Building Green is one of the most important things we can do. When it is done on a neighborhood scale the advantages are multiplied exponentially. One inspiring example of building green on a neighborhood scale is the New Urbanist sustainable community of Oshara Village now under construction in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
This unique New Urbanist environmental village, the first to combine New Urbanism and Sustainable Neighborhood Design, is the first example of its kind in the United States. Oshara will allow residents to drastically reduce their use of non-renewable resources and overall energy consumption. Studies by New Village Institute in Santa Fe estimate that energy used for driving will be cut by 60% and home energy use by over 50%. Through wise land planning, mixed-use zoning, green built homes and commercial buildings, and water recycling, Oshara Village will become one of the most green communities in the Unites States.
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typical. high prices keep folks who have pioneered this way of living out. no hippies, no environmentalists, no service types. great for yuppies and rich folks though. it really saddens me. better that it's available then not, but damn it, why are cohousing and new urbanist developments always unaffordable for most of us?
low cost co-housing
here's one for ya - Greeway Park (thanks Global Green). Since Anonymous posted this, I've been on the look-out for them.
- maxmsf
I'm working on it.
Hold on. I'm working on it. And one firm in particular that I'm forwarding this post to.
Just hold on. They have great co-housing experience.
don't be a sustaina hata!
But Anonymous, don't you want to see green innovation happening at all levels? It shouldn't just be for the "hippies" either. If you're really in favor of sustainability, I'd have thought you'd applaud the fact that it's penetrating the well-to-do segments of our society, especially since that's where the highest wasteper-capita is happening. "Hippies" and environmentalists are the easy converts, the trick is bringing it to the mainstream.
Just because there is an increasing number of projects in the higher-cost brackets, doesn't mean it is at the exclusion of more affordable projects-- it's an infinitely large pie. I do think that it is important to support initiatives that will make it affordable to everyone, however, which is why the work of people like Van Jones and Majora Carter is so inspiring.