Imagine an underutilized inner-city neighborhood transformed
into a vibrant, attractive, and highly desirable place to live and work
where the entire
35-block ecosystem mimics the behavior of a pristine forest, even as
the area’s population and built space increase fivefold. Now picture
a development built by both public and private dollars returning positive
cash flow that is invested back into advancing this development’s
sustainable goals each year. The Portland (Oregon) Development Commission
(PDC) dreamed of such an environmental and financially sustainable place;
the Lloyd Crossing Sustainable Urban Design Plan not only proved that
it could be built, but created a new model for urban planners worldwide.
Portland is a community that treasures its natural
environment. Sustainable development and the growth of the community’s green economy are
core values that drive the PDC’s vision of the region’s future.
Taking a multi-disciplinary approach, the Lloyd Crossing plan dramatizes
how urban planning can embrace these values, combine them with the realities
of 21st Century urban transportation and utility systems and business
and marketing drivers, and lead the development of a community that reduces
its environmental impact, even as it grows. The result is a visionary
plan that will guide the future of a development with low environmental
impact and high economic potential that creates significant value for
property owners, the community, and the environment.
The Lloyd Crossing plan demonstrates how the rate of environmental impact
can be reversed as density increases. It establishes metrics based on
pre-development conditions when the Lloyd District was forested—the
highest standards possible. It outlines a methodology to achieve these
pre-development conditions by restoring habitat levels for fish, fowl
and mammals; implementing water-neutral and carbon-neutral resource strategies;
and developing energy systems and strategies that increase the use of
renewable energy such as solar and wind power.
The plan provides a dynamic financial model for evaluating sustainability
strategies that is flexible and fully scalable, from building to regional
level. It describes how operational savings from sustainable strategies
can be reinvested to fund infrastructure improvements (with a percentage
of savings returned to landowners to encourage private investment). It
identifies existing and potential new funding sources such as tax increment
financing, system development charges, new market tax credits, and federal
and state tax incentives. Finally, it outlines a branding strategy for
a “healthy urban” environment that establishes a unique identity
for the neighborhood, attracting residents and businesses, and increasing
private property values and resulting public tax revenues long term.
All
of these tools respond to the need to support and encourage the private/public
collaboration necessary to make the Lloyd Crossing dream a reality.
The Lloyd Crossing Sustainable Urban Design Plan demonstrates what can
be done when creative minds bring together community leaders, designers,
planners, engineers, and economists and ask, “What if?” The
result is an exciting, dramatic step forward for urban planning and a
practical model for tackling some of the world’s most difficult
environmental challenges.
The Lloyd Crossing Sustainable Urban Design Plan introduces dramatic
advancements in sustainable urban planning at three levels. The plan
begins with a
new premise: create a development of 10 million square feet that not
only responds in the environment as if it is a pristine, undeveloped
forest,
but is financially sustainable over the long-term. Secondly, the plan
introduces a methodology for benchmarking and measuring habitat, water,
and energy use, and for planning an urban environment that mimics natural
systems and reduces the development’s net environmental impact
over time. Rather than laying environmental objectives over the planning
process,
it begins with environmental sustainability as the primary goal.
Most urban planning still assumes the continuance of large
scale, inflexible, and separate utilities. The Lloyd Crossing plan looks
ahead to a future
in which 21st Century urban habitat, water, and energy systems are closely
interconnected, and which differ substantially from those of the previous
century. It then goes beyond traditional green building-level strategies
to implement block- and neighborhood-wide sustainable systems and infrastructure,
including:
- Shared water treatment systems for non-potable water reuse
- Public open space and restored habitat “patches” in streetscape environments that begin to reestablish and reconnect habitat corridors
- Renewable energy systems and resources such as wind power, photovoltaic systems, and fuel cells, and
- A shared “thermal loop” system to balance heating loads between complementary uses.
Finally, it takes a fresh approach positioning the urban planner as the
leader of a multidisciplinary team committed to building an exciting place
with high goals for environmental performance and financial success.
The plan demonstrates how sustainable development values can create an
exciting project with a unique brand and appeal and result in significant
and sustained environmental, financial, and social success, regardless
of scale. Second, the plan introduces the concept of “predevelopment
metrics,” which are baseline environmental performance parameters
based on the original state of the property that can be used to measure
the success of sustainable development strategies. Third, the plan establishes
a unique financial framework that illustrates how environmental efficiency
savings can create significant cash flow back into the project. This
framework
includes a methodology for evaluating the economic potential of various
combinations of environmental systems and strategies, as well. By demonstrating
positive investment returns, this framework can be used to motivate long-term
private and public investment. Finally, these evaluation tools and approaches
are easily scaled up or down to apply to a wide range of projects including
buildings, blocks, campus-type developments, institutions, neighborhoods,
municipalities, or entire regions.
The plan was developed through a collaborative process, rare in its breadth
and balance of interests. From the outset, the plan’s exciting and
unique vision attracted some of the region’s top experts in planning,
landscape architecture, architecture, civil and mechanical engineering,
neighborhood energy analysis, marketing and branding, real estate development,
construction, and financial analysis. All contributed extensively, studying
local context and reviewing case studies of sustainable communities throughout
Europe. The resulting document employs an innovative series of intuitive
graphics to explain the interaction of complex environmental systems
and
the impact of selected combinations of strategies over the 45-year study
period. The plan is already generating interest from planners and architects
from around the country.
In 2001, the Portland Development Commission established a city-wide vision
based on broad objectives for green development. It conceived of the Lloyd
District as a vibrant mixed-use urban neighborhood with high density,
a distinct identity, an optimal network of shared building systems, and
a variety of transportation options. From the outset the plan for this
35-block area was designed to provide a model that the PDC could utilize
throughout the city. To be successful, its environmental, financial and
marketing strategies had to be based on a thorough understanding of factors
that could affect their outcome. As a result, the effort involved a broad
range of experts, deep research, and creativity. Scalability was key,
but so was long-term financial success. Thus, the plan creates incentives
for public/private partnerships and mechanisms for sustaining this effort,
including a Resource Management Association that implements the sustainable
development strategies and selects the sources of revenue to build and
maintain district-wide green infrastructure into the future.
The Lloyd Crossing plan would not have been a success without lively
input from its stakeholders. From the outset, a Project Advisory Committee
and
Technical Advisory Committee provided monthly forums for discussion and
feedback to the consultant team. The vision for the Sustainable Urban
Design Plan was conceived and refined through a series of interviews,
meetings, background research, and collaborative work sessions with both
of these groups. The committees included representatives from local neighborhood
groups, local landowners, and business associations, as well as members
from Portland’s Development Commission, Bureau of Planning, Department
of Transportation, Department of Environmental Services, and the Office
of Sustainable Development.
The ability to think broadly, to recognize the value from a wide variety
of disciplines and to understand how to engage them was absolutely key
to the success of this plan. Together, in-house and outside planning and
architectural staff organized and led the process to integrate infrastructure
and economic development goals and to determine the development metrics.
They identified the many layers of expertise required, designed a successful
work plan, and served as the umbrella linking all outside consultants
and the two committees of community stakeholders. Specific tasks included
evaluating the existing public policy framework, utility infrastructure,
energy systems and utility networks, habitat, and transportation needs,
and making recommendations for plan implementation.
In order to create, design and finance new district-wide green strategies
a new operational and funding mechanism was required. A new entity called
the Resource Management Association (RMA) was designed to implement the
green strategies for this district as part of the Sustainable Urban Design
Plan. The RMA would engage in a variety of tasks ranging from the financing
and coordination of public grants to the implementation of district-wide
energy, water and the creation of green infrastructure. A key concept
of the RMA is to use the incremental savings from the high performing
energy and water systems to finance the capital costs for new green infrastructure
throughout the district.
The most exciting step was combining the metrics, payback and design:
Finding new forms that reflected and expressed the water, solar and wind
functions in the infrastructure forms. New forms were created for intersections,
the wastewater treatment became part of the central urban space.
When this project began, neither the PDC nor the consultants knew whether
it was possible to achieve a development that was both environmentally
and financially sustainable, much less one that met our very aggressive
performance standards. We learned that through an integrated approach,
we could conceive a plan that meets the highest level of environmental
performance, generates positive returns, and creates a unique urban neighborhood.
Even though implementation of the vision will require strong public/private
partnerships, patient investors, and a long-term perspective, the plan
has already generated support and excitement. The PDC and major landowners
are committed to funding the next phases of study to make the catalyst
project a reality. A successful project could truly change the paradigm
of sustainable urban design and effect positive lasting change throughout
our world.
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