Written by the chair of the LEED-Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) initiative,Sustainable Urbanism: Urban Design with Nature is both an urgent call to action and a comprehensive introduction to "sustainable urbanism"--the emerging and growing design reform movement that combines the creation and enhancement of walkable and diverse places with the need to build high-performance infrastructure and buildings. Providing a historic perspective on the standards and regulations that got us to where we are today in terms of urban lifestyle and attempts at reform, Douglas Farr makes a powerful case for sustainable urbanism, showing where we went wrong, and where we need to go. He then explains how to implement sustainable urbanism through leadership and communication in cities, communities, and neighborhoods. Essays written by Farr and others delve into such issues as:Increasing sustainability through density.Integrating transportation and land use.Creating sustainable neighborhoods, including housing, car-free areas, locally-owned stores, walkable neighborhoods, and universal accessibility.The health and environmental benefits of linking humans to nature, including walk-to open spaces, neighborhood stormwater systems and waste treatment, and food production.High performance buildings and district energy systems.

Enriching the argument are in-depth case studies in sustainable urbanism, from BedZED in London, England and Newington in Sydney, Australia, to New Railroad Square in Santa Rosa, California and Dongtan, Shanghai, China. An epilogue looks to the future of sustainable urbanism over the next 200 years. At once solidly researched and passionately argued,Sustainable Urbanism is the ideal guidebook for urban designers, planners, and architects who are eager to make a positive impact on our--and our descendants'--buildings, cities, and lives.

Douglas Farr, an architect and urban designer, is the founding principal and president of Farr Associates. He has served as cochair of the Environmental Task Force of the Congress for the New Urbanism, chair of the AIA Chicago Committee on the Environment, and chair of the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) Core Committee. Farr Associates is a Chicago-based firm focused on sustainable design in architecture and urban design. Founded in 1990, Farr Associates was the first architecture firm in the world to have designed at least two buildings to be certified with a LEED Platinum rating: the Chicago Center for Green Technology and the Center for Neighborhood Technology, also in Chicago. The firm designed its own office in the historic Monadnock Building as a LEED for Commercial Interiors pilot project.

Foreword (Andrés Duany).

Preface.

How to use this book.

Acknowledgments.

Part One The Case for Sustainable Urbanism.

Chapter 1: The Built Environment: Where We Are Today.

The American Lifestyle on the Wrong Course.

Pioneering Reforms: Setting the Stage for Sustainable Urbanism.

Chapter 2: Sustainable Urbanism: Where We Need to Go.

Sustainable Urbanism: The Grand Unification.

The Three Steps of Sustainable Urbanism.

Part Two Implementing Sustainable Urbanism.

Chapter 3: Leadership and Communications.

Leadership Talking Points for Sustainable Urbanism (Jim Hackler and Irina Woelfle)

The Power of Paired Choices.

Implementation Agendas for Leaders.

Chapter 4: The Process and Tools for Implementing Sustainable Urbanism.

RFQ for Sustainable Urbanist Professionals.

Benchmarking Municipal Sustainability: The Santa Monica Sustainable City Plan (City of Santa Monica).

Documenting Community Preference in Form and Sustainability: Image Preference Survey (IPS) (Christina Anderson)

Conducting a Charrette (Bill Lennertz)

Shaping Sustainable Neighborhoods with the Toledo Smart Neighborhood Analysis Protocol (SNAP) (Carolee Kokola).

A Sustainable Urbanist Neighborhood Plan: Toledo SNAP (Carolee Kokola).

Regulating Plan and Form-Based Code (Christina Anderson).

Incorporating Sustainability through Codes, Covenants, and Restrictions (CC&Rs) (Dan Slone).

RFP for a Sustainable Urbanist Developer (City of Victoria, British Columbia).

Part Three Emerging Thresholds of Sustainable Urbanism.

Chapter 5: Increasing Sustainability Through Density.

Explaining Density.

Illustrating Density.

The Transect of the Everyday.

Water and the Density Debate (Lynn Richards).

Transit Supportive Densities.

Chapter 6: Sustainable Corridors.

The Sustainable Corridor (Doug Farr, Leslie Oberholtzer, and Christian Schaller).

The Integration of Transportation, Land Use, and Technology (Shelley Poticha).

Biodiversity Corridors (Rebecca L. Kihslinger, Jessica Wilkinson, and James McElfish).

Chapter 7: Sustainable Neighborhoods.

NeighborhoodDiagrams.

Neighborhood Definition (Victor Dover and Jason King).

Neighborhood Completeness (Eliot Allen and Doug Farr).

Neighborhood Housing (Laurie Volk and Todd Zimmerman).

Car-Free Housing.

Neighborhood Retail (Robert J. Gibbs).

Economic Benefits of Locally Owned Stores (Matt Cunningham).

Third Places.

Healthy Neighborhoods (Melanie Simmons, Kathy Baughman McLeod,and Jason Hight).

Walkable Streets and Networks (Dan Burden).

Complete Streets (Fred Dock).

Universal Basic Home Access (Eleanor Smith).

Managing Travel Demand (Jeffery Tumlin).

Car Sharing (Jeffery Tumlin0.

Chapter 8: Biophilia.

Open Space (Carolee Kokola).

Public Darkness (Nancy Clanton and Todd Givler).

Stormwater Systems (Jim Patchett and Tom Price).

Food Production (Lynn Peemoeller and Jim Slama, with Cathy Morgan).

Outdoor Wastewater Treatment (Thomas E. Ennis).

Indoor Wastewater Treatment (John Todd Ecological Design).

Chapter 9: High-Performance Buildings and Infrastructure.

The Impact of Planning on Building Energy Usage (Alan Chalifoux).

2030 Challenge (Ed Mazria).

High-Performance Infrastructure (Hillary Brown).

Large District Energy Systems (Doug Newman and Robert Thornton, John Kelly, and Adam Lund).

The 2030 Community Challenge: Economic Growth with Sustainable Urbanism.

Part Four Case Studies in Sustainable Urbanism.

Chapter 10: Lessons Learned from Sustainable Urbanism.

Built Infill.

BedZED: London, England.

Glenwood Park: Atlanta, Georgia, United States.

Holiday Neighborhood: Boulder, Colorado, United States.

Christie Walk: Adelaide, Australia.

Newington: Sydney, Australia.

High Point: Seattle, Washington, United States.

Built Greenfield.

Upton: Northampton, England.

Kronsberg: Hannover, Germany.

Loreto Bay: Baja California Sur, Mexico.

Civano: Tucson, Arizona, United States.

Poundbury: Dorchester, England.

Chapter 11: State of the Art in Unbuilt Sustainable Urbanism.

Unbuilt Infill.

Dockside Green: Victoria, Canada.

Lloyd Crossing: Portland, Oregon, United States.

Z-Squared: London, England.

New Railroad Square: Santa Rosa, California, United States.

Uptown Normal: Normal, Illinois, United States.

Unbuilt Greenfield.

Dongtan: Shanghai, China.

Galisteo Basin Preserve: Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States.

Pulelehua: Maui, Hawaii, United States.

Coyote Valley: San Jose, California, United States.

Scales of Intervention.

Epilogue.

Glossary.

Index.