Roger Valdez

Block by Block Sustainability

Research associate of Sightline Daily, Dec 04, 09.

Tagged with neighborhoods, transit, energy, sustainability, water, portland

As a veteran of Seattle’s neighborhood planning process—both as City staff and as a neighborhood planner—I am intrigued by Portland’s Eco District Initiative. It has a nice ring to it. But, what is an Eco District? The Portland Sustainability Institute describes it this way:

“An EcoDistrict is an integrated and resilient district or neighborhood that is resource efficient; captures, manages, and reuses a majority of energy, water, and waste on site; is home to a range of transportation options; provides a rich diversity of habitat and open space; and enhances community engagement and well being.”

What’s the best way to achieve this utopian-sounding vision? One answer could be transit-oriented development. And Portland’s in luck because Futurewise has developed a blueprint for Transit-Oriented Communities (TOC) that shows the way.

The City of Portland launched the effort in collaboration with the Portland Sustainability Institute to build on a growing interest in integrating neighborhoods and green buildings. The concept started by trying to figure out how to expand the footprint of green buildings beyond their lot and into the surrounding neighborhood. Green buildings surrounded by parking lots, for example, seem like a waste. Why not integrate transportation, green building, energy, water and social services to create a sustainable neighborhood? And the “innovation cycle,” theoretically, is much shorter at the neighborhood level, supporting more risky and unusual projects like switching an entire block to ground source heating.

To be fair, the Eco District Initiative in Portland is just starting out, and a big part of the work is looking for good ways to measure success at the neighborhood level on things like reducing CO2 emissions, sustainable use of water, energy efficiency, and transportation.

That’s where the idea of Transit-Oriented Communities comes in. The folks in Portland would do well to take a look at the outstanding work done by a team assembled by Futurewise to consider the impact of Transit Oriented Communities (TOC).