Building greener, building smarter: the winds of change are blowing through the building community, fueled by consumer demand and discerning practitioners

American Forests, Spring, 2005 by Cheryl Kollin

As the demand grows for green infrastructure, the increased volume and next generation of sustainable materials and technologies should drive the price down, helping make green building practices more mainstream.

But a greener world doesn't start and end with better building practices on individual sites. A region's air and water quality are greatly affected by just how and where growth occurs.

Following in the footsteps of previous generations of growth management strategies, the Smart Growth movement, started in the early 1990s, focuses on the three E's: equity, economy, and environment. The Smart Growth Network, a national coalition of 36 organizations and government agencies that promote smart growth approaches within their constituencies, provides a forum for promoting these principles and sharing information and strategies.

The Smart Growth movement raises public awareness of the problems of sprawling development, finds solutions, and develops policies and programs that communities can use for better land development. There are 10 Smart Growth principles that summarize good land development; three address the conservation of natural resources:

* Foster distinctive, attractive communities with a strong sense of place.

* Preserve open space, farmland, natural beauty, and critical environmental areas.

* Strengthen and direct development towards existing communities.

Having grounded itself in land conservation, the Smart Growth movement next hopes to answer the question, "What would a proactive Smart Growth community look like? How would it put its resources to best use?" according to Nadejda Mishkovsky, project manager at the International City/County Management Association, which manages membership for the Smart Growth Network.

As the movement goes about identifying an answer to that question, Mishkovsky sees a role for tools AMERICAN FORESTS has created to quantify the ecosystem services that green infrastructure provides. Being able to assign a dollar value to the natural benefits tree canopy provides will help local governments put their trees and other natural resources to best use, she says.

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"Mayors, city managers, and environmental engineers are always weighing the costs and benefits of decisions they make," Mishkovsky says. "They are increasingly constrained financially and take on more responsibilities from the state and federal government. If they can financially justify the case for conservation, they will have another reason to embrace it."

Changing public policy, Mishkovsky observes, is a difficult, time-consuming, and costly process. "Sometimes, it takes either a local crisis like a water shortage, a political change, or a commitment to a new approach that pushes green infrastructure to the top of the city's priority list."

The Smart Growth movement helps with the argument for a new approach by providing an ecological, economic health, and social rational and by demonstrating new strategies for where and how to grow. Meanwhile, the U.S. Green Building Council, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Congress for New Urbanism are collaborating on a new certification program that will provide incentives for growth to happen in the right places.