Sustainability and Resilience Planning

Question 1

Growth Management

Answer 1

a planning approach that pre-dates smart growth and sustainability planning (but is in the same family).

Question 2

Smart Growth

Answer 2

a term used to describe planning for greater sustainability. APAs policy guide on Smart Growth states that smart growth provides economic benefits “for individuals, for neighborhoods, for communities, for developers, for land owners, and for the economy as a whole”.

Question 3

Smart Growth Network’s 10 primary principles for Smart Growth

Answer 3

1. Create a range of housing opportunities and choices
2. Create walkable neighborhoods
3. Encourage community and stakeholder collaboration
4. Foster distinctive, attractive places with a strong sense of place
5. Make development decisions predictable, fair, and cost-effective
6. Mix land uses
7. preserve open space, farmland, natural beauty, and critical environmental areas
8. provide a variety of transportation choices
9. strengthen and direct development towards existing communities
10. take advantage of compact building design.

Question 4

Sustainable Development

Answer 4

defined as balancing the fulfillment of human needs with the protection of the natural enviornment to meet the needs of present and future populations. Sustainability includes environmental, social and economic components

Question 5

The Triple Bottom Line

Answer 5

The triple bottom line was first coined in 1994 by John Elkington. His argument was that companies should be preparing three different bottom lines: one for corporate profit, one for people and one for the planet. These three P’s were intended to measure the financial, social and environmental performance of a corporation over a period of time.

Question 6

Carrying Capacity

Answer 6

a biological concept indicating the maximum population size of a species that could be sustained in perpetuity within the environment, given the availability of food, water, habitat, etc. The concept of carrying capacity is used in city planning to discuss the maximum population and employment that could be carried within a particular community. This can relate to the amount of land avialable for development, as well as infrastructure capcacity. The term “carrying capacity” was first used in 1845 by the then US secretary of state James Buchanan. Ian McHarg wrote about the concept of carrying capacity in his book Design With Nature.