Walk Score  
Do you live in a walkable neighbourhood?
Housing & Transportation Affordability Index
A tool for measuring the true affordability of housing, including not just the cost of housing, but the value of place related to transportation.

The Ped Shed
A Blog all about the pedestrian-oriented public realm.
Ped shed is short for pedestrian shed, the basic building block of walkable neighborhoods. A ped shed is the area encompassed by the walking distance from a town or neighborhood center. Ped sheds are often defined as the area covered by a 5-minute walk (about 0.25 miles, 1,320 feet, or 400 meters).

Ped Shed Blog owner:
Laurence “L.J.” Aurbach

Parkways!
Below are links to famous parkways in the U.S.

Bronx River Parkway -the first-
Merritt Parkway
Hutchinson River Parkway
Saw Mill Parkway
Natchez Trace Parkway
Blue Ridge Parkway
Colonial Parkway
GW Parkway
Rock Creek Parkway
Cabin John & Clara Barton Parkways
Taconic State Parkway
Bear Mountain Parkway
Mosholu Parkway
Pelham Parkway
Palisades Parkway
Playland Parkway
Kancamangus Highway
Lincoln Highway
Twin Cities Parkways

Also see: http://www.byways.org

Resource List for Green Design & Sustainable Architecture
From U.C Berkeley Library Environmental Design Library: an extensive and up-to-date list of sustainable design resources including: dictionaries, guides & handbooks, journal articles, building and construction materials & design, and a number of project case studies.

Lighthouse: Sustainable Building Centre
We are an information and education centre, exhibition space and forum for sharing ideas that will help you sustain yourself, your community and your environment.

Waterbucket
An interactive website about water sustainability in B.C.

Keep up to date on the development of the East Clayton Community

The Planning and Development Department of the City of Surrey, BC has completed the planning process for the East Clayton Neighbourhood Concept Plan. Visit this page for updates to the neighbourhood plan, and upcoming events.

A New Resource Guide Available for Planners and Advocates of Smart Growth

Smart Growth Zoning Codes: A Resource Guide, by Steven Tracy, is a compendium of the best Smart Growth zoning codes to be found in the United States. Based on research of more than 150 Smart Growth zoning codes from across the nation, this guidebook will help planners design a zoning code that encourages the construction of walkable, mixed use neighborhoods and the revitalization of existing places. The Executive Summary: Overcoming Obstacles to Smart Growth Through Code Reform is available as a pdf and the Guide can be ordered through the Local Government Commission's Bookstore.

Location Efficient Mortgage Calculator from the Centre for Transit Oriented Development

Based upon regional analysis at the neighborhood scale in regions of Southern California, SF Bay Area and Chicago, this tool correlates residential density, transit availability, pedestrian friendliness with driving, transportation expense and now green house gas emissions. For a copy of the Center's research paper which establishes these relationships click here.

Special Issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion:
Health Promoting Community Design

The vast majority of the American public is sedentary, despite two decades of programs to encourage them to exercise. This special issue provides a conceptual, methodological and research base for the emerging field of "health promoting community design," and "active living by design".....a strategy of designing workplaces and whole communities to engineer activity BACK INTO people's lives. For the Table of Contents, click here.

City of Vancouver - Country Lane #2

View the construction of Vancouver's second sustainable 'country lane'. This lane, made with permeable concrete blocks, grass pavers and recycled concrete from old sidewalks connects 5th Avenue to the Vancouver Compost Demonstration Garden, at 2150 Maple Street.

Natural Approaches to Stormwater Management: Low Impact Development in Puget Sound

The most recent publication offered by Puget Sound's Action Team is now available. Natural Approaches to Stormwater Management:Low Impact Development draws examples from individual practices, new and redevelopment projects, local government ordinances, and more from individuals and organizations who are using practices that better protect Puget Sounds' water quality, fish habitat, and other resources.

Clayton Village: Coming Soon to Surrey, BC

Developers bill Clayton Village, in East Clayton, as a complete, sustainable community where residents will have it all...

"Imagine a community where attention is given to every detail: architecture, lot layouts, parks, walking & biking paths, entranceways, tree preservation, landscaping, sustainability, signage, street lighting and road patterns."

Road Diets: Fixing the Big Roads

This report, from Walkable Communities, Inc., reveals how cities across North America are turning neighbourhoods into 'robust, vital, economically sound places', by reducing the number and width of road lanes. These road conversions, or 'diets', generally change 4-lane roads into 2-lane roads and improve access for cyclists, pedestrians, and transit users by incorporating bike lanes and wider sidewalks. For drivers, traffic volume remains the same, though driving is considerably safer as there are fewer opportunities for reckless driving.

Architecture Week Magazine

Architecture Week is the new on-line magazine of design and building. Architecture Week has six departments - News; Design; Building; Design Tools; Environment and Building Culture - that provide day to day articles and updates over a wide range of topics in design and architecture. Read the article: "A More Sustainable Urban Environment" ,which features the JTC 'Headwaters Project' in Architecture Week's Environment Department.

The Design Center for American Urban Landscape

The Design Center seeks to expand the definition and field of urban design study through demonstration projects, theoretical research, and education. As a center of applied urban design research, the Design Center is uniquely situated to address environmental and social concerns through design. The center serves as a clearinghouse for information on innovative municipal design, drawing on the work of ecologists, urban planners, policy makers, design ecologists, architects, landscape architects, civil engineers and historians. Through integration and interaction on a variety of projects, students, professionals and community leaders collaborate and learn about creating sustainable urban landscapes.

European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions

This sustainable development homepage has been specifically designed to promote sustainable development, and the quality of future human activity and development, from a practical company level to a policy level. The resource site is currently comprised of four online databases with listings of sustainability-oriented conferences, networks, tools, training courses and other support and research initiatives. Browse and search databases to access latest Sustainable Developments via 853 linked web sites throughout the world.

Green Buildings BC

The New Buildings Program, under the direction of Green Buildings BC, is a comprehensive index of web and print resources pertaining to the planning, design and construction of green buildings and sites. Resource categories include: building resources, energy use, materials, waste, water quality, landscapes, construction practices, indoor environmental quality, economic performance, and academic institutions.

Green Roofs for Healthy Cites

Green Roofs for Healthy Cities is a coalition of private sector firms founded in March of 1999, collectively working to foster the development of a market for green roof products and services. Green roofs are a remarkable new approach to city infrastructure; they can create jobs, reduce operational costs, increase investment and provide new sources of amenity and recreational space. Green roofs also simultaneously address pressing urban environmental issues such as smog, climate change, stormwater management and energy conservation. The widespread adoption of green roofs will allow communites to enjoy the significant social, economic and environmental benefits of a healthy city.

International Centre for Sustainable Cities

ICSC focuses on tangible, on-the-ground demonstration projects in specific cities around the world. Its demonstration projects in 5 countries tackle problems of garbage landfills, recycling, composting, sustainable housing design, management training for sustainable development, and urban renewal. An engine of opportunity for Canada's trade, ICSC finds business for Canadian industry and for Canadian experts interested in serving abroad.

NGA Center for Best Practices

The mission of the NGA Center for Best Practices is to help Governors and their key policy staff develop and implement innovative solutions to governance and policy challenges facing them in their states. Areas of focus include Energy, Environmental Regulatory Innovations and Issues, Growth and Quality of Life, and Natural Resources and Land Preservation. The report “New Community Design to the Rescue – Fulfilling Another American Dream” presents new policy solutions to sprawl that are aimed at correcting problems at the local government level, addresses health, transportation, housing, energy, and environmental issues, and includes an NGA checklist for evaluating projects, places, and communities for their consistency with smart growth principles; since its release in late July there have been over 60,000 downloads, an NGA record. The report is filled with examples of NCD places nationwide.

Residential Street Typology and Injury Accident Frequency

Communities all across the U.S. are concerned about the safety of their residential streets. Although this concern is nearly universal, the literature offers few precedents and little information on the relative safety of common residential street typologies. This study offers a method for analyzing the theory that the physical design of streets impacts safety. Through research, systematic observation, and statistical analysis, this study attempts to identify the safest residential street form with respect to several physical characteristics. These findings expose issues that need to be addressed by practitioners and policy-makers, and encourage further study of related topics.

Seattle Public Utilities - Community Services Divison Resource Conservation Section

In response to increasing inquiries into how to grow and maintain beautiful landscapes that are easier on the environment - landscapes that need less water, produce less waste, and do not pollute streams, lakes, and marine waters - Seattle Public Utilities have commissioned the report "Ecologically Sound Lawn Care for the Pacific Northwest". This report reviews the scientific literature that supports a change from traditional chemical-intensive practices, and includes complete practical recommendations for ecologically sound lawn care in the region west of the Cascade mountains. Based on interviews with landscape professionals, it presents an environmentally sustainable approach rooted in turgrasss ecology.

The Sheltair Group Resource Consultants Inc.

The Sheltair Group Resource Consultants Inc. is a Vancouver-based consulting firm with extensive expertise in integrated resource management, building performance, and sustainable urban development. Sheltair can help you plan, design, and manage healthy, livable, and affordable buildings and communities that minimize resource use and negative ecological impacts.

Smart Development and Stormwater Management - Overcoming Institutional Barriers: From Planning to Implementation (Conference- March 1 & 2, 2001)

This is the third part of a series that builds on the momentum and lessons learned from previous Vancouver Island and Sunshine Coast forums. The goal of smart development is to implement an integrated and balanced approach to land use. Smart development protects property and sustains natural systems in a cost effective manner. Stormwater management is at the heart of smart development. Whereas traditional stormwater management is based on end-of-pipe solutions, a smart approach starts at the source - where rain falls. View Patrick Condon's (James Taylor Chair on Landscapes and Liveable Environments) lecture: 'Creating Stormwater Plans'.

Sustainability Now Newsletter

Sustainability Now is a bi-monthly newsletter on sustainability for the engineering and geoscience community, and aims to address various issues of sustainability (ecological; economic; social and technological) within this forum. Case studies from the March 2002 issue include: Southeast False Creek & East Clayton, Doors to Sustainability Exhibition; and SFU UniverCity Development. All files are Adobe Acrobat Reader (*.pdf).

Transact: Surface Transportation Policy Project

The goal of the Surface Transportation Policy Project is to ensure that transportation policy and investments help conserve energy, protect environmental and aesthetic quality, strengthen the economy, promote social equity, and make communities more livable. We emphasize the needs of people, rather than vehicles, in assuring access to jobs, services, and recreational opportunities. STPP produces a biweekly newsletter, and a number of publications on the subject of transportation and our communities.