Remodeling the Community

This week, we wrote about cities that legalized farm plots, chicken coops and goat pens. In other areas, planners are going farther by building and redesigning communities around gardens, urban farms and other open space.

Farm-centric new urbanism is one of many ways we are seeing people take remodeling beyond their four walls. There are also new standards and guidelines for building green communities, and an innovative program to boost property values and civic pride in struggling neighborhoods.

I formerly covered city and county meetings for a suburban weekly newspaper group. I met plenty of NIMBYs - suburban homeowners who said "not in my back yard" to businesses, schools, churches and even community parks. More homeowners today are saying "yes" to a greater mix of development and property uses. Here are three ways communities are being remodeled:

From golf course to greens and corn

Architect Andres Duany recently told Good Magazine that new developments should be designed around agriculture, not golf. "Only 17 percent of people living in golf-course communities play golf more than once a year. Why not grow food?" asked Andres Duany.

Some planners are listening. In Milwaukee, an urban farming guru has planted six greenhouses in the middle of the city and a 40-acre farm in the middle of a suburb.
Such community changes may encourage individual homeowners to change up their look as well. A farm on the other side of your white picket fence might inspire different landscaping or a new shade of exterior paint.

LEEDing community sustainability

At least 200 communities are taking on a more comprehensive and sustainable overhaul. They participated in a pilot project for the United States Green Building Council's new LEED for Neighborhood Development standards. In addition to eco-conscious construction for individual homes, the new program incorporates smart growth, land conservation and opportunities for non-car transportation.

Boosting business, boosting home values

With a mix of businesses and dense housing, Five Points epitomized many of the LEED smart growth principles decades before they had a label, but Five Points has fallen on hard times. Property values have fallen, businesses have left and buildings fell into disrepair. However, the state launched an initiative this week to encourage business development and a civic facelift for Five Points and three small Colorado towns. The project will encourage homeowners to upgrade and clean up their properties. Increasing property values can, in turn, promote more civic pride and create a virtuous cycle of redevelopment and renewed wealth.

Growing evidence links community design to public health. Studies have correlated depression to both isolated suburban homes and inner-city housing without access to green spaces. Some suburban communities discourage walking, so they are contributing to obesity, diabetes and other sedentary lifestyle illnesses.

Reversing these trends is desirable, but can involve some sacrifices for homeowners. Fostering community might mean giving up some lawn for a wider sidewalk. Community gardens might mean trading away a golf course view. Think about remodeling your community while you think about remodeling your house.

Posted by: Steve Graham