in this issue
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How Green
Are We? |
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A New Study Measures Green Development Outcomes |
The latter part of this decade has been characterized by a renewed focus on the environment and sustainability. That last word – sustainability – is the “plastics” of the current time, falling off the lips of nearly everyone even remotely involved in public policy. As a society we want more green buildings, green jobs and even green food.
Unfortunately the words “sustainability” and “green” seem to have as many definitions as there are proponents.
AED undertook a study to create a Green Development Index for localities in the Washington, D.C. region. Using green development variables such as Vehicle Miles Traveled per Capita; Alternative Mode of Transportation Use; Households with Zero Vehicles; Average Travel Time to Work; Average Commute Time; Development Intensity; Green Buildings and Green Jobs the Green Development Index scores localities on their relative “green-ness”.
The result? The city center and innermost suburbs score the highest overall and on most variables. Their performance on these green building variables is better than the suburbs. It also suggests that sprawl and exurban development is generally less green than more urban development.
A simple index to describe the relative value of transportation and development variables on green outcomes associated with development appears to reflect what most planners implicitly believe – that planning associated with smart growth and intensively developed communities, with a balance of people and jobs that favors jobs, green jobs
especially, coupled with the creation of environmentally responsible buildings, results in higher scores on green development measures. Visit the AED Web site to read the complete study; look under "What's New on the Site" for a link to the PDF.
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