With run-a-way energy costs, will there be a new paradigm in how cities and communities are designed? Will we see more of a shift to town center design? I've read a bit about "Traditional Neighborhood Design" and "New Urbanism", these terms referring to a holistic approach to designing cities and communities. Co-locating where you work to where you live and play. Will (Do)home buyers place community design at the top of their wish list? Will promoting your market areas "green" and "livability" features help sales? Can suburban sprawl be adapted to a town center to buoy slumping rural sales?
I live on the Island of Venice in southwest Florida. When my wife and I moved here we never gave a thought about the "green" neighborhood design. We moved here because we love the beach and boating. We were attracted to the small town feel and the mature vegetation.
When I first moved to the street I live on, I noticed that my neighbor walked the ½ mile round trip to the grocery store. Another neighbor walked to the newsstand to buy their paper every morning. I never gave it a thought really. On the beach one day a women stopped me and asked how much further to Sharkysbeach-front restaurant. I told her that it was no more than ¾ of a mile, she continued her walk.
We routinely tell people just how easy it is to walk to downtown shops and restaurants, most homes measure the distance in a number of blocks.
Now with $4.00 gas, I have come to appreciate the wisdom of John Nolens original city design. I have equipped my bike with saddlebags, and instead of jumping in the car to do errands I ride my bike. Because everything is so close it really doesn't take that much more time. I'm noticing that I'm not alone in my new way of shopping.
As I started thinking of my town as a green place to live it dawned on me that I don't heat my house, my annual energy bill is about $1200 or $100 a month. I know it's just the 2 of us, but still I think that's way low compared to other areas.
Florida is considered by most people as a hot place to live, but reason tells me that it's easier to cool a house than to heat one. The typical afternoon high in the summer is around 90. Most people are comfortable with indoor temps around mid-70s. So at the extreme your attempting to change the indoor temps about 25 degrees. While if my memory serves me well, winter temps have overnight lows in the mid 20's (or lower) so most people are attempting to affect the inside temps by about 40 degrees. For 6 months out of the year I live with the windows open and no A/C or heat.
Yeah I'm convinced, Venice Florida is a "green" place to live, and this year it's a key feature I use in selling my town.
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