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Think globally, eat locally? Maybe, maybe not . . .

2008-06-27T13:48:12Z

I’m not sure I quite understand the fervent passion of what seems to be a full-fledged movement to get consumers to buy and eat local, but I can think of some very good reasons to do just that. For instance, maybe you want to support local businesses of all kinds, including farms (I do). Or maybe you want to keep farming competitive to help save the local countryside from sprawl (I do, again). Or maybe you like the sense of community that comes with patronizing a community farmers’ market or co-op (my favorite reason), or like the nutritional value of eating the freshest produce.

Count me in. But I don’t necessarily buy that becoming a “locavore” is inherently better for the environment. The emissions-reduction argument in favor is well-stated on the web site Sustainable Table:

“A tremendous amount of fossil fuel is used to transport foods such long distances. Combustion of these fuels releases carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter and other pollutants into the atmosphere, contributing to global climate change, acid rain, smog and air pollution. Even the refrigeration required to keep your fruits, vegetables, dairy products and meats from spoiling burns up energy.”

But the real answer may be sometimes yes, sometimes no. As Roberta Kwok writes in Salon,

“But what if conventional distributors make up for the long journeys by driving big trucks packed with produce? Let's say a distributor travels 1,000 miles and carries 1,000 apples to market, while 10 local farmers each drive a pickup 100 miles and carry 100 apples each. The local farmers log fewer food miles but cover the same total distance -- and use a comparable amount of fossil fuels -- for the same amount of food.”

Kwok did some back-of-the-envelope analysis on five categories of produce on sale in supermarkets and farmers’ markets in California. She found that locally grown squash was indeed more carbon-efficient in its transportation. But, for apples,

“While the two local apple farmers traveled one-tenth the distance, their loads averaged less than 700 pounds -- and generated six times more carbon dioxide per pound of apples than the semi-trailer trucks.”

The plot thickens. Kwok cites a bunch of reasons why the calculations aren’t at all simple, especially when you dig into such issues as intermediary distributors, the per-pound fuel efficiency of trucks typically driven by farmers and those driven by supermarket wholesalers, and the miles driven by consumers to the store or market. A number of studies from the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture and researchers in the United Kingdom and New Zealand suggest, though, that in many instances the big supermarkets probably beat the local farmers on limiting carbon emissions.

Michael Specter, writing in the New Yorker, makes many of the same points:

“Last year, a study of the carbon cost of the global wine trade found that it is actually more “green” for New Yorkers to drink wine from Bordeaux, which is shipped by sea, than wine from California, sent by truck. That is largely because shipping wine is mostly shipping glass. The study found that ‘the efficiencies of shipping drive a ‘green line’ all the way to Columbus, Ohio, the point where a wine from Bordeaux and Napa has the same carbon intensity.’
“The environmental burden imposed by importing apples from New Zealand to Northern Europe or New York can be lower than if the apples were raised fifty miles away. ‘In New Zealand, they have more sunshine than in the U.K., which helps productivity,’ [researcher Adrian] Williams explained. That means the yield of New Zealand apples far exceeds the yield of those grown in northern climates, so the energy required for farmers to grow the crop is correspondingly lower . . .
“Williams and his colleagues recently completed a study that examined the environmental costs of buying roses shipped to England from Holland and of those exported (and sent by air) from Kenya. In each case, the team made a complete life-cycle analysis of twelve thousand rose stems for sale in February . . . the carbon footprint of the roses from Holland—which are almost always grown in a heated greenhouse—was six times the footprint of those shipped from Kenya. Even Williams was surprised by the magnitude of the difference. ‘Everyone always wants to make ethical choices about the food they eat and the things they buy,’ he told me. ‘And they should. It’s just that what seems obvious often is not. And we need to make sure people understand that before they make decisions on how they ought to live.’”

I recommend both articles, as well as the analysis and links on the Sustainable Table site, which collectively are rich with information if not consistency. As I said, there are lots of reasons other than the carbon consequences of “food miles” to buy and eat local. But we cannot say unequivocally that carbon emissions reduction is always among them. Another glass of Bordeaux, please.

The Explorer Has to Go

2008-06-26T22:21:55Z

I'll admit it. There's a Ford Explorer towering over the Honda Civic hybrid in our driveway. A gas-guzzling monster of an SUV that my husband inherited years ago. But it will not be there much longer.

Yep, rising gas prices and increasing embarrassment at owning one of the dinosaurs led us to a decision just last week that the Explorer has to go. We're still fighting about what to buy next but given the state of the American car industry, I can pretty much guarantee that it won't be a car from Detroit.

As I've previously written, I'm a big fan of voting with my dollars and I'm way too angry at American car makers to vote for them anytime soon.

That's why I shouted out a big silent "YES" when I saw the editorial in the June 10th issue of Advertising Age titled "A Proactive Detroit Could Have Owned Green Market." (I would have been more verbal but folks tend to look at you a bit oddly when you start shouting on a crowded airplane.)

Now I don't know how long Ad Age has held this position and one can imagine that the magazine has previously supported the actions of some of the biggest advertisers on the planet but the editors now seem firmly in the green camp.

"You'd think Detroit would have learned a lesson back in the 70s," the magazine writes. "It doesn't take an economic historian to remember how Japanese imports got a toehold during the last years of fuel crisis in the states."

In fairness, the editors do point out "that gas-guzzling SUVs weren't driving themselves out of the dealership." And they note that the industry defends itself by saying "they were just giving US consumers what they wanted." (And I will admit that our current SUV isn't the first one we've owned. The first car I actually bought was also an Explorer but that's been gone for years now replaced by the aforementioned Honda Civic Hybrid that I love.)

I also love how the Ad Age editors drive their point home.

"Trucks and SUVs have been one of the few strong areas for General Motors and Ford in the past year," they write. "But it puts us in mind of a group of Neanderthals stumbling across one last herd of wooly mammoths and figuring, 'Hey, we're going to survive after all.'"

Amen. Sorry Detroit, I'll be voting for a more enlightened group of automakers with this upcoming car purchase. But I do believe in evolution so maybe the American car industry will surprise me in a couple of years and I'll reconsider.

But something tells me not to hold my breath.

More on St. Louis

2008-06-26T13:31:36Z

Last week I wrote about the extraordinary restoration of the Old North Saint Louis neighborhood. This week, my thoughts have been more on the massive flooding that has come to the Mississippi River valley, including areas close to Saint Louis. It is the second “500-year flood” in the valley in only 15 years.

I’ll return to that, but we also have some more good news to report on Saint Louis: its designation as one of the National Civic League’s All-American cities for 2008, on the strength of its downtown recovery.

Nationally syndicated columnist Neal Peirce puts it this way in his current column:

“Eleven years ago, Washington Avenue in St. Louis was declining rapidly, the downtown prospects grim. And the rest of the St. Louis region didn't seem to care.

“So in a 1997 series for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, my Citistates Group co-author Curt Johnson and I arbitrarily picked 2010 as the year foreigners might come poking through the ruins of Washington Avenue. They'd be witnessing, we suggested, the tragic endpoint of the heedless flight of Americans from their once-proud cities.
“The good news is how wrong we were. Reel forward (or back!) to this June 6. The yearly competition for one of the National Civic League's coveted All-America City awards is taking place in Tampa, Fla. There's huge suspense -- which cities (out of 100 original entries) will a jury select to receive the awards?
“St. Louis makes the cut, receiving its first All-America City award since 1956. And what's the top talking point St. Louis used to win? It's the downtown, focus of our dire warning of 1997.”

Neal continues:

“As Richard C.D. Fleming, president of the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association and a leader in getting the Missouri Legislature to pass the credit explains: 'The total new investment in downtown is almost $5 billion. And close to 90 percent of it is historic preservation -- great old structures rehabilitated for offices, condos and more -- not just a bunch of new megastructures.'
“The downtown residential population, close to zero in 1997, is up to 10,000, and growing.
“But St. Louis, for decades bedeviled by deep population losses and widely scattered suburban sprawl, also won its award by pointing to a stunning regional advance. It's the new River Ring project, which eventually will be a 600-mile web of 45 biking trails and greenways designed to encircle and connect the entire region -- a big 'green' advance and also a way to help metro St. Louis compete with other areas in environmentally friendly outdoor life.”

The comeback of America’s central cities – now well-documented – is one of the great stories of the young 21st century, and not just for smart growth. Read Neal’s entire column here.

Back to the flooding, the US Climate Change Science Program warns us that, due to human-caused global warming, we are likely to see more extreme weather events of all types:

“In the future, with continued global warming, heat waves and heavy downpours are very likely to further increase in frequency and intensity. Substantial areas of North America are likely to have more frequent droughts of greater severity. Hurricane wind speeds, rainfall intensity, and storm surge levels are likely to increase. The strongest cold season storms are likely to become more frequent, with stronger winds and more extreme wave heights.”

Ugh. Here's what Mississippi River flooding in Des Moines looked like two weeks ago:

The silver lining is that urban redevelopment in places like Old North and downtown St. Louis helps limit flooding, because it displaces new growth and pavement that would otherwise spread out into currently well-performing watersheds. Runoff from new residential areas has been estimated at up to 10 times that of pre-development conditions, and runoff from new commercial development has been estimated at 18 times that before development.

Urban redevelopment also reduces greenhouse gas emissions, by offering alternatives to driving and shorter driving distances for those who do drive. The city of St. Louis appears to be doing its part, in more ways than one. May the good examples keep coming.

NBC, AP: Gas prices, lifestyle choices lead homebuyers to favor city neighborhoods

2008-06-20T18:34:20Z

More and more news outlets are picking up on the story that the costs and hassles of suburban living are outweighing the benefits and increasing the demand for in-town, walkable, city neighborhoods with good transportation choices.

A story on MSNBC’s site reports that a recent survey of 900 real estate agents from Coldwell Banker revealed that over three-fourths of the agents’ clients are more interested in city living now because of higher fuel prices. Homebuyers are also looking for ways to spend less time in their cars to free up opportunities for spending more time with their families or pursuing personal interests. As a result, in-town neighborhoods are holding or increasing their home values while those in more far-flung locations are sinking fast.

The story cites examples of purchasers seeking more convenience and lower commuting costs in homes near commuter rail stations, regional transit systems, and established urban centers. This will be great news for communities undergoing thoughtful rebuilding like Old North, and it will be great news for the environment as we move to a less automobile-dependent and land-consumptive society.

After wasting an hour and a half in the process, I gave up on trying to embed a video segment in this post, but here's a link to a terrific two-and-a-half minute segment on the trend toward city living from NBC News.

Many thanks to Helen Chin of the Surdna Foundation for pointing me to this story.

Getting density right

2008-06-19T13:00:31Z

The Urban Land Institute and National Multi-Housing Council, in association with the Sierra Club, have produced a terrific new book and toolkit for citizens, businesses, and advocates called Getting Density Right.

As the description on the web site of the ULI says, “Based on expert forums of practitioners from the public and private sectors, this book describes tools used throughout the nation to better support compact development, including visioning, planning, and new regulations. Case studies profile the experiences of eight communities, the policy tools they used to encourage compact development, and the development projects built using the new regulations. In addition, The Toolkit provides an overview of the tools being used across the country to promote compact development.

“This book comes with a DVD set produced by NMHC (The National Multi Housing Council) that contains visually engaging PowerPoint presentations created by a unique collaboration between environmentalists and real estate organizations to show how density can transform communities. Perfect to present at meetings of planning officials, civic groups, neighborhood groups, and chambers of commerce.” The book describes a variety of policy instruments useful to smart-growth planners and advocates, including the following:

Form-Based Codes
Model Codes
Renovation Building Codes
Mixed-Use Zoning Districts
Planned Unit Development
Overlay Zones
Development Types
Brownfields Redevelopment
Cluster Development and Conservation Design
Infill Development
Traditional Neighborhood Development
Transit-Oriented Development
Density and Design Tools
Accessory Housing and Cottage Housing
Design Review and Guidelines
Development Rating Systems
Financial Incentives
Transportation Demand Management
Street Classification and Design
Planning and Visioning
Community Visioning Workshops and Charrettes
Density Visualization Techniques
Transect-Based Planning

The slide presentations are terrific, and the kit includes a content-rich and annotated, but highly accessible 38-page booklet called Higher-Density Development-MYTH AND FACT that uses illustrations, case studies, and references to alleviate fears that some citizens have about higher density with eight salient points:

The nature of who lives in higher-density housing—fewer families with children—puts less demand on schools and other public services than low-density housing. Moreover, the compact nature of higher-density development requires less extensive infrastructure to support it.
No discernible difference exists in the appreciation rate of properties located near higher-density development and those that are not. Some research even shows that higher-density development can increase property values.
Higher-density development generates less traffic than low-density development per unit; it makes walking and public transit more feasible and creates opportunities for shared parking.
The crime rates at higher-density developments are not significantly different from those at lower-density developments.
Low-density development increases air and water pollution and destroys natural areas by paving and urbanizing greater swaths of land.
Attractive, well-designed, and well-maintained higher-density development attracts good residents and tenants and fits into existing communities.
Our population is changing and becoming increasingly diverse. Many of these households now prefer higher-density housing, even in suburban locations.
People of all income groups choose higher-density housing.

While I suspect that few of these points constitute news to regular readers of this blog, it is very handy to have them spelled out in ready-to-use presentations and handbooks. One of the DVDs is even narrated, so it is well-suited to presentations hosted by newcomers to these issues.

"Unlike many toolkits, which simply conduct literature reviews and compile the results, Getting Density Right is based on nearly a year's worth of field research," explained NMHC president Doug Bibby. "We held a series of forums across the country where we did the unthinkable: We brought together in one room developers, elected officials, neighborhood activists and zoning officials to identify the obstacles, and in some cases their objections, to compact development. Then we brainstormed 'best practices' that will create compact communities that will meet everyone's needs."

Getting Density Right may be ordered here.

Dear President Bush: No More Offshore Drilling

2008-06-18T22:03:06Z

Earlier today, President Bush called upon Congress to lift a ban on offshore oil drilling that was enacted more than 25 years ago. Since then, every President has extended the moratorium – first by President Bush’s father, in 1990, and then by President Clinton, in 1998.

They extended the ban for good reason. Offshore drilling is an enormously wasteful and dangerous means of energy production. Between 1980 and 1999, 73 offshore oil spills dumped millions of gallons of oil into our waters. Offshore drilling is associated with air pollution and land degradation, and with seismic activity that has been shown to have profound, even fatal, effects on marine mammals.

Nor will it do anything to reduce the price of gas or increase our energy independence, as my colleague Deron Lovaas said today. According to most estimates, it will take at least seven to ten years for the oil to go into production and even then it wouldn’t reduce energy prices.

And so what is this about? With oil hitting $130 a barrel, these are desperate times for the White House. For a former oil-man from Texas, the solution to an oil crisis means helping the oil industry, not the American public. As Ross Gelbspan said in his book Boiling Point, “Today, the White House has become the East Coast branch office of ExxonMobil and Peabody coal, and climate change has become the preeminent case study of the contamination of our political system by money.”

So let’s recognize President’s call to Congress for what it is: a political play for short-term gain that will do little to reduce gas prices over the short or the long-term. What this country needs is a plan to reduce our energy consumption. It doesn’t need another desperate move to help the oil industry.

NRDC has a plan. Solving the energy crisis should begin with energy efficiency. We need to improve the energy efficiency of our vehicles, our businesses and our homes. The cheapest, cleanest and quickest energy we can produce is the energy we save through efficiency.

In the short-term, energy efficiency can be achieved much more quickly than drilling for oil. In the long-term, it can reduce consumption, ease demand, and help to lower the price of fuel.

To get there:

We need to put a cap on carbon. The science is in; we can’t continue emitting at current rates.
We need to unleash the potential of current, available technology by getting it off the shelves and into the streets.
Third, and related to the issue of efficiency, is the need increase our investment in technology innovation. We need to work towards creating a low-carbon infrastructure in the US.

We have the opportunity to set this country in a new direction. That direction is based upon an energy policy that will solve global warming, enhance national security, and boost our economy. Energy efficiency has a leading role to play in that future; opening our oceans and our coasts to drilling does not.

Nega Whats?

2008-06-18T17:05:51Z

When we purchased our slice of paradise near New Hope, PA, we knew the house had not received much tender loving care. But we did not realize at the time, however, that it hadn't really been touched in the 30 years since it was built by a guy who apparently did not know what he was doing.

So step by step, we're tearing the place apart and slowly but surely, we'll end up building a new house where the old one stands. A few weeks ago, for example, we sadly decided to get rid of the greenhouse that stretched the length of the back of the house. Broken seals and a heating system that stopped working a long time ago meant the greenhouse was little more than a heat bomb in the summer and a refrigerator in the winter. Trying to heat it or keep it cool drove our electricity bills ever northward and our plants never really stood a chance.

And now it is time -- finally -- to get rid of the refrigerator, oven and stove. We're not certain, but it seems like they were original to the house which means that they were manufactured long before Energy Star was even on the drawing board. Oh yeah, and there's the central air conditioner that hasn't been doing much of late as the East Coast suffered through an early summer heat wave.

All of this to say that I'm really getting into energy efficiency. I've long found it a fascinating topic but more on a theoretical level. But now as a homeowner of an energy disaster, I'm really diving in. And luckily for me, my day job also requires that I do a lot of thinking about energy efficiency.

My most recent find was an excellent authoritative briefing from the editors of the Economist, one of my favorite magazines that I rarely have a chance to read when it comes out. This weekend, I had a chance to catch up on reading (and recycling) and found a deep dive on Energy Efficiency. Titled "The Elusive Negawatt," the article quotes many energy efficiency experts such as NRDC's own MacArthur Award winning genius David Goldstein and Art Rosenfeld, the subject of a long article in NRDC's OnEarth magazine a while back.

The crux of the article -- as well as NRDC's advocacy on the topic -- is that energy efficiency has long been known as the best method of curbing the world's increasing demand for energy. And that the term "negawatt" is quickly becoming the preferred shorthand term for energy efficiency.

There is so much in this article to reflect on that that I'll be returning to it in future posts. But the bottom line, according to the Economist, is that "big investments in energy efficiency would more than pay for themselves, and fairly fast ... Moreover, with ample profits to be made, financing should be easy to attract." The amount that needs to be invested, the Economist reports, is in the tune of $170 billion a year until 2020, a staggeringly large number but only 1.6 percent of global annual investment in bricks and mortar and other fixed capital.

I'm persuaded that my home infrastructure investments will provide a speedy return on my dollar. Luckily for our survival on the planet, it seems like business and government are beginning to see the opportunities too.

Wall Street Journal: urban living, smart growth are in demand

2008-06-18T13:09:00Z

If it’s in the business newspaper of record, you know it’s mainstream. And, while you read it in this blog four months ago, citing the same experts, it’s nice to know that the WSJ is getting the message:

Just as low interest rates and aggressive mortgage financing accelerated expansion of the suburban fringe to the point of oversupply, "the spike in gasoline prices, layered with demographic changes, may accelerate the trend toward closer-in living," said Arthur C. Nelson, director of Virginia Tech's Metropolitan Institute in Alexandria, Va.
"All these things are piling up, and there are fundamental changes occurring in demand for housing in most parts of the country."Christopher Leinberger, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution and a developer of walkable areas that combine housing and commercial space, describes the structural shift as the "beginning of the end of sprawl."
Recipe for Reurbanization
Todd Zimmerman, a housing consultant and an early advocate of pedestrian-friendly community planning known as New Urbanism, said demographic and cultural factors explain a big part of the trend. . . . He said the populations of Americans in their 20s and in their 50s are rising and will add eight million potential housing consumers by the time their numbers peak in 2015. "You've got a recipe for reurbanization on a dramatic scale," he said . . .
While high gas prices are a boon to New Urbanism and other "smart-growth" planning concepts, in practice such mixed-use projects often are harder to execute -- from acquiring local approval to securing Wall Street financing -- than the traditional suburban tract-housing model. The challenges for cities are considerable, from investing in public-transportation systems to creating incentives for developers to accommodate the new urban housing demand.

Creating those incentives is exactly what some of us are trying to do in LEED for Neighborhood Development. Unfortunately, we’re in a bit of a struggle right now with some of our private-sector partners who seem to want the system to honor leapfrog sprawl, too, if it is “green” [sic]. They haven’t gotten the memo yet. Wish us luck. By the way, CNN ran a similar story on Monday. To invoke one of those pretentious phrases, we are seeing a paradigm shift in American living patterns, and it’s coming just in time. You read it here first.

Turning Buzz into Reality

2008-06-16T15:11:56Z

Has corporate America suddenly seen the “green” light? It’s a question I’ve raised frequently in this space, noting that everywhere you turn, another company is announcing a new green initiative. No matter what their motivation -- whether it’s saving money, earning good publicity, or a genuine interest in running a sustainable, profitable enterprise -- these companies seem interested in changing.

Of course, the clamor from all those announcements can seem deafening. The New York Times Style Section made just that point on Sunday in an article titled: “That Buzz in Your Ear May Be Green Noise.” The thesis of the article by Times reporter Alex Williams is boiled down by a quote from Mary Burnham of San Francisco: “Heck, I’ll come out and say it. I’m a little overwhelmed.”

Hey Mary, I’m a professional environmentalist and I’m confused too. When Williams called me last week to discuss his article, I couldn’t have been in more agreement with his thesis. We all need help reducing the signal to noise ratio.

Luckily I was able to tell the Times about one of our tools for helping cut the clutter. It’s an ever-growing NRDC web program called SimpleSteps where we give clear advice in a “minute, a morning or month” format. In other words, if you have a minute and want to make better choices for your family and the environment, we’ve got a tip. If you have a morning, we’ll take you a bit deeper and -- if you have a month -- well dive on in.

Williams was writing for the Times Style Section. Had he been reporter for the business sections of the Times, though, I would have directed him to another newly launched resource which is designed to build on NRDC’s long experience working behind the scenes to help businesses and other large organizations green their operations.

Building on that expertise, we just launched the NRDC Greening Advisor to open the vaults of our business-based expertise.

The Greening Advisor was developed as a free, web-based tool for small and mid-sized businesses interested in finding ways to reduce the environmental impacts of their operations. It’s full of practical tips that can help any company establish and achieve a green goal. It tackles topics such as energy efficiency, water conservation, waste reduction and paper use, and also points out how environmentally friendly business practices can improve the bottom line.

Does the thing really work? Ask Major League Baseball, the NBA and the GRAMMYs -- they’re just a few of the groups that have already made use of the Greening Advisor. And many many more are working with our experts to get started.

So stay tuned. Maybe someday soon we’ll be able to persuade the business pages of the Times to follow up on this weekend’s excellent Style Section story to help corporations and others turn buzz into reality.

Of the community, by the community, and for the community: the rebirth of Old North Saint Louis

2008-06-14T23:51:39Z

Every now and then I run across a story that is so good, that feels so right, that I thank my lucky stars for the freedom NRDC gave me to evolve my career into working for better, more sustainable communities. This is such a story, and it reveals an historic, diverse, inclusive neighborhood that is reclaiming its identity, restoring its infrastructure, empowering its residents, and securing its future. The community wins, and so does the environment, because the Old North neighborhood in Saint Louis is the very antithesis of sprawl.

Here are some images depicting the building stock in Old North before restoration and what one of the revitalized blocks looks like now:

I learned about Old North from John Burse, an architect with the Mackey Mitchell firm in Saint Louis, which features sustainable design in its practice. After we met briefly at the AIA annual meeting in Boston last month, John got in touch and told me about how neighborhood revitalization in Old North is contributing overall to a better regional environment through reestablishing density in a disinvested area and combining a traditional walkable community, affordability and historic preservation. The three projects in the neighborhood that John has been involved with represent a combined $52 million effort over the course of the last 8 years.

As John reports, “If you consider that Old North, once a neighborhood of 40,000, dropped to a low point of about 2,000, these projects represent a considerable shot in the arm. The work we have undertaken is geared towards making this place ecologically, socially, and economically sustainable.” Applause, please.

On the left below is the location of Old North, as its name suggests just north of downtown. (Man, the Mississippi looks brown in that image from Google Earth.) On the right is a tiny image (click on either image for a larger one) of the site plan for what will become one of the community’s new focal points, Crown Square:

According to Sean Thomas of the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group, the Crown Square project involves the redevelopment of 27 vacant and deteriorated buildings, including several on blocks adjacent to the former pedestrian mall featured on the site plan. The red and blue colored buildings on the site plan are all historic rehabs, the colors denoting primarily commercial (red) or primarily residential (blue). Sean reports that most of the buildings include a mix of uses, with residential upstairs and commercial/retail space on the street level.

One of the great success stories of smart growth over the last decade has been the revitalization of older inner city neighborhoods. But one of the risks is gentrification; if the redevelopment is not done with great care, the community’s longtime residents can be priced out as real estate values go up. This won’t be the case in Old North, because much of the community’s planning has been shaped by the residents themselves, working with the Regional Housing and Community Development Alliance. Affordability and diversity are hallmarks of the neighborhood’s restoration.

The community’s web site has a short history. Here is a bit of it:

“The Old North St. Louis neighborhood was first developed in 1816 . . .In the latter part of the nineteenth century, large numbers of Polish immigrants settled in the near north side, including present day Old North St. Louis. Old North St. Louis also has an Afro-American population dating back long before the Civil War period . . .
“More recently, immigrant arrivals to the area came in the 1930's, during and after the Depression. Many current residents can trace their origins back to small farm communities in Southeast Missouri, Arkansas, and other states in the south. At this point, the neighborhood was crowded and thriving. Factories, shops, and homes were interspersed, in the classic "walking city" pattern. Some small businesses have a long history in the neighborhood. The North 14th Street Shopping District, the center of the area's commercial activity, has a Businessman's Association dating back to 1902. Stores, like Crown Candy Kitchen and Marx Hardware, are family owned and operated for more than three generations.
“The period after the Second World War ushered in another turning point for the neighborhood. The country was pursuing a life of prosperity, one sign of which was a house in the suburbs. Federal policy, private lending policy, and housing developments provided an incentive to build new homes rather than stabilize older neighborhoods. Many residents moved to the suburbs, encouraged by new housing development and highspeed expressways . . . With the elimination of federal [anti-poverty] funding in the 1970's, the pace of housing demolition increased, but little new housing was built, resulting in declines in both the population and housing stock.”

The history is too rich to recount it all here, but a confluence of circumstances, including the formation of the neighborhood-based Old North St. Louis Restoration Group, enlightened community development leadership, and determined residents, have turned things around dramatically. (In some ways, the Old North story is reminiscent of the recovery of Dudley Street in Boston). The Restoration Group, in particular, has initiated home-building and rehab partnerships; works to save historic properties; coordinates beautification work; and sponsors pot-luck suppers, a street festival, an annual home tour, and much more. The neighborhood even has a history trail and a poetry trail ("Word Up"!).

Do visit the neighborhood’s web site and blog, and also take a peek at the Crown Village development’s site for a close-up look at part of the work and one of the community’s emerging home developments.

The success of places like Old North and Dudley Street, and some of the good community development work of enlightened architecture and development practitioners like David Dixon and Jonathan Rose, makes me think I should write my next book about these great stories. And, as a matter of fact, I am thinking of doing just that.