For
20 years, the real estate development industry has been changed by every level
of government including the UN!! Why?
I have emphasized my comments in green for your consideration.
AGENDA 21 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Section 1 Social and Economic Dimensions
4.1. This chapter contains the following programme areas:
(a) Focusing on unsustainable patterns of production and consumption;
(b) Developing national policies and strategies to encourage changes in unsustainable consumption patterns. Does this remind you of what is happening in NY City and at our public schools?
5.1. This chapter contains the following programme areas:
(a) Developing and disseminating knowledge concerning the links between demographic trends and factors and sustainable development;
(b) Formulating integrated national policies for environment and development, taking into account demographic trends and factors;
(c) Implementing integrated, environment and development programmes at the local level, taking into account demographic trends and factors. Are you wondering WHY the UN is talking about LOCAL government……. especially knowing that our real estate development industry is changed primarily at the local level
Human settlement objective
7.4 The overall human settlement objective is to improve the social, economic and environmental quality of human settlements and the living and working environments of all people, in particular the urban and rural poor. Such improvement should be based on technical cooperation activities, partnerships among the public, private and community sectors and participation in the decision making process from community groups and special interest groups
Our industry has become a consensus industry and the rights of private land ownership infringed upon daily by government .Have you ever attended a Planning Board hearing when special interest groups participated in the public comment period?
such as women, indigenous people, the elderly and the disabled. These approaches should form the core principles of national settlement strategies. In developing these strategies, countries will need to set priorities among the eight programme areas in this document in accordance with their national plans and objectives taking fully into account their social and cultural capabilities. Furthermore, countries should make appropriate provision to monitor the impact of their strategies on marginalized and disenfranchised groups with particular reference to the needs of women.
7.5 The programme areas included in this chapter are:
A. Providing adequate shelter for all; Clinton started this in 1995 by loosening housing rules by rewriting the Community Reinvestment Act, which put added pressure on banks to lend in low-income neighborhoods - the start of the housing bubble because real estate was not reset during the 2001 recession.
B. Improving human settlement management;
C. Promoting sustainable land use planning and management; Your local land development codes have most likely changed over the past 20-years and this objective statement started the chain reaction at the local level and at universities…..another blog post to come to further investigate and disclose the mechanism used to promote this policy.
D. Promoting the integrated provision of environmental infrastructure: water, sanitation, drainage, hazardous and solid waste management; Local governments have been linking infrastructure capacity to developments for years. The momentum is for local governments to deny projects if the existing infrastructure is inadequate for the project impacts. Local governments are NOT taking care of their responsibilities.
E. Promoting sustainable energy and transport systems in human settlements; Energy is a component of some government mortgage programs – NOW. Soon, location will also be a criteria added to mortgage programs because of transportation considerations.
F. Promoting human settlement planning and management in disaster-prone areas;
G. Promoting sustainable construction industry activities; Green Building Rating System of the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) created in 1993 and formed in 1998. This approach was promoted at all levels, i.e. government requiring buildings to be LEED certified. It is a rating system – does it make any sense?
H. Promoting human resource development and capacity-building for human settlement development.
PROGRAMME AREAS
A. Integrating environment and development at the policy, planning and management levels
Objectives
8.3. The overall objective is to improve or restructure the decision-making process so that consideration of socio-economic and environmental issues is fully integrated and a broader range of public participation assured. Recognizing that countries will develop their own priorities in accordance with their prevailing conditions, needs, national plans, policies and programmes, the following objectives are proposed:
(a) To conduct a national review of economic, sectoral and environmental policies, strategies and plans to ensure the progressive integration of environmental and developmental issues;
(b) To strengthen institutional structures to allow the full integration of environmental and developmental issues, at all levels of decision-making;
(c) To develop or improve mechanisms to facilitate the involvement of concerned individuals, groups and organizations in decision-making at all levels;
From The Town Paper http://www.tndtownpaper.com/what_is_charrette
“A charrette is an intensive planning
session where citizens, designers and others collaborate on a vision for
development. It provides a forum for ideas and offers the unique advantage of
giving immediate feedback to the designers. More importantly, it allows
everyone who participates to be a mutual author of the plan.”Have you been involved in a charrette; the development of a real estate project by consensus?
What other industry other than the real estate industry which the local government allows anyone to have input in a project design AND change the economic viability of that project? True or untrue?
(d) To establish domestically determined procedures to integrate environment and development issues in decision-making.
Environmental considerations and linkage has been strengthening since the Clean Water Act of 1972 by linking federal dollars to environmental protection. We can’t even have a debate on whether the environmental issues are legitimate or reasonable so how can we stop the momentum?
More to come!
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