From A to B with LEED-ND: Negotiating Sustainable Urban Development

• In Event: 095 - Section on Community and Urban Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 13. Urban Environments

Abstract

LEED-ND is a green building system for rating the environmental impact of neighborhood-scale development. It was crafted through a unique cooperation among three organizations, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Congress for the New Urbanism, and the United States Green Building Council. The expertise and commitment that each of these organizations brought to the process was necessary to design an interdisciplinary system for developing something as complicated as neighborhood, but the contrasts and conflicts among their commitments added complexity to the rating system that may, ultimately, have interfered with its influence. This paper explores the process through which LEED-ND was crafted by drawing on interviews with those involved. Moreover, it argues that LEED-ND is indicative of the problems associated with realizing sustainable urban development.

Author

• Aaron Passell, Barnard College