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Why PLAN?

Successful communities are planned...and then planned again and again to respond to changing circumstances. Community planning is a continuous process that identifies both opportunities and problems and then helps residents find solutions.

Before the 20th Century, human settlements had evolved around a neighborhood model, where people could generally walk to their destinations in five to ten minutes. It was proven to work. But since the 1950's, planners and other design professionals began to develop a new model, based upon a nationwide network of highways as a way to modernize America, to make it easier to escape from so-called "congested" and "dirty" cities, to fuel economic growth and to ease travel by cars. Now, a billion vehicle trips per day by America's 100 million households to get to work, to shop, and to play, has degraded air and water quality, destroyed thriving neighborhoods, and contributed to climate change. We may love our cars, but they have literally driven the design of our communities. Society attempted to replace an enduring model with a new but previously untested one. GREENPLAN helps communities to reverse that trend by planning on a more traditional model rather than an auto-dependent model. Moving people closer together into a compact and more urbanized form, rather than continuing to develop "green spaces" will be a key determinant of how well society adapts to the reality of shrinking open space and diminishing fossil fuels.

A consequence of the auto-dependent model is its reliance on finite fossil fuels. One of the results, and what will become the story of our lives, is climate change. Fossil fuels developed over millions of years from decaying organic material like plants. They turned the sun's ancient energy into coal, oil and natural gas from which society meets more than 80% of its current energy needs (for decades, the coal industry has referred to coal as "buried sunshine"). Observations of temperatures around the world have seen a steady rise for more than 150 years, some of which may be natural change but is more likely a result of burning an estimated 100,000 years of ancient plant growth each year. In 2007, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) wrote that "Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice and rising global average sea level." The IPCC report embodies the consensus of Climate Scientists.

This is what is happening now:

• The earth is getting warmer and will continue to do so.
• Northeast annual average temperature has increased by 2 degrees fahrenheit since 1970, with winter temperatures rising twice this much.
• Global sea levels have risen six inches since the 1920's.
• Half that rise in sea level will typically cause a shoreward retreat of coastline of 150 feet if the land is relatively flat.
• Sea levels are now rising at a rate of about 1.2 inches every ten years.
• Some projections include a sea level rise measured in feet within 100 years.
• The US Climate Change Science Program notes that "thoughtful precaution suggests that a global sea-level rise of 1 meter [or about 3.3 feet] to the year 2100 should be considered for future planning and policy decisions." Some are even predicting a sea-level rise of up to seven feet this Century. Just when public transit is being encouraged, Metro-North and Amtrak could be affected if this were to occur.
• While other research organizations won't commit to specifics, they also acknowledge that, given past interglacial sea level rises, we're headed in this direction.
• The United States' transportation sector alone emits more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year than any other nation's entire economy, except China.

There are concrete ways to mitigate climate change impacts and Environmental Planning can help to solve some of them. The following list is a starting point for what communities can do to adapt:

• Require that new development builds on existing centers and be walkable.
• Eliminate single purpose zoning districts in exchange for a diversity of uses so that walking from homes to work, schools, shopping and recreation is enabled and encouraged.
• Jump-start local food production through farmland protection strategies, open space planning, purchase of development rights, community preservation planning programs and even urban agriculture.
• Revise Zoning regulations to include standards that require energy reduction in all sectors of the economy.
• It took us millions of years to learn how to walk and only 100 to forget. A primary goal of community planning should be to create no new net vehicle trips by developing complete neighborhoods and integrating pedestrian and bicycle facilities in all decision-making.
• Eliminate barriers to renewable energy technologies wherever appropriate, including allowances for at-home and neighborhood power production.
• Provide generous landscaping, especially a diversity of trees, for new as well as existing development, thereby helping to keep communities cooler.
• Adopt standards for green building technologies, such as those of the US Green Building Council's LEED programs and other similar standards.
• Adopt Smart Growth strategies, such as those recommended by the Smart Growth Network or the Hudson Valley Smart Growth Alliance.
• Treat urbanized areas, like cities, villages and hamlets more as the unique ecosystem they are because this will help society move in a direction towards imitating life itself. Urban agriculture can be promoted just like traditional agriculture to bring local food production even closer to consumers.
• The new field of Biomimicry is helping planners and designers to answer the question "What would nature do here?" because "what life does is to create conditions conducive to life."
• While it may seem counterintuitive that compact urban areas are environmentally beneficial, if more and more people lived like they do in Manhattan, by living smaller, living closer, and driving less, the amount of fossil fuels consumed would significantly drop.
• When residents take charge of their destiny and become active participants in the land use planning processes of a community, they are more likely to adopt sound planning strategies to deal with change. But, when people feel powerless, they are more likely to use emotional management strategies, like denial, which helps no one.

Planning decisions will affect a community for 100 years and more. Hudson River and other shoreline communities throughout the world may be most impacted. But why should every community, regardless of location, be thinking about sea level rise and other impacts of climate change? The development decisions made by planning officials every day, relate directly to the use of fossil fuels and sea level rise is only one of many adverse impacts on livability.

Planners, engineers, architects, environmental designers, and natural scientists all need to help communities find better ways to accommodate population growth and economic growth without worsening environmental impacts. The challenge will be to make compact growth more livable so that people would prefer to reside in denser environments than sprawling areas.

Why GREENPLAN?

GREENPLAN provides Environmental Planning services to communities and individuals, primarily in New York's Hudson Valley and Catskill's Regions. We help communities develop a vision for their future through GREEN comprehensive PLANS and their implementation tools. We seek to create vibrant and sustainable "places" for people to live, work and prosper.

Social and economic well-being depends upon a healthy environment and the ability to be resilient in the face of change, which is inevitable. GREENPLAN helps plan and then manage the natural and cultural environment in a way that meets present needs and allows future generations to meet theirs, the basis for "sustainability." There are a multitude of other planning priorities that must also be addressed, such as livability, scenic beauty, affordable housing, and food security to name a few. Communities play an essential role in creating sustainability through local land use planning. But, when communities "fail to plan," then in reality they are "planning to fail."

To become better acquainted with our approach to planning, start with 10 Things About Us. If you wish to view or download a document, go directly to Our Work. Please send an email if you want further information. The contact page also lists our past and present clients.