A Sustainable Neighborhood

In my last post I stated that suburban settings are not sustainable. But what does a sustainable neighborhood consist of? Any area needs to have the basic facilities, such as a hospital, a school, a fire and police station, and place to shop, for not only groceries but other common day to day items. The best way to build the neighborhood might be to center these facilities near the center and have the housing around it, cars could be allowed but there should be ample biking lanes, and the distances shouldn’t be too far by biking or walking. Maybe a good rule of thumb would be to not place houses more than 15 to 20 minutes, by biking. away from the “center” of the area. If these basic ideas can be met, then we would be one step closer to a sustainable lifestyle. (Of course the ideas of transportation in and out of the city, as well as energy production plans need to be discussed and incorporated, to be more sustainable, but this is a housing plan.)