Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Solutions
Smart Growth Tools
Limits and Regulations
Protection
Limit building permits
Preserve existing open space
Urban growth boundaries
Buy new open space
Greenbelts around cities
Buy development rights that prohibit
certain types of development on land
parcels
Public review of new
development
Taxes
Zoning
Tax land, not buildings
Encourage mixed use
Tax land on value of actual use (such
as forest and agriculture) instead of
highest value as developed land
Concentrate development
along mass transportation
routes
Promote high-density cluster
housing developments
Tax Breaks
For owners agreeing legally to not
allow certain types of development
(conservation easements)
Planning
For cleaning up and developing
abandoned urban sites (brownfields)
Ecological land-use
planning
Environmental impact
analysis
Revitalization and New Growth
Integrated regional
planning
Revitalize existing towns and cities
Build well-planned new towns and
villages within cities
State and national planning
Figure 7-25
Solutions:
smart growth
or
new urbanism tools
used to prevent and control
urban growth and sprawl.
Critical thinking: which five of the tools do you believe are the most
important ways to prevent or control urban sprawl?
Guest Essay on this topic by David Orr on the website
for this chapter.
A more environmentally sustainable city, called an
ecocity
or
green city,
emphasizes the following goals:
Solutions: Making Cities More Sustainable
and Desirable Places to Live
An ecocity allows people to walk, bike, or take
mass transit for most of their travel. It recycles and
reuses most of its wastes, grows much of its own
food, and protects biodiversity by preserving
surrounding land.
According to most environmentalists and urban plan-
ners, our primary problem is not urbanization but
rather our failure to make cities more sustainable and
livable. They call for us to make new and existing ur-
ban areas more self-reliant, sustainable, and enjoyable
places to live through good ecological design. See the
■
Preventing pollution and reducing waste
■
Using energy and matter resources efficiently
■
Recycling, reusing, and composting at least 60% of
all municipal solid waste
■
Using solar and other locally available, renewable
energy resources
■
Protecting and encouraging biodiversity by pre-
serving surrounding land
