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Final Report: Lowertown: A Collaborative Effort in Sustainable Urban Redevelopment
EPA Grant Number: SU831874Title: Lowertown: A Collaborative Effort in Sustainable Urban Redevelopment
Investigators: Larsen, Larissa
Institution: University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
EPA Project Officer: Nolt-Helms, Cynthia
Project Period: September 30, 2004 through May 30, 2005
Project Amount: $10,000
RFA: P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity, and the Planet (2004)
Research Category: Pollution Prevention/Sustainable Development
Description:
Objective:Traditional development practices consume large quantities of natural resources: land, water, energy, etc. Implementing green development techniques and the use of sustainable building materials allows developers to reduce their impact on the environment while providing buildings that save money and promote public health.
Urban Catalyst Associates, the team of master’s students behind this project, formed initially to apply green development principles to an underdeveloped urban neighborhood in Ann Arbor, Michigan. As the project progressed, it became apparent that a statewide, educational approach would have a greater impact on the development community. UCA shifted its focus to the creation a handbook of green development case study examples throughout the state of Michigan. The intended audience includes landowners and developers interested in learning about sustainability, although the format of the handbook allows readers of all backgrounds to easily understand the material presented.
In partnership with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, UCA selected eleven examples of completed green development projects to feature in the handbook. These innovative projects include commercial, educational, residential, and institutional facilities and demonstrate principles of energy and water conservation, responsible site planning and development, use of sustainable materials, and more. With the funding of the EPA P3 Award, UCA has the ability to disseminate this handbook widely throughout the State and educate thousands about the importance and attractiveness of sustainable and green development.
In Michigan and elsewhere, common misperceptions about green buildings persist that this type of development necessarily costs more or that there is no market for it. Some people even think that green buildings will not “work” in Michigan. Our Michigan-specific handbook dispels these misperceptions and demonstrates that the cost premium for green buildings is minimal. Many green buildings cost less in the long-term and help create healthier social and natural environments. Green development has thrived in Michigan for over a decade now, as is evident from the case studies included in this handbook. By demonstrating to developers that sustainability works in Michigan through narrative examples of eleven completed projects, we hope to positively impact the future course of development throughout the state.
In our first meeting with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, we anticipated creating a handbook to serve as resource toolbox for developers who were interested in pursuing green or sustainable development. However, in this meeting we were quick to realize that the DEQ already had all the compilations of resources they could use; they had developed an extensive database of resources targeted at such individuals and made it available on CD to interested parties. So we began a dialogue about what it was that they needed to better foster green and sustainable development with the developers that they worked with. The answer was pretty clear: to date there was no single source that one could turn to in order to learn about existing green buildings and projects throughout the state.
The vision for our project was to create a handbook that achieved two objectives. First, we wanted to frame the benefits of green and sustainable development in such a way that someone who was not familiar with the concept would be comfortable with them. The second objective was to highlight several existing projects throughout the state that successfully demonstrated these benefits. We feel that we were very successful in phase one, the actual creation of the handbook, however the true success of the project will only be determined once it has been distributed and developers / owners begin to embrace the concepts presented. This is where we feel that we have the potential to significantly push the movement towards sustainability further along.
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):Given the nature of our project, its impacts cannot be measured or quantified in aggregate. Over time, as developers and building owners pursue green and sustainable development as a result of reading our handbook, their individual projects will result in significant environmental benefits: waste reduction, improved energy and water efficiency and healthier indoor environments, however at this point it is not possible to estimate these benefits.
This project did balance the three elements of people, prosperity, and the planet (perhaps with a slight bias towards people and planet). Below we list a summary of the relevant benefits of green buildings that we highlighted throughout the handbook. (Note: lists represent examples of benefits and are not intended to be comprehensive).
People: Throughout the handbook we emphasize the many positive benefits that accrue to human beings, both building inhabitants and society at large.
- Maximizing the use of natural light leads to significant gains in productivity (5% to 15%), increases retail sales, and creates better learning environments for students.
- Interior finishing materials that minimize the release of VOCs improve indoor air quality and increases productivity as building users feel more comfortable in their new surroundings and require fewer sick days.
- Even minor changes to the indoor environment of a building, such as individual heating and lighting controls or operable window sashes, insure that people feel more at ease and are more productive in their workspaces and boost morale.
Prosperity: The benefits of green buildings that fall into this category are the least tangible, however their impact is potentially the most significant.
- Urban infill development of sustainable buildings helps prevent resources from leaving communities and revitalize neighborhoods and districts.
- A redeveloped abandoned building becomes an attractive anchor of the community and encourages additional improvements that repair the vital urban fabric of long-neglected cities and towns.
- Using locally produced and purchased materials sustains the community and the resulting decreased transportation costs yield financial as well as environmental benefits.
- Outdoor signs, interior displays, guided tours, and the presence of “unusual” building features pique the curiosity of the public and expand their understanding of our relationship and responsibility to the natural environment.
- Individuals who learn about green building principles and sustainable behaviors apply these practices to their lives, spreading the impact of a single green development project through other communities.
Planet: When one speaks of green buildings the connotation often emphasizes the environment. While we do highlight and describe the primary benefits to the planet from green buildings, we were very careful to balance this with the benefits to people and prosperity.
- Reusing portions of existing structures, when possible, significantly reduces construction waste sent to landfills.
- Materials from demolition are recycled, again diverting waste streams from the landfill.
- Smaller, less expensive mechanical systems are needed when buildings are designed with energy efficiency in mind.
- High efficiency water fixtures dramatically cut water consumption levels. Additionally, gray water systems filter and reuse water (in toilets and for landscaping) that otherwise flows into the sewer system.
- Reuse of land for an infill development project reduces the impact of additional roads and sewers on the environment and promotes walking and transit use.
- Informed choice of building materials reduces the demand on natural resources while maintaining or improving the quality of the building.
Funding Support
Our funding for this project totaled $19,353, not including partial support for printing costs covered by the DEQ (as of the writing of this report, the amount is still to be determined). The bulk of this funding came from the EPA with the remainder coming from various areas of the University of Michigan and the Educational Foundation of America. A detailed breakdown of funding sources follows:
EPA P3 Grant: $10,000
Educational Foundation of America contribution: $2,313
School of Natural Resources masters project funds: $540
Fredrick and Barbara M. Erb Institute (U of M) grant: $2,000
Rackham Graduate School student funding: $4,500
Total Funding: $19,353
Project Team and Partners
Our project team comprises many different disciplines, which definitely helped us to create a more useful, relevant, and interesting handbook. Everyone brought a different skill-set to the table, and more importantly, everyone’s areas of interest were different enough to ensure that we pursued multiple concepts, ideas and angles on the various cases.
While everything worked out in the end, we feel it would have been beneficial to have one team member take on the role of “project manager” consistently throughout the project. As it was, this role rotated from individual to individual throughout the year. (Note: this was tough to do consistently with only 4 people in addition to the ebbs and flows of students’ schedules.)
We had many partners in this project, specifically the Michigan DEQ and the eleven subjects we ultimately wrote cases on. With all eleven cases, our contacts went out of their way to meet with us, provide information, take us on tours and review content; they were truly involved in the case writing process.
Given the professional nature of the handbook we envisioned creating, we did hire a professional editor and graphic designer to create a document that our target audience would value and respect. While we could have tried to keep these tasks in-house by either taking on the work ourselves or adding teammates with these specific skill-sets, we feel that it was crucial to the success of this project to have and “outside eye” working on these elements.
Benefits of the Project
While the ultimate success of this project may never be known, as it is nearly impossible to quantify, we believe that this initial phase of the project, the creation of the handbook, was definitely a success. We clearly identified the need that our client, the Michigan DEQ, had for a handbook that “told the story” of green development throughout the state.
Our success at this stage can be gauged by the excitement and satisfaction with the end product that has been expressed by the DEQ. Additionally, several of the owners and developers that we wrote cases on have expressed that they are very pleased with the way “their case” turned out and tells their story.
Things that were crucial to the ultimate success of this project:
- Our close partnership with the DEQ as we developed the concept, content and final product.
- The extent to which the DEQ supported us and contacted case subjects on our behalf.
- The willingness of our case subjects to provide information to us.
- Our own adaptability, flexibility and dedication to the project.
Things we would do differently were we given the chance:
- Finalize the actual nature and scope of the project sooner and begin working with the client to define the specifics. (Note the significant shift in project scope during the first several months).
- A fifth team member would have been helpful given the extensive amount of content that needed to be developed and meetings that needed to be attended.
Geographic Area, Sustainable Industry/Business, Scientific Discipline, RFA, POLLUTION PREVENTION, Technology for Sustainable Environment, Sustainable Environment, waste reduction, Environmental Engineering, Urban and Regional Planning, State, pollution prevention design, environmental conscious construction, collaborative urban planning, green design, green building design, sustainable development, engineering, waste minimization, architectual design, ecological design, alternative building technology, holistic design, sustainable urban redevelopment, environmentally conscious design
Progress and Final Reports:
Original Abstract