Developers seek to use the environmental friendliness of their projects to lure second home buyers who may be struggling with the guilt of buying another home and increasing their environmental footprint.
"People wracked with guilt about owning a second home might be an odd market for second-home developers. But that's the target audience for a handful of communities designed to make people feel better about owning a getaway."
"Among the "guilt offsets" builders are touting: Ski resorts in Lake Tahoe and Massachusetts powered by wind, and a Georgia golf community where most land is set aside as a nature preserve. The Red Mountain ski resort in British Columbia, Canada, stresses that many staffers own homes nearby and don't have to commute from afar because they're priced out of the market."
"The merging of expensive-home building with high-minded values can be fraught, as critics home in on perceived examples of 'greenwashing' -- portraying a development as more environmentally friendly than it actually is."
Read the full story: To Spur Sales, Developers Tout Political Correctness
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
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FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
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Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
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City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority