A green community conserves its land, offers multiple options for transportation, provides open space for recreation and cultivation, and uses its natural and cultural resources wisely.
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In This Issue
The market shows home owners are interested in smart growth living
The oldest mode of travel — walking — is suddenly one of the hottest as more and more home buyers want to live where they can park their cars and use their feet.
“In the last eight years, there’s been a profound shift in the home-buying habits of America,...
By Steve Wright
Identifying and buying homes in walkable communities
Since the dawn of time, buying or selling a home has been about “location, location, location,” as the old saying goes. Buyers want to know a home’s proximity to good schools and commercial districts. Sellers want to utilize every possible plus available...
Many people outside the state forget that in 2005 Louisiana was ravaged by not one, but two hurricanes: First Katrina lashed the eastern portion, and then, less than a month later, Rita wreaked havoc in the west. The storms were devastating to the coastal communities that were hit, and they created another kind of chaos in adjoining areas, as people migrated inland to previously...
While location is still the top driver when it comes to real estate transactions, green features that help to fight climate change as well as save money are swaying home owners when it comes to purchasing a house.
It’s no surprise, then, that state and local REALTOR® associations have decided to build environmentally sensitive spaces as they outgrow old ones. With interest...
Communities of all sizes are adopting form-based codes
Hurricane Katrina nearly blasted Pass Christian, Miss., off the map. The brutal storm leveled three out of every four buildings in the small Gulf Coast community. The historic downtown was hit especially hard. Just a handful of buildings survived.
“It was pretty horrific,” said...
Forward-thinking developers are transforming tired, old malls into revitalized mixed-use centers of community activity
Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, a growing number of aging and obsolete shopping malls are being transformed into vibrant, walkable mixed-use communities, creating more-profitable retailers and developers, property-tax-flush...
By Steve Wright
New rating systems for green neighborhoods is inaugurated
In a short decade, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) has become the standard for measuring the sustainability of a building.
With everyday people fighting soaring energy costs and striving to spend their dollars efficiently in a bad economy,...
Urban Agriculture Takes Root across the Country
From new urbanist developments featuring farms and community gardens to urban farms and community gardens tucked away in vacant lots, parks, school yards and rooftops, the concept of growing food where you live is taking root all across America.
The growth of agricultural urbanism, one of several names...
REALTORS® in the Pasadena-Foothills area of California want to be part of the solution in bringing affordable and work force housing to their residents.
It isn’t always easy to keep up with demand for schools in the 9th fastest growing county in the U.S.
Sometimes it takes some out-of-the-box thinking to make it work. So says the Raleigh Regional Association of REALTORS® (RRAR), the Wake County North Carolina School Board and some business groups that successfully supported a proposal that would allow developers to build...
