What is an EcoDistrict?
An EcoDistrict is a small-scale area such as a neighborhood or a district with a community commitment to achieving neighborhood-scale sustainability.
EcoDistric Stakeholders
EcoDistrict stakeholders include local citizens, designers and planners, developers and builders, municipal government and utility providers, and other neighborhood stakeholders such as sustainability management associations.
All of the groups commit to tracking their results over time.
EcoDistrict Benefits
Participants in EcoDistricts are dedicated to environmental performance improvements that not only save money or create profit, but that provide greater community and human health benefits as well.
EcoDistrict Features
EcoDistricts are the ‘next wave’ of green building and sustainable development. They include features such as:
- decentralized utilities
- district-scale renewable energy production
- green buildings (passive building design and equipment efficiency)
- sustainable landscape design and green streets
- smart grid
- environmentally friendly transportation and bicycle boulevards
- urban habitat and roof gardens
- food production
- water management, conservation and reuse
- waste management
- citizen behavior (car and bike sharing, recycling, and habitat conservation)
- community health and connectivity.
Barriers to Creating EcoDistricts
All of the features of EcoDistricts, while not yet standard practice, are well known, proven and widely used strategies - although usually not in one place. So why, you ask, are we not yet all living in EcoDistricts? Well, there are three primary factors:
- Lack of comprehensive assessment tools to measure and understand performance indicators,
- Inadequate capital to fund neighborhood level investments in infrastructure, and
- Regulatory barriers currently prohibit a number of strategies to help achieve neighborhood-scale sustainability.
What Are the Five Aspects of Successful EcoDistricts?
Engagement: Activating and engaging stakeholders to commit and engage within the EcoDistrict, providing governing strategies that help to achieve a sense of community.
Performance Assessment: Planning and assessing neighborhood-scale sustainability measures and performance benchmarks.
Buildings & Infrastructure: Whether new or retrofit - innovative green building and infrastructure strategies, technologies and implementation.
People: Compelling people and strategies that inspire individual and community action and regulate actions and activities to reduce energy and water demand.