Volume 30.2 Green Building, Green Planning (2005)

Green building is a topic of growing interest for a variety of professionals from architects and builders to planners and engineers. Green building seeks to promote energy efficient, environmentally responsible, and cost-effective buildings that improve the health of their occupants through the use of innovative building materials, architecture, energy sources, and urban design. We hope this issue improves your understanding of green building within the context of urban planning.

Editors: Adena Messinger, Helen Chaney, Laura Sandt, and Rawley Vaughan

A digital version of this issue is available here.

GREEN BUILDING: WHAT IS IT AND WHY SHOULD PLANNERS CARE?

Wedding, Chris

Green building is on the rise and many planners are paying attention to the potential environmental, financial and economic benefits, including reduced energy and water costs, enhanced worker productivity, better health conditions, and reduced liability. This article provides an introduction to green building by defining green building and explaining the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED guidelines, addressing the specific benefits and costs of green building, discussing the various criticisms and weaknesses of LEED, and proposing how LEED and green building may be of interest to those involved in transportation planning, community development, economic development, and environmental planning.

FLAWED PROCESS, FLAWED RESULTS, AND A POTENTIAL SOLUTION

Arendt, Randall

This piece is an adaptation of a speech given by Randall Arendt, FRTPI, on April 21, 2005, at the Conservation Based Development Conference in Asheville, North Carolina. The conference was sponsored by the Forestry and Environmental Outreach Program of NC State University.

THE CLEVELAND ECO-VILLAGE CASE STUDY: CONNECTING GREEN AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND CITY PLANNING

Lowry, Kelly A.

Combining renovation with innovation, the Cleveland Eco-Village has dealt with the two distinct needs of an urban community: affordable housing and sustainable development. Green building emerged as their nexus: as a way to provide mass amounts of urban housing in a sustainable, inexpensive, and eco-friendly manner.

BUILDING VALUE WITH BUILDING SCIENCE: HIGH PERFORMANCE GREEN BUILDING IN THE HOUSING INDUSTRY

Savage, Isaac

Green building concerns environmentalists, planners, and builders alike. The energy efficiency of a building—its “performance”—can add real and perceived value to a property. Tight construction, attention to the “building envelope,”and proper ventilation can make a home less expensive to operate and thus more attractive to the consumer. The Energy Star program, similar to LEED, sets the standard for designing and implementing these high performance, energy efficient buildings. Planners and developers can assist in this process by setting the stage for a future of greener home-building practices.

INTERVIEW WITH GILES BLUNDEN, GREEN ARCHITECT

Carolina Planning Editors

Giles Blunden is an architect in Carrboro, North Carolina. He is founder, designer, and resident of Arcadia, a co-housing neighborhood completed in 1997, two miles north of downtown Carrboro. Currently, Mr. Blunden is developing a second, similar neighborhood, called Pacifica, which is expected to be finished in mid-2006. Both Arcadia and Pacifica incorporate principles of Green Building in the development layout and housing construction.

GREEN BUILDING HIGHLIGHT: INTERFACE, INC.’S PLATINUM-CERTIFIED SHOWROOM

Henderson, Holley

2004 DCRP BEST MASTER’S PROJECT HISTORIC REHABILITATION: AN IMPORTANT ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT TOOL FOR NORTH CAROLINA

Moraites, Robynn E.

Tax incentives for historic rehabilitation can promote central-city economic development around legacy sites that otherwise would go neglected under inexorable and institutionalized suburbanization. North Carolina has had some success with its historic rehabilitation tax credit, but it could learn from other states’ experiences in improving this program.