NMHC’s Walkable Communities Toolkit

Urban planning is a major part of building sustainable communities, and a new toolkit from National Multi Housing Coalition (NMHC) will help planners and residents work together to create walkable communities. As NMHC president Doug Bibby explains, “In many communities, sprawling suburban style development has been the rule for so long that their leaders don’t know the best way to create walkable, human-scale neighborhoods.” The toolkit offers case studies, policy tips and guidelines for those interested in planning walkable communities.

Wal-Mart is a huge part of this. As we’ve said before on this blog, the retailer depends on urban sprawl in a number of ways, and walkable communities are a huge threat to its business model. They’re also one of the most sustainable ways to build, something which Wal-Mart rarely acknowledges in its green messaging. NMHC has a ton more info - and links to other reports - on their website.

New Toolkit Will Help Create Walkable, Compact Communities Consumers Desire [National Multi Housing Council Press Release]

Demand for walkable, compact development is at an all-time high thanks to rising fuel costs, changing lifestyles and pressure to manage growth. To help communities across the country meet this demand, the National Multi Housing Council (NMHC) and the Urban Land Institute have partnered to produce a new toolkit publication, Getting Density Right: Tools for Creating Vibrant Compact Development.

“Just five years ago, ‘density’ was a four-letter word,” said NMHC President Doug Bibby. “Now, though, consumers are embracing more urban lifestyles—from walkable villages to full-fledged city living. And local officials, under pressure to manage growth, are eager to deliver the compact development people are clamoring for.”

“But in many communities, sprawling suburban style development has been the rule for so long that their leaders don’t know the best way to create walkable, human-scale neighborhoods,” said Bibby. “This book identifies incentives, policies, and regulations they can use to meet this new demand.”

Getting Density Right describes a wide variety of tools being used around the country to better support compact development. It explains visioning and planning these communities. It also includes case studies of eight very successful walkable communities, the policy tools they used, and the developments that have been built using the new tools.

“Unlike many toolkits, which simply conduct literature reviews and compile the results, Getting Density Right is based on nearly a year’s worth of field research,” explained Bibby. “We held a series of forums across the country where we did the unthinkable: We brought together in one room developers, elected officials, neighborhood activists and zoning officials to identify the obstacles, and in some cases their objections, to compact development. Then we brainstormed ‘best practices’ that will create compact communities that will meet everyone’s needs.”

“This is an exciting time for a lot of communities because our changing demographics mean they have an opportunity to completely rethink how they grow. With traditional families with children now just one quarter of our households, there are more and more people for whom the suburban dream is not a dream,” said Bibby.

“Climate change concerns will also accelerate the move toward more compact development since compact developments conserve land and are often transit-oriented, which reduces automobile usage and greenhouse gases,” noted Bibby.

Recent research published by ULI showed that changing America’s land development patterns to emphasize compact, mixed-use, walkable neighborhoods could do as much to lower greenhouse gas emissions as many of the climate policies being promoted by state and national politicians.

The research, contained in a book titled Growing Cooler: The Evidence on Urban Development and Climate Change, concludes that compact development reduces driving from 20 to 40 percent, and even more in some cases. Shifting 60 percent of new growth to compact, walkable neighborhoods would save 85 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually by 2030. Those savings equate to a 28-percent increase in vehicle fuel efficiency standards (to 32 mpg).

“For a variety of fiscal, environmental and lifestyle reasons, more compact development is inevitable,” said Bibby. “The question before localities is whether it will be planned properly. This toolkit will help policymakers ensure that it is.”

Getting Density Right: Tools for Creating Vibrant Compact Development can be purchased from the ULI bookstore at http://www.uli.org/bookstore. Each order includes a DVD with a professionally produced PowerPoint presentation titled “A Plan for Tomorrow” that is designed to help local officials overcome opposition to more compact development. Developed by NMHC, ULI and the Sierra Club, the presentation uses compelling photos and visuals to illustrate how compact development can create vibrant neighborhoods without sacrificing anyone’s quality of life. It also presents research that allays the traditional anxieties about density.

Posted by Enviro. Team on Monday, June 16, 2008