Green Urbanism
Green Cities
Global Green USA works in partnership with local governments and other public agencies that are ready to “do” sustainability. We help these entities create innovative and replicable policies, programs, and procedures so that sustainable practices become standard in the planning, design, construction, and operation of the built environment.
By working closely with agency staff and community stakeholders, we have helped create a number of innovative and precedent setting green building programs, sustainability plans, green urban design proposals, and climate action strategies. These efforts include the green building programs of the Cities of Los Angeles, Long Beach, and West Hollywood, the Local Government Green Building Program Guide, the West Hollywood Environmental Task Force Summary Report, and several LEED for Neighborhood Development certified projects.
One particular area of emphasis is helping public agencies and developers of affordable housing use the LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) rating system to advance their environmental goals and create models of sustainable neighborhoods. Global Green is the only technical assistance provider in the country to have certified three developments through the pilot version of the rigorous LEED-ND system and is working on several other planning projects that combine affordable housing with environmental design while pursuing LEED-ND certification.
The three projects previously certified by Global Green in collaboration with its planning and development partners are: The Holy Cross Project, Cornfields Arroyo Seco Specific Plan and Miraflores.
Currently, Global Green is working to advance two projects to the LEED-ND certification: Jordan Downs in Los Angeles and The Village at Market Creek in San Diego. The Green Urbanism Program led the certification process for the Sunnydale master plan, which received a Gold certification in 2010.
Our approach combines a depth of expertise in green building, neighborhood planning, and sustainability with over ten years of facilitation experience. We contextualize this approach through in-depth research into the physical, climatological, regulatory/code, and historical qualities of the specific place or jurisdiction.
Throughout our involvement, we strive to support, guide, and empower staff and stakeholders to be the long-term stewards of the policies and programs that we help establish. The end result is environmentally rigorous, reflective of local issues and priorities, and able to be adopted with confidence and implemented with success.
Current and past local partners include the cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, New Orleans, Long Beach, West Hollywood, Irvine, Santa Clarita, Santa Monica, Mountain View and Cupertino; Los Angeles and San Mateo Counties; the Redevelopment Agencies of Los Angeles and Richmond; the Housing Authorities of Ventura and Los Angeles; the Los Angeles and San Francisco Unified School Districts; and the University of California San Francisco.
Green Urbanism Leaders Summit. In February 2009, Global Green USA gathered a group urban and environmental thinkers and doers a two-day discussion on the compelling but elusive concept of green urbanism. The outcomes offer increased clarity on the concept and valuable thoughts on where to focus future efforts to create greener and more sustainable cities, as summarized in the Green Urbanism Leaders Summit: Outcomes and Ideas report.
For additional links, go to these pages:
Green Building Resources
Green Schools Resources
Green Affordable Housing Resources
Projects
Youngstown, Ohio
In early 2009, Global Green launched the Greening the Rustbelt: Sustainable Youngstown Initiative in Youngstown, OH. Youngstown is notable for its historic role as a key steel city in our nation’s history – immortalized in Bruce Springsteen’s Youngstown – and most recently, for embracing the reality of its future via the Youngstown 2010 plan and process. Being the first post-industrial city to formally acknowledge that it would not return to its former industrial roots or size, Youngstown has paved the way in terms of sustainable planning and downsizing.
The Holy Cross Project
This 1.25 acre site in New Orleans includes both for-sale and rental affordable housing, neighborhood-serving retail, and a community center and has served as a model for the sustainable redevelopment in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. With extensive use of green building techniques, including LEED Platinum rated homes, this project is approximately 25% complete. Global Green is the developer of this Silver rated neighborhood development with lead funding support from The Home Depot Foundation.
Cornfields Arroyo Seco Specific Plan
A plan to guide the development of 660 acres east of downtown Los Angeles on both sides of the Los Angeles River, the plan includes three light rail stations and design guidelines to promote walkability, the preservation of high value light industrial land, and access to and restoration of the river. Global Green worked with the Los Angeles Department of City Planning to certify this plan.
Miraflores
On the severely contaminated site of a former commercial nursery, this 14.5 acre plan combines market-rate for-sale and affordable senior housing with creek restoration, bike trail access, and a significant urban agriculture component that will serve as a buffer from a nearby freeway. Global Green worked with the City of Richmond Redevelopment Agency on the Gold rated plan.
West Hollywood
West Hollywood, California is a 1.9-square-mile patch of Los Angeles with 37,000 people, making it the city with the highest population density west of the Mississippi. Global Green worked with the city to develop their Green Building Program for Private Development, and also was a part of the Environmental Task Force to develop recommendations on how the the city could advance its sustainability efforts.
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Publications
Green Urbanism Leaders Summit Summary
On February 12 and 13, 2009, Global Green gathered a group of urban and environmental thinkers & doers for two days of discussion on the topic of green urbanism. The goal was to clarify this concept and also to arrive at some degree of agreement on the main principles of green urbanism, especially how to put these ideas into action. Also of importance was to expand the community of people that felt either an affinity to the subject. Out of the summit, the common direction was clear: our ability to rise to this challenge is a function of whether we change how we see our place in the world. Released June, 2009.
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Green Buildings - A Tool for Stemming Climate Change?
This publication talks about the six-step methodology Global Green has developed a for establishing a green building program. Functioning as an umbrella, a green building program integrates and encourages innovation in waste management, stormwater, water conservation, energy efficiency, land use, and public health. Pioneers like Santa Monica laid the foundation for folding green building into local government operations by focusing first on City building projects. This trend continued through the first part of the new millennium, with Southland cities large and small adopting green requirements for public construction.
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