Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Sustainable Land Development Seminar Day 1

Sustainable Land Development – Ensuring Growth in a Green Economy

DAY 1

Land Development Industry Overview

This session is a “look back” at the land development industry and a “look forward” to anticipated changes in the industry as the economy rebounds. A discussion on what engineers will need to know about “green” initiates, energy alternative sources, and future controls implemented by local government. This session will also explore the role of industry professionals in a fragmented but changing industry.


Sustainable Land Development Projects

Defining “sustainability” and discussing the importance of a sustainable land development project will be the focus of this session. Each element of a sustainable project will be reviewed in detail. The discussion will include environmental (“green”) approaches, economic considerations, and social factors.


Low Impact Development

LID is a proven design method for adhering to the goals and objectives of a “green” approach. This session will evaluate each component of LID and consider the regulatory, economic, and market factors affecting project results.


Leadership Energy Efficient Design

An overview of the LEED program and its changes to the accreditation and certification processes. Discussions on the role of the engineer and alliances which need to be forged as this “green” program may become the new norm.


Mixed Use Community Design Case Study

Class participants will work in teams to prepare a sustainable mixed use community land use plan. The class will consider sustainable project factors, marketability, and infrastructure planning to prepare an overall plan for a large tract of land. “Out of the box” planning and engineering approaches will be considered in preparing a land use plan consistent with industry future trends.

Comments are appreciated.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

This sounds like an interesting class. Thanks for the information. Do you think sustainable developments will be a more marketable product than a "standard" development. If that is the case then they should come out of this economic downturn more quickly and I should be in the design phase of a sustainable development now.

Terry Mock said...

Congratulations David on your seminar presentation on Sustainable Land Development – Ensuring Growth in a Green Economy.

I am particularly impressed with your efforts to properly define “sustainability” by discussing the importance of sustainable land development projects including environmental (“green”) approaches, economic considerations, and social factors. A recent SLDI survey of industry professionals agrees with your holistic approach - http://blog.sldi.org/2009/02/17/sldi-study-provides-revealing-look-at-the-state-of-the-industry/

Terry Mock
Executive Director
Sustainable Land Development International
www.SLDI.org

David E. Johnson, PE said...

Terry - you would be best suited to answer Bill's question from a consumer acceptance point of view based on your survey's. As for me, I am a strong advocate of mixed use projects to achieve sustainability - either horizontal or vertical. Bill - in my opinion of starting the design now - there will be projects on the shelf ready when the industry is trending up. Most likely these projects will be more traditional and you would think a sustainable design properly marketed would receive its proper attention.