warehouses, docks, and other industrial uses. Moving I-195 nearer to the shore does "seal the deal" for an industrial waterfront, but it opens up an outstanding opportunity to heal Providence's downtown area. The scar of the elevated freeway can be healed with blocks upon blocks of infill, public spaces, new streets, etc. Maybe we should all move to Providence in a few years to get in on the action.

Sprawl in the Round

Viera, Florida: my new favorite picture of sprawl. Looks like someone was trying to create figural public space? Too bad it's actually three rows of parking... a true homage to the car's triumph over man.