COMMUNITY DESIGN

Community Design

Achieve livability, choice, and access for all where people live, work, and play 

Creating and enhancing a vibrant community requires the combined disciplines of planning and sustainability. Implicit in the word “sustain” is the desire for human societies to remain healthy far into the future – beyond the 10- to 20- year time horizon that is typical of planning policies.

Recognizing that current development patterns and practices are greater than the planet can support makes it important to consider the impacts of planning decisions into the next 50, 100, or even 200 years, so the needs of future generations can be met.

Success will be measured by the ability to look forward and to make decisions based on the community’s long-term vision. Sustainable planning requires a holistic and interdisciplinary approach, meshing conventional practices with separate specialties. Just as transportation planning will need to be coordinated with land use, housing, air quality, and social equity concerns, on a broader scale, our decisions require consideration of the neighborhood, the County, the region, the nation, and the planet.