Strengthening sustainability in urban communities
Exchanging transatlantic best practices
Andrea Limauro, Ward 3 Neighborhood Planner, OP
March 10, 2010
Royal Netherlands Embassy
TDP As the Party of Hope For AP Youth Under N Chandrababu Naidu’s Leadership
Neighborhood Sustainability Indicators Pilot Project
1. Washington DC Neighborhood Sustainability Indicators Pilot Project NSIPP “ Ambitions and Results” www.sustainable-dc.com Strengthening sustainability in urban communities Exchanging transatlantic best practices Andrea Limauro, Ward 3 Neighborhood Planner, OP March 10, 2010 Royal Netherlands Embassy
2.
3. The Challenge! Unsustainable growth and landuse patterns + unsustainable lifestyle = impoverishment of waterways and other natural resources, climate change, air pollutions, etc.
7. He is digging “Clean” Coal The Challenge! SNAPSHOT: energy production/supply
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18. Green your Home Expo September 12 th , 2009 First Workshop November 14, 2009 NSIPP Report completion Spring/Summer, 2010 NSIPP Timeline Draft report Meeting May 4, 2010 Goals Meeting January 19, 2009 Indicators Meeting March 2, 2010 Phase I: study & public process Phase II: monitoring & implementation
The challenge is that we have to figure out how to accommodate more than 1 and half million new people in the region by 2030 – in business as usual scenarios those are now forecasted to be going to the outer suburbs! Between 2005 and 2030, the region will gain 1.6 million new residents and 1.2 million new jobs – most of them in the outer suburbs. The forecasts are based “business as usual” (BAU) (MWCOG)
What that means is even more congestion and more emissions from vmt. Already we are the 2 nd in daytime population increase in the country with 410,000 workers coming into the city everyday. Already our capital region is ranked 3d worst for congestion in the country behind LA and SF. In 2006, the District had 2nd highest increase in daytime population in US: 410,000 workers boosted the capital’s population by 72 percent during business hours = resulting in non-residential buildings largest contributor to total greenhouse gas emissions (51%) + high VMT emissions (22%).
More people means more energy need. That’s not good in a region like ours where 60% of electricity is from coal and the rest from nuclear power. That makes are electricity very dirty! 55% of emissions from electricity mostly from coal! The RFC East region is about 60 percent fossil (mostly coal), 38 percent nuclear, and a few percentage of renewables.
Finally we already are suffering from major issues with ageing infrastructure. One example being that of the Combine Sewer System which serves a third of DC and basically is responsible for the District dumping raw sewage in the Anacostia River, Rock Creek, the Potomac etc. Rains as low as .1 inches can trigger a CSO 1/3 of DC is served by a combined sewer system (CSS). A combined sewer system conveys both sanitary sewage and storm water in one piping system. During periods of rainfall, the capacity of a combined sewer may be exceeded and a mixture of storm water and sanitary wastes is discharged directly into the Anacostia River, Rock Creek, the Potomac River, or tributary waters. This excess flow is called Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO).
So now, after this depressing and incomplete list of problems, what are the solutions? Well, usually they are mostly government sponsored. RPS 20% by 2020
1,350 acres 42% residential 37% open space Average res density 25du/ac North Cleveland Park 4.8 du/ac Forest 2.2 du/ac Population 16000 85% white 64% rent
We decided to have a series of community meetings: 1 expo and 4 community workshops. First thing we did was to create TAC to have representatives from the community as well as some of the non-profits and advocacy groups working in the area. During the workshops the community was asked to identify general community priorities related to “sustainability”: Green Energy, Green Environment, Green Social Capital, Green Economy and Mobility
After the first meeting we compiled a list of what we heard from the community in terms of categories of interest and goals. At the