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What is the Nature In Your City?

December 30, 2011 by Jason King
with 150 views
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Across the world, cities are bringing back nature to helpaddress urban challenges. We are healthier when we are closer tonature. We have a greater respect for the environment that sustainsus. We are more adaptable to change when we let nature do its work. [read more]

Oregon's Innovative Online Permitting Saves Time, Money and The Environment

October 6, 2011 by Douglas Reiser
with 57 views
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Now that's pretty. Oregon's new online permitting interface.   Here’s some good news for Oregon contractors:  Electronic Permitting is here. That’s right, no more standing in line with folders full of printed submittals and waiting all day for your permit. The click of a few buttons and you are in business. Great news, right?... [read more]

Thinking Regionally about Transportation

June 9, 2011 by The Dirt ASLA
with 175 views
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Affordable housing, transportation options, pedestrian mobility, and easy-to-access jobs are key drivers of sustainable urban development. If these forces combine to create a regional approach to urban development, they can have powerful results, argued panelists at the National Building Museum’s Intelligent... [read more]

Small Oregon Coast Garden House by Obie Bowman

November 17, 2010 by Jared Volpe
with 965 views
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At 325 sq ft, this small off-grid building on the Oregon coast serves as a guest house and a writing studio all wrapped up in a single, small green house. Designed by Obie Bowman, a Sonoma County, CA architect, the basic structure and materials were influenced by the main house on the property which was constructed a few years earlier... [read more]

World’s greenest building?

August 27, 2009 by Neil Takemoto
with 804 views
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Unlike many so-called ‘green’ buildings built in greenfields that require driving to get to, LEED standards rating of 66 out of 69 points, the highest rating ever achieved by a commercial building, it’s justifiable in aspiring to be called the world’s greenest building. As a sign of the times that driving is considered less and... [read more]

Chambers Of Commerce, Are They Worth the Time & Money

June 18, 2009 by Ed Bejarana
with 172 views
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You are a small business owner who is considering joining a local Chamber of Commerce to help promote your business. Is there a better way? Chambers of Commerce have changed over the years. In the past it was a prestigious honor to be a member of the local Chamber. Today they are much easier to join, but the message is the same, “Do... [read more]

Feebate, Stretch Code Options for Dillon's Rule States

June 8, 2009 by Chris Cheatham
with 264 views
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In previous posts I have talked about Dillon’s Rule and the impact this rule has on green building regulations in Virginia.  Dillon’s Rule provides that the state retains all powers except those specifically carved out for municipalities and counties.  You can think of this as the reverse of the federal system, where all... [read more]

Clean Water Services - Field Operations Center

May 23, 2009 by Jason King
with 314 views
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A recent trip out to a meeting at the Clean Water Services Field Operations Center yielded some interesting images of some of the innovative stormwater ideas that were implemented into this project, which opened in 2003. The design was completed by Pivot Architecture from Eugene, along with Murase Associates from Portland as landscape... [read more]

Faith-based environmentalism: an interview with Michael Abbaté (Part 2)

May 20, 2009 by Kaid Benfield
with 324 views
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Michael Abbaté is director of urban planning and design for Gresham, Oregon, a suburb on Portland's MAX light rail line.  His new book is Gardening Eden: How Creation Care Will Change Your Faith, Your Life and Our World, published by WaterBrook/Random House.   Mike believes that our society has created a false division between... [read more]

Sustainable and Skateable

May 19, 2009 by Lisa Town
with 708 views
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image via Earth Patrol Media The latest skatepark to open in Portland, Oregon is Ed Benedict Skate Plaza, a project that is on my radar to check out on a nice sunny day. What makes this design fabulous is that the designers challenged the typical idea of what a skate park is and should be. It incorporates some of my favorite things…... [read more]

Faith-based environmentalism: an interview with Michael Abbaté (Part 1)

May 19, 2009 by Kaid Benfield
with 91 views
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Michael Abbaté is director of urban planning and design for Gresham, Oregon, a suburb on Portland's MAX light rail line that is attempting to create a smarter, greener and more sustainable community for its residents and visitors.  He is a landscape architect by training and co-founded Portland's award-winning design firm... [read more]

Models, Now and Then

May 15, 2009 by Jason King
with 285 views
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Spotted on Places and Spaces, this 'lifelike' 3-D model of Portland posted in Digital Urban offers a glimpse into the new wave of modeling, cobbled together from a variety of sources and punctuated by some visual fly-throughs that are quite stunning. This model was created by local firm Newlands & Company (aka NC3D), the cream of... [read more]