In order to achieve the principles of Local Agenda 21, the plan for a sustainable Empoli ("The Future of Empoli") was guided by the following 5 broad sustainable planning principles.

The City of Surrey adopted 7 sustainable planning principles to guide the creation of the East Clayton Neighbourhood Concept Plan. These principles as approved by City Council in 1999 are:

1. Increase density and conserve energy by designing compact walkable neighbourhoods to ensure basic services (e.g., schools, parks, transit, shops, etc.) are within a five- to six-minute walk of homes.


2. Provide different dwelling types in the same neighbourhood and even on the same street.

3. Communities are designed for people; therefore, all dwellings should present a friendly face to the street in order to promote social interaction.


4. Ensure that car storage and services are handled at the rear of dwellings.

5. Provide an interconnected street network, in a grid or modified grid pattern, to ensure a variety of itineraries, to disperse traffic congestion and to provide public transit to connect East Clayton with the surrounding region.

6. Provide narrow streets shaded by rows of trees in order to save costs and to provide a greener, friendlier environment.

7. Preserve the natural environment and promote natural drainage systems (in which stormwater is held on the surface and permitted to seep naturally into the ground).