UniverCity is a market-based sustainable community adjacent Vancouver, BC developed by the SFU Community Trust (the Trust). “4 Cornerstones” – Environment, Equity, Education and Economy – are UniverCity’s framework for development.

Download the Report

https://archive.living-future.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/UniverCity-LC-Development.pdf

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Local partners from the City of Bend worked closely with the Institute to infuse their Central Area Redevelopment with Living Building principles. The project team looked at ways to leverage future redevelopment to reknit an existing district back into the downtown and created a framework for a net zero energy and water community.

Download the Report

https://archive.living-future.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Bend-Oregon-LC-Pilot-Project.pdf

The post A Living City: Bend, Oregon Living Community Pilot Project first appeared on Living Future.

The First Hill area and surrounding neighborhoods in Seattle are the main focus in the Living Community Challenge’s second round of pilot cities. The Institute and partners have been working to create a Living Community Vision for the neighborhood that will guide neighborhood groups, planners, and developers in their work in the community. This document is the summation of the work done in 2015, to create a vision for a Living Community in Seattle’s First Hill and Central District neighborhoods. To learn more about the Living Community Challenge strategies and projects, look to our reports page.

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The Chinatown-International District is exploring a variety of implementation projects that incorporate Living Community Challenge principles.

Danny Woo Community Garden has embarked on a community-driven depaving effort for 1,500 square feet of public right of way. In this new green space, 500 square feet of gathering space, including seating, would be created; clean water would be provided for homeless residents, and; 1,000 square feet of additional garden plots, 10 for children gardeners and 12 for elder gardeners, would be created. The goal of the Danny Woo Community Garden Entrance Improvement project will be to mitigate stormwater runoff by removing impermeable pavement and adding landscaping and gardens. The direct environmental benefits will protect Central Puget Sound/Duwamish River basin watersheds by filtering chemicals, oils, sediment and other particulates that have adverse health impacts to our ecosystem and humans health. This area is in dire need of cleaning polluted runoff since it is adjacent to high-traffic areas, including Interstate-5.

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) has identified a two-mile stretch of S. King St, spanning from Chinatown-International District to the Central District, as a ‘greenway.’ The City’s typical greenways include traffic calming measures, such as slower automobile speeds, safer crossings and way-finding. The Institute has been working with local community groups and the city to begin visioning a re-design to push the concept of the greenway further through a Neighborhood Street Fund Proposal (see Project #2016-132). This ‘enhanced greenway’ would incorporate concepts such as stormwater treatment, increased access to public green space and community gardens in the right-of-way. Community groups have identified the following issues in this area: public safety, cleanliness, accessibility and lack of green space of which could be alleviated through the use of Living Community Challenge concepts to reimagine open space in the public right-of-way.

Prospective implementation projects: Danny Woo Community Garden Improvements + Classroom, King Street Greenway, I-5 Activiation, 1257 King St targetting Net Zero Energy Certification, Little Saigon Parklet, and others.

Resources:

• Seattle Chinatown-International District 2020 HEALTHY COMMUNITY ACTION PLAN
• Neighborhood Street Fund Application Presentation (May 2016)
• King Street Enhanced Greenway Concepts
• Danny Woo Community Garden Improvements Concepts
• Seattle Department of Transportation Greenway Fact Sheet & Map (available also in Vietnamese and Chinese)

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This project, in the Lower Ninth 9th Ward of New Orleans, Louisiana, will redevelop the historic Holy Cross School and site as a mixed-use neighborhood. The site and school building were damaged in Katrina and have been vacant since. LBC and LCC teams have been working with the project team on materials health for the historic building and energy and thermal sharing systems that could apply to the broader site. The plan is to redevelop the site into a mixed-use, highly-sustainable neighborhood.

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Normal, Illinois has been a leader in making sustainable development happen for the last decade. They were the first LEED ND project, and continue their history of innovation by becoming the 2nd registered project under the Living Community Challenge. This project is looking at the redevelopment of 7.5 municipally owned acres into a mixed-use neighborhood that will be anchored by a new library and significant public open space.

The post Uptown Normal 2.0 first appeared on Living Future.

The City of Seattle is considered to be at the forefront of sustainability so it is only fitting that there be a Living Community within its boundaries. North Rainier is a Hub Urban Village with remarkable existing and potential strengths. Because of its close proximity to downtown, the numerous underdeveloped or vacant properties, the existing transit center and its ethnically and culturally diverse community, North Rainier is an ideal location for a model Living Community. As evidenced by the 2010 North Rainier Neighborhood Plan Update, there is also broad consensus among stakeholders that the area become a Sustainability Hub, with green jobs and training, green development, a Living Building Pilot Project, and green infrastructure which supports business development and the diversity that is an integral part of the neighborhood. The 2010 North Rainier Neighborhood Plan Update provides details about the community visioning process which developed these important goals. Now, six years later, the North Rainier Community is taking an important first step towards this becoming the model community that it envisioned, by registering for the Living Community Challenge.

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With 800 ft of waterfront along the St. Lawrence River and the Seaway, this 6.25-acre site holds a rich history of diverse uses including a Shipbuilding fort (French 1758-63, British during 1770s War of Independence), Upper Canada’s Largest Flour mill in the 1830s, a large bootlegging distillery in the 1860s, a submarine sonar chart company during WWII, and a well-known horse stable in the 1950-90s. Since then this site has slowly slipped into disrepair, and it is the project’s goal to revive the space and create community once more. The project team feels that the best way to preserve history and historical buildings is to give them a new and vibrant present and future, thus the tag line “Leading while Remembering”. The 1828 stone tower is the perfect icon for this revival.

The vision for the community is an Imaginarium: a place devoted to stimulating and cultivating the imagination toward scientific, artistic, commercial, recreational, and spiritual ends. In this spirit, the plans so far include a Marine Research Center, a Biomimicry-based Technology Incubator Hub, a zen/yoga/recharge space, biodynamic farming, bees, water, music, and open arms.

The project team’s LBC Biophilic Design Charrette for the Chart House Building generated exciting ideas that spread to the whole site, and the team realized it was only natural to pursue the Living Community Challenge.

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This project explores how the Living Community Challenge can be used as a tool by existing residential neighborhoods to not only maximize the social and environmental benefits of community redevelopment, but also address some of the inherent challenges: maintaining affordability for existing residents, guarding against gentrification, and minimizing the displacement of homes, businesses, and institutions. The site is the Emerson Street Community, an 80-acre section of dense residential development in Northeast Portland’s former, historically African-American, Albina neighborhood, with one of the most racially, culturally, and socio-economically diverse populations in the city. The project team – includes all community residents, community-based artists, Oregon Benefits Companies, local non-profits and allied professionals — sees synergies in promoting energy efficiency, building resilient infrastructure, and activating resident owners and tenants to strengthening neighborhood relationships and create a restorative and sustainable live-work community.

All images courtesy of Julie Keefe

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Positioned on the shores of Sarasota Bay between the urban core of the city and an adjacent residential neighborhood, sits Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, the world’s only botanical research garden specializing in epiphytes, or air plants, such as orchids and bromeliads. Since its inception, Selby Gardens has become a leading botanical garden in the United States and around the world. In order to ensure the longevity of its irreplaceable collections and fulfill its mission of conservation research, education, and inclusivity, a plan was crafted, which identified three requirements:

1. Grow the Gardens
2. Reveal the Hidden Treasures
3. Safeguard the Future

From this, an ambitious program was generated to consolidate functions previously housed in disparate, dilapidated structures located in at-risk storm surge areas, into resilient, modernized facilities.  These new structures will expand educational offerings and experiences to the general public, highlight the robust scientific collections and research of the Gardens, showcase art exhibitions, and provide a unique hyperlocal “roof-to-table” culinary experience. The facility will also serve as a model of regenerative design and operations for botanical gardens worldwide, currently pursuing Living Community Challenge Petal Certification and two Living Building Challenge Petal Certifications. Mimicking the epiphytes for which Selby is famous, this Living Community Challenge project aims to exist in symbiotic harmony with its place in the world and inspire others to incorporate this principle of Living Lightly on the Land into their own lives.

Images: Courtesy of Overland and WP Visions

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