Sustainability Planning

Question 1

Growth management

Answer 1

is a planning approach that pre-dates smart growth and sustainability planning (but is in the same family).

Question 2

Smart Growth

Answer 2

is a term that is used to describe planning for greater sustainability. provides economic benefits “for individuals, for neighborhoods, for communities, for developers, for land owners, and for the economy as a whole.”

Question 3

The Smart Growth Network has established ten primary principles for Smart Growth.

Answer 3

1. Create a range of housing opportunities and choices;
2. Create walkable neighborhoods;
3. Encourage community and stakeholder collaboration;
4. Foster distinctive, attractive places with a strong sense of place;
5. Make development decisions predictable, fair, and cost-effective;
6. Mix land uses;
7. Preserve open space, farmland, natural beauty, and critical environmental areas;
8. Provide a variety of transportation choices;
9. Strengthen and direct development towards existing communities;
10. Take advantage of compact building design.

Question 4

Sustainable development

Answer 4

defined as balancing the fulfillment of human needs with the protection of the natural environment so that the present and future population’s needs can be met. Sustainability includes environmental, social, and economic components.

Question 5

Triple bottom line

Answer 5

coined in 1994 by John Elkington. His argument was that companies should be preparing three different bottom lines: one for corporate profit, one for people, and one for the planet. These three P’s were intended to measure the financial, social and environmental performance of a corporation over a period of time.

Question 6

Carrying capacity

Answer 6

a biological concept indicating the maximum population size of a species that could be sustained in perpetuity within the environment, given the availability of food, water, habitat, etc.

The term “carrying capacity” was first used in 1845 by the then U.S. Secretary of State James Buchanan. Ian McHarg wrote about the concept of carrying capacity in his book Design with Nature.

Question 7

Resiliency

Answer 7

Goes beyond sustainability to address systems that have been compromised. Key principles in helping define and frame urban sustainability.

Question 8

Mitigation

Answer 8

Focuses on reducing CO2

Question 9

Adaptation

Answer 9

Focuses on confronting impacts of climate change

Question 10

Net Zero

Answer 10

Focuses on carbon neutral. Production and consumption of CO2 equals 0.