Homes and Sustainabilty
Opportunity to live a less car-dependent lifestyle and reduce carbon emissions with more homes near transit.
Opportunity to live in spaces that are just big enough – saving building materials and energy for heating, cooling, and lighting.
Opportunity to house more people on less land by allowing multifamily buildings or smaller lots – reducing the amount of land impacted by development.
Opportunity to use land already developed for more homes by allowing homes above retail in our villages and identifying under utilized lots that could have homes.
Opportunity to live near transit to get to work or go to the Museum of Science or Fenway Park.
Opportunity to walk or bike to get an ice cream cone or a cup of coffee.
Opportunity to live a life that's more about doing, because there's less home maintenance and less accumulation of stuff.
Opportunity to have less land devoted to car storage by reducing parking requirements.
Articles and research on the impact of housing and development on climate change
Why State Land Use Reform Should Be a Priority Climate Lever for America, RMI, 2024. “Encouraging better-located, less car-dependent communities, we can solve the nationwide housing shortage while dramatically cutting pollution.” (Podcast by David Roberts with the authors of this report, “How much can urban land use policy do for the climate?”)
How Parking Reform Is Helping Transform American Cities, Yale Environment 360, 2024. Parking reform helps to reduce car dependency, create public and green spaces, and lower housing costs.
Building for Proximity: The Role of Activity Centers in Reducing Total Miles Traveled, Adie Tomer and Caroline George, Brookings, 2023. America can bring down household trip distances and, in the process, improve environmental quality, health outcomes, and household budgets. But to do so, public policy must do more to promote development in high-proximity neighborhoods.
Housing Density Is a Win-Win for Wildlife and People, The Urbanist, 2023. – Density is crucial for conserving biodiversity by minimizing sprawling suburbs.
One Solution to Fight Climate Change? Fewer Parking Spaces. Grist, 2023. As the country attempts to aggressively cut carbon emissions, reducing dependence on fossil fuels will also mean rethinking what transportation and public space look like, especially in cities – a place to start, eliminating parking minimums.
Sierra Club Urban Infill Policy, 2019. “Concentrating economic opportunities, new homes, services, and amenities in existing communities protects and mitigates against sprawl, reduces pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, while creating livable communities.”
Understanding the Role of New Housing in Reducing Climate Pollution, Zack Subin, Terner Center, 2024. Improving urban land use policy is an important way to reduce global climate pollution. It is likely essential for reaching global climate targets, and it may decrease environmental and social harms of expanded lithium mining as we transition to electric cars.