A Match Made in HeavenBy Brian Skeele, on May 17th, 2011 Foundation Investing and Your Vision of Sustainable Neighborhoods Foundations grant 5% of their assets and invest 95%. As I understand it, the branch of the foundation that invests has very little connection to the branch that makes grants. In fact, sometimes their actions are running against each other. The beauty of socially, economically, and ecologically sustainable neighborhoods, is they meet both objectives! The social mission of empowering, resilient, health lifestyles, uplifting, poverty busting, social justice, ecologically sound, and local economic development all gets handled in ”mixed use, mixed income neighborhoods with lifelong learning and open space” . The investment mission gets handled in creating large opportunities for investing in real, lasting values! So… submit your ideas, your vision of the sustainable life you want to be living. As the needs aggregate, the existing market demand for sustainable neighborhoods becomes more apparent. Once the construction industry, from builders to banks to investors, finally accepts the go-go days are gone, they will become more open to this new form of community based in real, lasting values. National foundations will have something to invest in that meets their asset needs. And their funding branch will see their missions move forward. Your vision of your desired future sustainable lifestyle and billions of foundation $$$ assets ….A match made in heaven!!… READ MORE >> Create Your Desired Future, Thriving and Sustainable!By Brian Skeele, on April 30th, 2011 Here’s how I see it…if you are willing to design a sustainable lifestyle, and move in, you are in the driver’s seat! The construction/development industry needs YOUR vision so the emerging sustainable economy can…..emerge! You zero in on the floor plan that works for you, the amenities you’d like to have in your neighborhood, as well as the price you can afford. The planners, architects, city policy department, and investors will do their dangest to pool your ideas with other prospective neighbors and come up with scenarios that meet your needs. I want to facilitate your efforts in any way I can and here’s another attempt to give you a breakdown of areas that you might consider. You get your own page , and can come back any time and make changes. (until Buddy Press is set up, enter your ideas in comment below!). If you want to think about some elements for awhile, don’t feel obligated to address all the elements. Other contributors will propose ideas you can spark off of. Creating a socially, economically and ecologically sustainable is a complicated challenge. Together we can make sustainable real!!
A Sustainable Way of Life Becomes the Curriculum! Part 1By Brian Skeele, on April 27th, 2011 Together, we can transform our way of life sustainable! By sharing our visions and ideas of our desired future, we can “build it on paper”. That’s how real estate development works. The proposal gets created, the numbers are crunched, the financing lines up, and building permits are issued. It all starts with the vision!
Puzzle pieces coming together around a shared vision The prospects for sustainable “mixed-use, mixed-income neighborhoods” has never been brighter. Suburban sprawl has run its course. Gasoline prices are facing a new era of worldwide Post Peak Oil production. Those of us who have a vision and want to move in are in the driving seat of the emerging sustainable economy; the construction industry is all ears! Be bold, Dream Big, envision with all your heart. In that way, we will have a “big enough why” to be as creative and innovative as necessary to make sustainable neighborhoods real! Here’s my vision of a sustainable, quality filled neighborhood that lives lightly on the planet. Imagine. An elementary school and the surrounding neighborhoods joining together to become a sustainable community with a school at its heart. The entire community is experiencing a wide range of benefits since neighborhood residents, the city, local service providers, nearby businesses, parents, students, teachers and the school’s administration decided to work together to create mutually beneficial facilities. Benefits include job creation, an increase in city revenues, a pedestrian friendly lifestyle, safe streets for children to play, a huge jump in test scores, a much lowered dropout rate, a big increase in workforce housing and a less consumptive, more affordable lifestyle that allows Santa Feans to live lighter on the planet…. READ MORE >> A more sustainable neighborhood…Bed ZEDBy Brian Skeele, on April 5th, 2011 Built and occupied in 2002, Beddington Zero Emissions Development, Bed ZED, helps people go green with time tested encouragements. The resident on the right took too long a shower. the one on the left failed to recycle a beer can. What were they thinking, what planet are they living on????
Remember, don’t take too long a shower! As you can see, my sense of humor loves to go gonzo. Twist the lines of reality and poke fun at our collective humanity. Hey, I own it…one of my favorite sayings is of the late Hunter Thompson, “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” This post started out to be about Bed ZED and floor plans. It still is, just had a zany intro… The point I want to emphasize is the relationship between neighborhood, shared amenities and your home’s design. In Bed ZED, the transit friendly location creates a deeper affordability as alternatives to private car ownership are expanded….WATCH BED ZED VIDEO>> READ MORE >> When It Comes to Sustainability, the US is Just Another Developing NationBy Brian Skeele, on April 2nd, 2011 Sustainable Neighborhood via killer apps When it comes to Sustainability, the US is just as lost as most other nations. We have the added challenge of massive amounts of established suburbia, whereas Europe, for example, has much compact development built before the automobile. I’ve heard it said the Europeans have a lifestyle that is twice as efficient as that of the United States. They get twice the economic output as we get out of one BTU. In my quest to come up with the Killer Modeling Tool that gives communities the ability to redevelop themselves sustainable, I came across this article in Ode Magazine about Bangladeshi entrepreneur Iqbal Quadir. He started a microloan program, the Grameenphone, that gets cell phones in the hands of the poorest people in the world.
Entrepreneurship-Innovation from here on outBy Brian Skeele, on March 20th, 2011
Collaboration! Our times call for rapid prototyping social, economical, and ecological strategies so the emerging sustainable economy can….emerge! Many of the jobs being created from evolving technologies, don’t even exist yet. We are inventing the future as we travel forward. Half of the hottest futurist jobs don’t even exist yet, according to Daniel Burrus, author of Technotrends and CEO of Burrus Research Associates. “We’re in the early stages of shifting gears into the e-society,” he says. “Virtually every part of an enterprise will be e-enabled, which includes connectivity, content, commerce, communication, collaboration, and community.”… READ MORE >> WANTED: Killer Modeling Tool to Sell Sustainable Urban Villages! Part 2By Brian Skeele, on March 10th, 2011 Continuing the walk thru of my take on the Killer Modeling Tool… As the amount of input from the Charrette (design) process builds, the needs and desires of the future residents, landowners, finance people, city planners, designers, the school district, neighbors, etc, are collected. People are starting to get excited. The question is “How can we tell how close we are to achieving a socially, economically and ecologically sustainable lifestyle? ” or in other words “Where’s the Killer Modeling Tool??!!” We can convert the demand and jump-start the emerging sustainable economy, if we can make all the numbers and qualities of life real (or at least a reasonable facsimile). Future residents will be assured of the quality and cost of moving in. The development/lending community will be reassured of the strength of the demand. The City will see the increased tax revenue vs the costs of infrastructure, etc. How much residential does it take to make the commercial successful?… READ MORE >> |
