Building Blocks

Smart growth.

OK, outside of my Urban Planning program, it's a term I haven't heard in a long, long time. Smart Growth is a land-development theory that concentrates new housing developments into compact, dare I say, walkable areas. Compact developments are easier to traverse, they're set up for efficient transit and public works systems, can more readily be served by fire and police departments, and the reason the phrase has been recycled makes the tree-hugger in me proud: it's environmentally sustainable.

The term 'smart growth' has been in circulation in North America for some time and, more specifically, it was the pervading philosophy in Lincoln for most of my growing up. So I had a nostalgic sort of a swell of retro-love as the term resurfaced recently.

Evidently Lincoln was among a group of 32 communities tasked with finding ways to incorporate sustainability into our local zoning codes.

I know...I know...most of the time zoning codes aren't exactly the sort of thing that puts a real fire in one's belly. Not usually. But I was looking into it and some cities have made some serious progress toward encouraging and sometimes requiring better environmental practices as developers build homes and businesses through their codes.

• Chicago, for instance, requires new downtown buildings to have green rooftops.
• Builders in Austin, Texas are encouraged to put showers in new buildings for bike commuters.
• In Clayton, Mo., a developer who chops down a tree has to replace it with trees making up the same caliper inches.
• New homes built in Tucson, Ariz. are required, by code, to be solar ready with the duct and electrical work necessary for roof mounted solar panels.
  

All-in-all I was pretty pleased to see Lincoln has an eye for revising these zoning codes. Integrating more sustainable practices is a strong bump in the right direction.

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Recent Goodness: Noticing this morning the gray light that blankets the air just before the sun comes up.