Thinking Beyond Buildings:
LEED for Neighborhood Development

An Executive Summary is available for this article.

• Smart Location and Linkage: Focused on the impact of development on natural habitat, this part of the system reflects NRDC’s priorities. Six prerequisites protect wetlands, endangered species, farmland, and other sensitive sites, and credits reward brownfield development and density.
• Neighborhood Pattern and Design: Influenced primarily by CNU and new-urbanist development concepts, this section rewards walkable, mixed-used development. Credits cover street patterns, income diversity, access to public spaces and transit, schools, and local food.
• Green Infrastructure and Buildings: Dealing with buildings and building-related technologies, this section brings in USGBC’s expertise. It includes three prerequisites covering certification and energy and water efficiency, and includes credits for stormwater management, building reuse, district heating and cooling, and recycled content in roads and paths.

Imagine: on a Monday, you wake to breakfast in your energy- and water-efficient condominium. The kids head off to their neighborhood school on their bicycles, along the pathway that weaves through the park and adjoining housing clusters. Your spouse leaves for work, walking to the transit station several blocks away, and you walk to your office above the bookstore on Main Street. The walk to work is a pleasant one, along tree-lined streets past homes, shops, and offices in buildings of all shapes and sizes. Crossing the street is no problem at any of the intersection bump-outs that naturally calm the morning traffic on the narrow, sidewalk-lined streets.

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