Sustainability

Market and local government support for new urbanist values is rising and that is changing the planning mindset in many regions.
Sustainability takes many forms on the building and community scale in the Caribbean. Here are keys to places that stand the test of time.
Urbanists can contribute mightily to solving the climate problem—got any plans for the next few decades?
Harvey and Irma point out the need to think deeply about resilience to major storms in the era of climate change.
Plan NoBe in the North Beach neighborhood of Miami Beach sets the stage for higher construction standards to withstand sea-level rise—while strengthening defenses like sea walls, mangrove islands, and barrier beaches.
Citizens have a chance to go beyond business-as-usual to achieve a higher potential through recovery from the historic 2017 hurricane season.
A leaner, lighter approach to infrastucture is more cost-effective, sustainable, and livable—an idea worth considering for America in National Infrastructure Week.
If our approach to environmentalism should be "new," so too should our approach to urbanism.
The trend toward complete communities shapes the debate on sustainability and environmentalism, and vice-versa.
As a strategy, it’s local, less controversial and far more manageable, with actionable steps that give quick, tangible feedback while simultaneously addressing climate change.
Trees should be planted either in swales (on primarily residentail streets) or in tree wells (on Main Streets). Do not listen to “urban foresters,” who insist that trees must be planted in landscape beds large enough for their mature drip lines.
Urbanism will play a key role in a choice between an “age of human capital” and an age of depletion and division.