Talking Sustainability: An Interview with Orland, Florida’s Creative Village Developer

The following post comes courtesy of Global Site Plans' The Grid. CNU and Global Site Plans recently teamed up to syndicate Grid content, as its contingent of writers presents a view on the opportunities and issues of urbanization all across the world. CNU will carry select posts from the Grid direct on the CNU Salons.

***

 Technology, education, and sustainability are the driving forces behind Orlando’s upcoming Creative Village, a 68-acre infill project in downtown Orlando. Craig Ustler, 50 Most Powerful People in Orlando mainstay and co-developer of the site with the City of Orlando, sat down with me to talk about the carefully chosen, innovative urban planning practices he plans to apply on the site.

One of Ustler’s major inspirations is Portland’s Pearl District. “It’s not a real estate project anymore. It’s a neighborhood and a culture, a sense of community. It gets the right results and it has become a lifestyle.” The district’s success and the city’s overall reputation (think: Portlandia) have made it so “it’s not even debated whether a new development would be green.” So, how will Creative Village achieve this cultural and branding shift in Orlando?

In terms of energy efficiency, Ustler points out that our current approach is backwards. “Instead of figuring out how to drive farther on a tank of gas or in an electric car to keep going with sprawl, we should take a look at our built environment.” If our neighborhoods support walking as a type of alternative energy and a household can eliminate even one car trip per day, you are presented with a dramatic, yet attainable, reduction in energy use.

Another important piece of the Creative Village sustainability puzzle will be urban agriculture.Combining urban food production in a high-tech, creative environment is actually a logical next step.“There is way more confluence in that than we thought,” says Ustler, citing that Brooklyn’s creative class cares as much about agriculture as it does about resource preservation.

Craig Ustler sees Creative Village as a place to send out a new message about Orlando. “The City’s already doing some pretty cool stuff, but it’s not necessarily organized in a way that it gets the message out.” His goal is to create a diverse,sustainable neighborhood that serves as a demonstration project for what new development projects can achieve. “We see Creative Village as a place to get that message out.”

What innovative sustainability practice(s) has your campus or neighborhood adopted?

To read the original post, written by Alex Lenhoff, visit Global Site Plans.