CarolynTracy
Who I am, What I think and What I want to do
The Green Mega City
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The electric City Car
Mark Oberholz - Energy Highway
Algae Power Park University of Berkeley
The Crowd Farm - Power sidewalks
Eric Hoek - sea water on tap - desalination
Tunnel 'bots - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute
Vertical Farms inspired by Organitech
Green Towers - Jacques Ferrier
"How to Build a Village" Concept Plan
Civano, Arizona
Site plan of most of Civano's first neighborhood, including Global Solar (bottom left), neighborhood center (center), and residential lots. Houghton Blvd. runs north-south, left side of plan.
http://www.terrain.org/unsprawl/5/
Pringle Community in Oregan
The planning and infrastructure work on Pringle Creek Community was guided by a the list of goals that was created at the beginning of the project, including:
- Preserve as much open space as possible
- Preserve and reuse as many of the eight old industrial structures as possible
- Create habitat and recreational corridors
- Eliminate all rainwater run-off to city stormwater system
- Layout building sites for maximum solar opportunities
Examples of the careful work that has been done show the breadth of the community’s commitment to its goals:
| |
Mature trees, including 80-year-old fir and sequoia groves, a stand of 250-year-old oaks, and two rare yew trees estimated at 1,500 years of age were preserved and protected as part of an active open space plan.
Smaller neighborhoods within the project were defined by natural features and pedestrian and vehicle connectivity.
Pringle Creek’s green street system is among the country’s largest residential applications of porous asphalt. The design features narrow roads to reduce hard surface area and construction costs while slowing traffic.
Rainwater management and protecting water quality were included in the detailed plan. Each lot is designed to reduce offsite flow. The porous streets and series of small bio-swales are designed to manage runoff and provide natural rainwater infiltration. This is a development where you will find no stormwater piped off site. The entire project has been designed to maximize distributed infiltration of stormwater, eliminating the concentration of pollutants found in typical collected stormwater systems.
The Oregon Department of Energy provided a lot-by-lot analysis of solar capacity, leading to building orientations that maximize each home’s potential to capture the renewable energy of the sun.
An integrated landscape irrigation system has been created using untreated well water for the initial watering period of native plants in the common landscape.
Throughout infrastructure construction, some heavy equipment that operated onsite used biodiesel fuel.
Five unique buildings were preserved for restoration and use as community and commercial spaces. Each of the buildings, built between 1938 and 1964, is located within the Village Center and offers a sense of history and authenticity while preserving embedded energy and creating economic opportunity.
One brick-and-concrete building was deconstructed and recycled while two metal buildings were deconstructed and relocated to other sites. Concrete foundations were demolished and the material was reused onsite, providing a unique porous parking area.
Plum Creek, Texas
New Urbanism at Plum Creek
Plum Creek employs a wide range of New Urbanist principles in its design:
- Sidewalks and trails provide pedestrian connections within the community, including pedestrian underpasses for the two major arterial roadways that bisect the community.
- A majority of the community features rear alley-accessed garages, creating pedestrian-friendly streetscapes.
- Narrow streets and other traffic calming measures are used to slow traffic and improve the pedestrian environment. Additionally, over 5,000 trees have been planted to provide shade for sidewalks, streets, and homes, reducing urban heat-island effect. These street trees also create a physical barrier between pedestrians and cars.
- Homes are designed to evoke the appearance of traditional homes found in central Austin, and feature usable front porches, picket fencing, and individual mailboxes.
- A commitment to life-cycle housing necessitates a variety of home styles, prices, and types to serve homebuyers of different incomes and family types.
- Hiking and biking trails are designed to encourage residents to exercise while providing transportation options.
- A commitment to usable open space means every home is within walking distance of parks of various sizes and intended uses. A 30-acre lake serves as the green heart of the first phase. Pocket parks, regional parks, greens, and alley-parks dot the neighborhood.
- A community center offers free event and meeting space for residents.
- A mix of uses is integrated into the community to complement the residential development—today these include a daycare, an elementary school, a performing arts center, service retail (coffee shop, gym, music and dance schools, salon, retail), and a small healthcare center that includes clinics, a lab, and a physical therapy center, all within walking distance of the homes.
