Sustainable development is a strategy communities want

thespectrum.com
Article published Jan 8, 2008

The term sustainability, in its most basic meaning, implies "lasting." Sustainable communities are places of enduring value that can last indefinitely. By definition, sustainable communities do not destroy the resources and conditions on which they depend. A revival of interest in the sustainability of the human community has created an increase in concern about town planning, zoning and the conservation of natural resources.

In the earliest history of human communities, selection of sites for towns and villages was based primarily upon the presence of water and soil suitable for agriculture - essentials to sustain human life. Sustainability continued as one of the basic geographic criteria until relatively recently. In recent times the availability of automobiles and inexpensive fuel allowed considerable sprawl and the extension of what we called "community." This increase of mobility allowed cities and suburban development to spread out to the extent that much of the human scale and social interaction of communities disappeared.

The concept of sustainability recalls the rationale for the design of the ancient Greek village, the Plat of the City of Zion of Mormon leader, Joseph Smith, and the Garden Cities of Ebenezer Howard. All these concepts called for towns to be located where the essential agricultural resources needed to sustain human life could be produced in close proximity, for a population size limited to that which could be sustained. Sustainability envisions employment sites closely related to dwellings - reducing travel time and resources, and contributing to the emphasis on human scale and social interaction.

Sustainable development is a strategy by which communities seek economic development approaches that also benefit the local environment and quality of life. Where recent approaches have led to congestion, sprawl, pollution and the over consumption of natural resources, sustainable development offers lasting solutions that will strengthen our future and respect our natural surroundings. Sustainable development provides a framework under which communities can use finite resources efficiently, create efficient infrastructures, protect and enhance the environment and quality of life, and create new businesses to strengthen economies. It can help us create healthy communities that can sustain our generation, as well as those that follow.

The way we plan the physical layout of our communities, the way we plan and zone our towns is fundamental to sustainability. Unfortunately, our land-use practices over the past several decades have converged to generate haphazard, inefficient, and unsustainable sprawl. Our zoning ordinances have isolated employment locations, separated shopping and services from housing, and encouraged low-density growth that requires automobile access to increasing distant expanses of land.

These complex problems shared by cities throughout the United States are evidence of the impacts of unsustainable development - increasing traffic congestion and commute times, air pollution, inefficient energy consumption and greater reliance on foreign oil, loss of open space and habitat, inequitable distribution of economic resources, and the loss of a sense of community in the daily lives of many Americans.

Sustainable development will require a transition from poorly-managed sprawl to land use planning practices that create and maintain efficient infrastructure, encourage close-knit neighborhoods and sense of community, and preservation of natural systems.

Patterns of human development - physical, social, and economic - affect sustainability at the local level. City and regional planning is integrally related to defining how, where, and when human development occurs, which affects resource use. Cities and town planners can therefore play a crucial role in improving the sustainability of communities in Southern Utah and the resources that support them.

Jane Whalen is a realtor resident of Hurricane. A member of Vision Dixie Steering Committee and Board member of Citizens for Dixie's Future.