Design Project Urban
During a recent email discussion with a local resident interested in the Urban Design Standards project, the important issue of community participation came up.
Community engagement is always a challenge for municipal Planning projects; especially as contemporary culture often results in people’s personal time commitments increasing and citizen's varying levels of comfort with particular subject matters (such as the design of our physical environments).
As part of the email exchange I was made aware that this person’s experience was that numerous people were unaware of the Project. Below is a portion of my email response, which outlines a number of ways that staff have used to inform and gather information for this Project to date. Shortly, additional workshops and meetings will be held as the review of the Working Draft UDS begins.
While these various outreach methods have been successful in many ways, the fact and/or perception that many people are still unaware of the Project is important to contemplate. What this highlights is the ongoing difficultly municipalities face in communicating details of projects with stakeholders, even when multiple methods are used.
Please consider this and forward any ideas/questions you may have that can aid in our stakeholder engagement, not only for this Project, but for future work programs as well.
“I really appreciate your interest in the Project, and understand your apparent concern that people may not know about the project.
For this reason I have designed the Project to include far more than the usual “legal notices” published in the news paper. In addition to the numerous meetings and discussions held since the beginning of the project,
the list below outlines various community outreach activities that have taken place over the past 15 months since the project started. I appreciate any help you can provide in furthering people’s awareness of this project beyond what has been done to date.
• Launched the Project blog;
• A front page article was published in the local paper;
• Two “notices” have been published in the local paper;
• One (perhaps two – not sure off the top of my head) smaller update articles have been published by the local newspaper;
• I appeared on the Rogers Cable program “Politically Speaking” with the Mayor to discuss the Project;
• Between 150 and 200 letters were sent to stakeholders that have had experience or interest with site development/subdivisions within Collingwood (including Planners, Architects, local service groups, land owners, Engineers, former applicants, etcetera);
• I presented at a Rotary meeting;
• The GTDI hosted me as a presenter for a meeting specifically focused on the Project;
• All applicants that have attended development “committee” meetings as part of current application review procedures have been informed about the Project, and their input sought;
• I was the featured speaker for an event held at Town hall by the local Architectural Conservancy organization (Richard Lex’s group);
• The Project has been featured on at least two local blogs;
• There has been a storefront window display featuring the Project at our office on Hurontario since October;
• I conducted a workshop in cooperation with the Arts and Culture Committee and Economic Development that included a selection of local stakeholders;
• I have presented to all the Town Committees;
• I have been publishing updates on Twitter since December of 2008;
• There have been three specific presentations made to Town Council during public meetings (that have been appropriately advertised and broadcast on Rogers Cable);
• The Fall 2009 issue of “On The Bay” featured information about the Urban Design Standards project as part of a significant article on Active Transportation;
• The 2010 “Community Guide for Southern Georgian Bay” (sent out to between 15,000 and 20,000 households) included a three page feature “advertisement” from the Town that included a section on the Urban Design Standards; and,
• Information handouts have been available on the brochure rack located at the Planning Services office.
Thanks again for your input”.
It is estimated that construction accounts for approximately half of the world’s energy consumption. Similarly, world’s fresh water sources and natural materials are also at stake with one-sixth of the former being consumed and a quarter of all woods that are being grown. Green architecture at this juncture proves to be a welcome advent especially when it promises of optimum usage of the natural resources without tampering the ecological balance.
Why is green engineering cost-effective?
Consider the following facts:
The US Environmental Protection Agency estimates that most of the cancer deaths in the country were caused due to radon gas emission in non-green buildings. In fact, scientific research has established the fact that indoor air pollution may be 2 to 100 times worse than outdoor air pollution. Moreover, the ever increasing population of asthmatics is triggered by the poor indoor air quality at work places.
On the above grounds, the high cost for commercial building design might seem to be a negligible investment when it comes to the health of the occupants. In fact, Green design and planning might cost you more as compared to conventional architecture. However, experts believe that it proves to be really cost-effective if we consider the capital savings on a long term basis. According to a 2003 study by the California Sustainable Task Force, green design can generate savings 10 times greater than an initial investment of 2 per cent.
Add to it the profit that would be incurred because of enhanced productivity. Interestingly, study of 31 green commercial architecture in Seattle reveal that absenteeism was 40 per cent less as compared to other buildings. Experts deduce that this is because of better working environment. Organic material used for construction- be it milk and organic based paint or bricks- reduces health hazard among the occupants. Another study by a real estate biggie highlights the fact that working in a green atmosphere can provide a boost of 10 per cent in the net revenue generation per employee. Similarly, a departmental store using organic construction elements or infrastructure can witness a boost in sale of about 40 per cent with respect to other stores.
It is pretty interesting to note that green buildings-be it residential or commercial- quote high resale value pertaining to their low maintenance costs. These buildings also have high occupancy rates. The US government too is supporting the cause of green building by levying reduced tax impositions on the owners.
FX FOWLE is a pioneer in architectural services in USA; precisely why it has been awarded the prestigious MIPIM Future Project Award, Honor Award for Architecture by the American Institute if Architects, Cultural Project of the Year award by the New York Construction Magazine, Best Urban Design Project by the World Architecture News, and many more.
