Sustainable Urban Design: A New Tool and Approach on The Talking Headways Podcast

Urban planners are increasingly grappling with the difficult task of how to create more sustainable and livable communities. This has been challenging as sustainability in urban design is a complicated topic that includes a wide range of scales, disciplines, and areas of expertise. In the latest episode of the “Talking Headways” podcast, Nico Larco from the University of Oregon discusses a new, comprehensive approach based on the Sustainable Urban Design Framework and how it can be used by planners, designers, elected officials, and community stakeholders.  The framework organizes a new book by Larco and Kaarin Knudson titled the Sustainable Urban Design Handbook (excerpts here). 

The podcast gives an overview on the framework and describes its five sustainability-focused outcome areas (Energy Use and GHG based on Transportation and Land Use, Water, Ecology and Habitat, Energy Use and GHG Production (Non-Transportation), and Equity and Health) and four scales of intervention (Region/City, District/Neighborhood, Block/Street, Project/Parcel).  

The podcast also dives deep on a few topics such as the critical role density plays in many aspects of sustainable communities.  Often, in the US, sustainable approaches seem to be a band-aid trying to address a lack of underlying density.  Creating density requires a multifaceted approach and can impact mode choice, stormwater management, ecological health, energy use, and resident's cost of living, access to goods and services, amount of physical activity, safety, and ability to improve their socio-economic condition.  

This podcast serves as a quick introduction to this new tool that can help with design, planning, and community engagement around sustainability and livability.