I think there are a couple of additional points that need to be made:

1. Adaptive reuse of older buildings is very consistent with these principles, and, generally speaking, remodeling or retrofitting puts more money into the local economy — into workers’ pockets — than new construction.

2. ALL construction and remodeling need to embody the highest standards of energy efficiency — not only does this save money in operations, it can even reduce the initial capital cost. Even more important, it helps reduce global warming emissions. [See the interesting article on the new ‘net zero’ commercial building in Seattle. ‘World’s Greenest Office Building’ in Yes! Magazine: http://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/world-s-greenest-office-building-makes-net-zero-look-easy

3. Bethlehem recently adopted a new zoning ordinance. While it cleaned up some problems in the old ordinance, it failed to adopt modern principles of form-based zoning & reduced parking requirements and perpetuated zoning based on various classifications based on arbitrary classifications of use.

4. Transit-Oriented Development is not all about public transit — a focus on biking & walking is also part of TOD.

Peter

The 4 principles are also not bad as far as they go, but they need to 1) define people to include future generations, not just the global population today; and 2) define people’s needs to include peace and justice — without which our civilization is not sustainable.

It’s also important to note that the U.S., with less than 5% of the world’s population, consumes over 25% of the world’s energy and resources. Do the math — this overconsumption is by definition unsustainable. There is no way around it; we need to consume far, far less in both energy and natural resources.

To explore the many dimensions of sustainability, it’s worth reading the introduction to The Sustainable Learning Community, from the University of New Hampshire Press, part of University Press of New England. While the case studies focus on institutions of higher education, their approach applies everywhere — they group initiatives under 4 primary areas: Climate & Energy, Biodiversity & Ecosystems, Culture & Sustainability, Food & Society. And they look at sustainability issues through multiple perspectives that stress active engagement at multiple levels: engaged intellectual, earth systems, citizen of the world, & public health. Initiatives are grouped.

Peace,
Peter