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Sustainable communities strive to balance the social, ecological and economic pillars of society. The social components of a sustainable community include civic involvement, cultural diversity, public health, access to knowledge, security and a strong sense of place. An ecological balance involves open space preservation, connected wildlife corridors, sustainable agriculture, forests and fisheries, green buildings, access to transit, measured growth, and conscious management of biodiversity, watersheds, soils and climate impacts. An economy that fits with this thinking would take into account local production, renewable energy, energy efficiency, recycling of materials, the use of waste as a resource, community benefits of businesses, fair trade, economic justice and green business practices.

There’s not one single model for a sustainable community. They exist in the developing world as well as the developed world. A sustainable community could be a village, a neighborhood, a town or a city. And sustainable communities are both new development and the retrofit of older communities with a new mindset.

There are as many measures and metrics to gauge success toward the goal of sustainability as there are components to balance. There is no specific formula toward accomplishing sustainability, and no end point. Given the myriad elements to balance, there will always be room for improvement. A conscious effort toward sustainability requires a good deal of planning, execution on many fronts, ongoing measurement and extended fine tuning.

Planning for Action

The decision to achieve sustainability practices can start with a motivated land developer, a corporation, local government or individuals. In some parts of the world there’s a larger top-down government involvement, where federal mandates spur local innovation. In the United States, local and regional action lead the way toward sustainability.

In all scales of action, whether it’s an individual community or an entire city, there’s a need for in-depth planning. This measured approach toward actions and goals requires the input of business interests, professional planners, the scientific community and sociologists. A wide number of inputs with deep domain knowledge are needed to get the right balance.

Collaborative workflows and exchange of knowledge are vital for planning a sustainable development.

Tools for the Task

Design, location and analysis tools are all necessary along the many different stages of sustainable development. CAD is the typical design tool for building design and construction. CAD is also used at somewhat larger scales to show relationships between buildings and align separate design drawings.

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is gaining ground to create an intelligent model of a building that can be used throughout the entire building’s lifecycle. The BIM model starts with a design that is vetted through analysis engines to ensure that it meets LEED efficiency requirements. The model gets inputs from designer, structural engineer, plumbing, heating, electrical trades and others before its handed to construction. The construction manager utilizes the model throughout the building process, and then the model is passed to the owner/operator for ongoing maintenance.

GPS ties action to location. GPS is used throughout the process. It starts with site-related planning and staking with survey-grade GPS. GPS is used in machine control to speed earth moving on the site and reduce continued staking of the site. Measurements at the site are constantly taken to assure positional accuracy of all elements. GPS will begin to be used for the connected construction site where the location of work teams and supplies will be centralized for better construction management.

GIS is a critical tool for the integration of multidisciplinary inputs to facilitate collaboration for the larger geography. It ties together individual inputs for a holistic view of a site or development. GIS combines the data around common reference points to provide in-depth analysis capability, visualization and simulation. GIS has a large role to play in the model-based future where individual BIM building models will be cataloged together for a larger intelligence through integrated intelligent models.

Future Promise

A number of emerging technologies will have a role to play within the larger intelligent model-based future. The sensor web will provide important real-time data that can be monitored and analyzed to provide important feedback on sustainability goals. Sensors attuned to CO2 emissions and air quality, weather, wind, water quality, etc. will provide important safeguards to ensure that progress is made toward sustainability.

Repositories for large integration of models will come into being. Think of Google Earth or Virtual Earth with engineering-grade accuracy throughout. Inputs to this sophisticated model will be all manner of geospatial information, but at a scale that closely models the accuracy, physics and temporal components of reality.

With an ever-increasing globalization of the economy, the choice of where to live and work will be colored by the vibrancy, efficiency and livability of a community. The communities that take a sustainable development approach will have the leg up on this global competition.

References
Conservation Economy.net

Community Indicators from Redefining Progress

Read Jeff Thurston’s take on this topic here.

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