• 26 August - Green Cafe - Sustainable Urban Districts

The RoGBC was pleased to welcome Sandy Mendler, AIA, LEED AP; Principal with Mithun (www.mithun.com) based in their San Francisco office and an expert in architecture and planning of Sustainable Urban Districts. Mr. Steven Borncamp had the pleasure of meeting her on a recent visit to San Francisco and learned of her interest in Romania. After a brief discussion, their plan was hatched with a Green Cafe focused on "Sustainable Urban Districts".

Sandy presented the social, economic and environmental benefits that result from integrated design and planning of sustainable mixed use districts. Sustainable urban districts demonstrate that multiple building solutions engaging innovative infrastructure and challenging conventional land use planning can be much more effective in meeting aggressive sustainability targets than design solutions developed one building at a time. Key indicators and metrics illustrated the potential for positive change at multiple scales, and inspiration for new models of development will be drawn from exemplary projects in the United States and internationally.

Case studies of current and ongoing projects were shared to illustrate benefits and describe the processes employed to achieve them:
1) The Blue Ring, Seattle’s 100-year open space strategy to increase park resources while providing integrated water resource management as the city grows.
2) Lloyd Crossing Urban Design Plan for a 35-block section of Portland, Oregon introduces the 
first urban neighborhood in the country destined to be energy independent and manage all stormwater onsite – even as the area’s density increases fivefold.
3) Project Green in Austin, Texas includes 2.5 million square feet of residential, office, hotel, and retail space to create a dynamic, economically diverse neighborhood that is water and carbon neutral.
4) State Center in Baltimore is a 4 million SF mixed-use transit-oriented urban district accommodating trains, light rail, and buses with bicyclists and pedestrians; sustainable infrastructure includes district energy with cogeneration and PV, water capture and reuse, and urban agriculture.
5) Treasure Island, one of three sustainable urban districts in design in San Francisco, is designed to support a green urban lifestyle; this visionary mixed use plan for 6000 housing units includes transit, walkable streets, bike trails, urban agriculture, ample parks, and advanced energy and water systems.

The presentation was followed with a brainstorming session on what is being done in Bucharest with sustainable urban district planning and explore ideas for the future.

Who: Participants from all construction disciplines were invited. Seats were limited to 25 persons, priority given to RoGBC members.

When: July 26th, 2009 –> 4:00pm.

Where: The RoGBC office (click here for directions).

Cost: This event was free