Living Green: Infill architecture

As a follow up to our post on Living Green: Improving Within Authentic Environments (read full post here), we'd like to call attention to ULI's recent statement in favor of inserting responsible land use policy into the auto-efficiency discussion currently unfolding in Washington DC.

Does it really matter if one car here gets 27.5 MPG (current CAFE standards) and another gets 35.7 MPG (2015)? Not if there are 30% more cars on the road then.

Source: EDAW

Basically, ULI says the "greenest car is the one that isn't needed," and the only way people are not going to need cars is to build densely with transportation options other than cars. This is a major benefit to the projects that [1016] Architecture excels in delivering in Chicago.

Infill development and architecture can actually help keep cars off the road. Is it too much of a stretch then to say infill architecture can decrease our dependency on oil and increase our potential security as a nation? Perhaps. But Inside the Brackets thinks it makes sense to some degree. It's not a straight line correlation, but taken as an alternative to suburban (auto-dependent) development, infill architecture can't hurt.

Full ULI statement text here.

Realizing the interdependency of all legislative decisions relating to living sustainably (such as land use policy, infrastructure, auto efficiency standards, etc.) will frame a necessary and holistic discussion on this topic. We hope our politicians are listening. If you are, honk.