Sustainable Community Design Sean Joyce CEE Huong Nguyen

Sustainable Community Design Sean Joyce (CEE), Huong Nguyen (EVE), Thomas Parenteau (CEE) Advisor: Professors Frederick Hart, Suzanne Le. Page (CEE) Project Goals/Objectives Methods • Develop an electronic Best Practices Manual (BPM) to be used by Stantec engineers • Review of current LEED publications, such as LEED for New Construction and LEED-ND • Create a capstone design project, incorporating several sustainability techniques contained in the BPM • Site visit to Greisbach Village, a LEED gold certified neighborhood in Edmonton, AB, CA Background • Latest version of LEED, LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) calls for a more holistic approach to sustainable design, incorporating the entire community rather than just building design • In order to design sustainable communities, effective strategies for implementation of LEED credits must be investigated and documented Capstone Design • Used BPM to develop 3 alternative designs for a typical city alley to improve sustainability • Designs aimed to reduce stormwater runoff and heat island effect, as well as promote walkability Renovated Capstone Alley • Review of other sustainability guides and guidelines, to determine the most effective implementations of sustainable practices • Review case studies of different sustainable communities throughout North America Results • Effective implementation methods were researched and displayed in a user friendly format that also identified outside groups to involve in the planning process • Each LEED-ND credit was broken into more specific sub-goals, and the “Associated Best Practices” column provides several methods to implement LEED credits. See example below Alley redesign, implementing methods described under Credit 1 of the BPM, concerning walkability Conclusions/Recommendations • LEED is by far the most popular rating system for sustainable sites, and if used properly can reduce the environmental impact of a project • LEED credits suffer from an inequity of point values, making it possible to have a certified project with little to no truly sustainable elements • By using a design based manual, such as the BPM created for this project, LEED credits can be effectively implemented based on the client’s needs Acknowledgments The team would like to thank the following people for their assistance over the course of this project: Typical city alley before redesign is not desirable for local residents and is not visually appealing Frederick Hart, Suzanne Le. Page, Klaas Rodenburg