We help communities adapt some of the Sustainable Urbanism measures that have brought Portland a reputation as a sustainability leader and shape them to the needs of your own community or institution.
PlanGreen can help you to determine how to significantly reduce your contribution to climate change by:
- Encouraging land use that allows people to live close enough to walk, bike or take transit to work, school, and services
- Developing excellent urban design policies that help existing neighborhoods to embrace density
- Investing in alternative transportation networks
- Limiting road capacity increases
- Creating disincentives to driving
- Moving towards food system security through promotion of local urban agriculture
- Adopting highly effective measures to promote green building and renewable energy
- Instituting a green streets program
The coming need for new housing—more than 50 million new units nationwide by 2030—creates a major opportunity to address climate change through development that serves the growing demand for livable, sustainable urbanism. Nearly all of the new housing built in the City of Portland since the passage of the Regional Plan has been multifamily infill. Some of that infill has even created a model for “Integrating Habitats” –restoring ecosystem services to abused and neglected sites.
While not all Portland neighborhoods have embraced greater density, urban design has been a significant factor in encouraging those that have. Urban design can make the difference between a sidewalk filled with curb cuts for driveways or a streetscape that provides delight and safety to the pedestrian.
Residents from communities with higher density, greater connectivity, and more diverse land use report higher rates of walking/cycling than low-density, poorly connected, and single land use neighborhoods. Those communities reduce fossil fuel-based transportation and promote mental health and the prevention of chronic disease through increased physical activity.
PlanGreen is committed to the Congress for New Urbanism’s 2030 Communities Campaign with its goal of reducing carbon emissions through a major reduction in driving miles, targeting a 50% reduction in per capita VMT by 2030.
PlanGreen also has expertise with the LEED-ND rating system. Through one of LEED-ND’s three sponsors, the Congress for New Urbanism, and through the Portland-based Sustainable Urbanism Ratings Group, we were active in shaping that system.
