climate change in northwest florida: prevention and adaptation
TRANSCRIPT
Climate Change in Northwest Florida: Prevention and
Adaptation
www.sustainabletownconcepts.com
Christian Wagley
Land development is occurring at a far
higher rate than population growth,
resulting in sprawl. In the nation’s 34
metropolitan areas with populations greater
than one million people, between 1950 and
1990 the population increased 92.4%, while
the urbanized land area grew by 245%, or
2.65 times the population growth rate.
Source: Our Built and Natural Environments: A Technical Review of the Interactions Between Land Use, Transportation, and Environmental Quality, USEPA
“Annual price changes in most of the largest metro areas, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, San Francisco, Seattle, Baltimore, Washington D.C., and Philadelphia, followed a similar pattern: Values were most stable within a 10-mile radius of the center of the city, but generally worsened with each successive radius ring as far as 50 miles from the center of the city.”
Business Week, July 12, 2008
Source: Environmental Building News, September 1, 2007
Comparing Transportation and Operating Energy Use for an Office Building
For an average new office
building built to code,
transportation accounts for
more than twice as much
energy use as building
operation.
Form-based codes support these
outcomes: walkable and mixed-use
neighborhoods, transportation options,
conservation of open lands, local character,
housing diversity, and vibrant downtowns.
Form-based codes discourage these
outcomes: sprawl development, automobile
dependency, loss of open lands, monotonous
subdivisions, deserted downtowns, and unsafe
streets and parks.
More compact, mixed-use communities that follow traditional urban development patterns are best able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help prevent climate change
The patterns demonstrating how to do it right are all around us
We cannot fully prevent and adapt to climate change until we change the rules of development to make it legal to build compact, mixed-use, walkablecommunities
A policy of strategic retreat advocated by state and local governments would reduce vulnerability of the built environment to sea level rise
