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club and provision of limited parking spaces, and residents
are assisted to recycle as much of their waste as possible.
In a new BioRegional development in the south coast city
of Brighton, a “green caretaker” has been employed to take
deliveries of locally produced food from nearby farmers and
distribute it to the residents.
Desai says the type of mixed-use developments BioRegional
is working on—new projects are under way as far afield as
California and the South African city of Durban—help to
move away from the old urban model of sprawling suburbs
producing car-dependent residents commuting to a central
business district.
“The sorts of communities we are creating will be places
where people are healthier and happier, and that is the great
selling point we have got. Fortunately, many of the ways we
can make ourselves happier and healthier also reduce our
carbon footprint and ecological footprint.”
Niclas Svenningsen, of UNEP’s Division of Technology,
Industry and Economics, agrees: “We see a clear trend that
climate-lean design of buildings is moving from high-profile
projects to mainstream projects. Low-cost social housing
projects in São Paolo or Bangkok may not be as attractive as
corporate headquarters in New York or Paris, but in terms
of the accumulated impact from small improvements from
thousands upon thousands of buildings, these are much
more important.”
“It is there—in the mundane day-to-day buildings—that we
are looking for a change in the tide of building practices. The
reason that this is happening, we believe, is that climate-
smart buildings translate to energy-smart—and cheaper—
buildings, which in the long run is a win-win situation for both
the property developers and the tenants.”
Photo courtesy URBN hotels