The big picture: creating sustainable development at a large scale

摘要

Decisions made at a planning level for real estate development usually have the greatest impact on a projects sustainability. Issues of building orientation, solar access, transportation relationships and environmental integration are greatly influenced by master plans, which may facilitate or negate opportunities for sustainable design. Once the master plan is established, design guidelines are necessary to assist with the incorporation of sustainable principles within individual projects contained within the Master plan. Guidelines should balance strict requirements with enough freedom to allow creative design solutions. This paper reviews three recent projects that take sustainable principles as the basis for the design of the master plan and subsequent design guidelines. Critical issues for each project are discussed and sustainable results are quantified for each. Decisions responding to the intrinsic relationship between people, nature, and technology made early in the development process provide significant benefits toward sustainability for large scale projects and can have far more impact that those made on a building by building basis.