“Giving something back”

Just that simple, core.  this video is awesome.  I’m  usually uncomfortable around homeless.  I love the idea of being my brother’s keeper, doing onto other’s how I would like to be treated. But I get squeamish none the less, when I think about how to help the homeless learn to fish. This month’s AARP Bulletin has this article and video.

Check out these creative financing and ownership mechanisms!

Sustainable Urban Villages would certainly use these kind of supportive concepts to make sustainable real!

A few years ago,  the Sustainable  Neighborhoods Focus Group came up with the idea of giving as a key to a more abundant lifestyle. Currently, infill and new development often give very little to neighborhoods, usually a loss of views and open space, more traffic, and a deadness associated with second homes and single use neighborhoods.

From our Focus Group, a vision emerged where the residents of existing neighborhoods get more; More abundance and aliveness, more safety with neighbors walking on the streets to more conveniently located services. Along with a healthier, more pedestrian friendly lifestyle comes innovative ways to share more amenities, creating a greater sense of community and providing a more affordable lifestyle, a lifestyle beyond suburbia, a lifestyle that lives lighter on the planet.

A Neighborhood that Serves Itself, while Serving Others!

The Focus Group identified conceptual “clusters” of homes or workspaces, designed around residents’ simple but fundamental essential common needs; (in other words, the “cluster” could be a scattered site)

• Child-Oriented Houses
• a Cohousing Group
• an Elder Housing Group
• a Live/work and Commercial Space Cluster
• a Small Houses and Eco-Homes Compound
• Artist Cooperative Workshops
• Young People Living Over Garages….

Giving More Amenities, Getting More Life

These different clusters were assigned services to be provided, not only to meet the cluster’s own needs, but as economies of sale require, to meet the needs of the adjoining clusters and the existing, surrounding neighborhoods…. We created a list of amenities, based on our needs and desires. Some of these are for- profit, some are non-profit. Just as the fundamental clusters are conceptual, so are these amenities. As we locate different sites, those folks that like a particular site will create their own unique mix of clusters and amenities.

A daycare facility and a yoga room were assigned to the child-oriented houses. These could be run as for-profit businesses, offered to surrounding neighborhood residents.

A Cohousing Group with guest rooms and a large kitchen and dining facility, could well be used by the greater community.

We assigned the greenhouse, a community garden, and a library to the Elder Housing Group.

A spa and a meeting hall were assigned to the Live/work and Commercial Space Cluster.

The Small Houses and Eco-Homes Compound got the gym and a formal garden, whereas the Artist Cooperative Workshops were assigned a woodshop and salon/ gallery.

Young People Living Over Garages scored the car share program and a laundry facility.

Imagine the respect and appreciation and abundance in a neighborhood built using these concepts!

Let’s do it people, let’s make sustainable real!

The Professor is in the House…

Cattle + Predators= Soil Carbon Sequestration. How’s that for a Math equation??!!

You have sharp hooves (no sneakers allowed), You poop, you roam…You restore the planet’s balance.  Duh!!

Any questions??    Yes, you with the red blouse. More Specifics?? OK, here’s how the Savory Theorem works…

In a natural context, constantly moving, healthy herds of large herbivores, interacting with their associated predators, create the disturbance (grazing and animal impact) necessary to maintain healthy ecosystem processes. Their presence ensures the continuation of the carbon cycle (with the all-important step of “decay” accelerated by the microbes in their digestive tracts), high levels of plant diversity, and a covered soil surface. Because the animals are constantly moving to new grazing, plants (between episodes of heavy grazing) have the chance to fully recover their above-ground leaf area and restore carbohydrate reserves in their crowns, roots, and stem bases. Holistic Management’s expertise is in re-creating/imitating these natural grazing patterns with domestic livestock, and regenerating the land in the process.

Any more questions?  Yeah, you in the back. Yes, that’s right, if you eat Predator Managed Open Range Certified burgers you will be sequestering carbon back into the earth, and helping reverse Global Warming.

Yes, of course. The distance from the ranch to the slaughter house to your plate adds to the carbon footprint. That’s why ranchers and meat packing plants are switching to algae biodiesel… READ MORE >>

The artists move into the industrial, run down part of town.  Rents are cheap, spaces are big. Cafes and bars start to open. The area becomes hip, creativity is flowing…and the lawyers move in. Nice restaurants and high end clothing stores open up.

Get ’em while they’re hot!

The prices skyrocket. The artists are forced to move out, the Soul fades…ah, but it’s a good investment! The Condos pop up, get ’em while they’re hot!

There are so many parts to this scenario that irk me, I don’t know where to begin!

First off, who created the value of this highly desirable place?  I’d say the artists.   I’d also say the suburbs are so boring, people are starved for soul, a “realness” with vibrant, alive streets. So we as a society get some of the credit, in a reverse kind of way.

The next think that irks me is how, in our mad rush for a great place to live, we end up doing great damage to  the very thing we love; …We drive the aliveness out by gentrifying the neighborhood , cleaning things up.

So, here I am, wanting to help develop a vibrant, alive, mixed use, mixed income deeply sustainable neighborhood, smart infill in Santa Fe, New Mexico. If it were to come to pass, guess what will happen to all the affordable workforce housing, and all the senior cohousing cluster units, all the smaller units that bring a great diversity into the community? In one generation of homeowners, (or renters), the affordability will go bye-bye.

The Open Market Advocates would say, “well, just build more, somewhere else!”

The affordable housing pool advocates say “Hey, split the increase in equity between the housing pool fund and the homeowner, and build more affordability units somewhere else”.

Either way, say bye -bye to the soul of this neighborhood. Another part of Santa Fe turns into Fanta Se. “What’s a Mother to do??!!”

Here’s my take on the situation….we gotta get more creative and come up with alternatives to open market gentrification. There are more benefits to be had than “making money off of your well designed neighborhood” besides cashing out, selling the home, and moving on to the next great investment.

Building social and economic safety nets into the community design brings a resiliency and timeless continuity money can’t buy. Some of strategies include

• aging in place designs and downsizing options in the neighborhood,
• twice a month mortgage payments (cuts 7 years off a 30 yr mortgage),
• a flexible mortgage so any missed payments just extend the back end/payoff time,
• shared amenities and facilities to lower everyone’s operating costs, etc (see 29 Ways to Make Money Off of Your Well Designed Home and Neighborhood)

And there are strategies where the neighbors can profit share from their well designed neighborhood to produce a source of income.

The commercial spaces in San Diego’s Market Creek Plaza are partially owned by the community. Imagine if you are  profit sharing, along with your neighbors,  off of the leases from the commercial properties in your neighborhood.  Where are you going to shop? Walmarts, 5 miles away, or at the grocer in your neighborhood? For the convenience, the “not needing a car and all that expense”, a simpler, healthier walkable lifestyle, and safe streets with neighbors out and about, as well as a revenue stream from shared ownership, you just might be willing to pay a little more at your local shops.

All these strategies are alternatives for compensating neighbors in lieu of the “flip this house-American Dream”. Our mixed use, mixed income neighborhood, with lifelong learning and open space”, can stay perpetually socially, economically and ecologically sustainable if we can get creative.

The creatives can continue to thrive and create jobs, the next generation can afford to start a family, the entrepreneurs have affordable start up space, and the middle and upper income neighbors get to be active participants in a great neighborhood.

Taming gentrification is essential strategy. If we can get creative, we can make sustainable real!

Share your ideas on gentrification taming, and alternatives to the “flip this house” open market!

Image courtesy of GoGreenEnergy

We can lower our consumption, create a more efficient, affordable lifestyle, and enhance our Quality of Life with a pedestrian centered lifestyle and a whole systems approach to neighborhood planning and redevelopment.

Beddington Zero Energy Development-Bed ZED!

In sharp contrast to sprawl, a whole systems approach “stacks” uses in close proximity to each other. In mixed use neighborhoods, convenient pedestrian access to multiple services and daily life, drastically reduces the necessity for car ownership, creates safer streets with “eyes on the street” security,  a healthier walkable lifestyle, at the same time frees up income for other uses, like buying local food.

By adding “mixed income” to the community, another level of quality of aliveness is added via greater diversity in ages and cultures.

Conveniently located lifelong learning, supports the entrepreneur in all of us, and creates a climate of possibilities, a community going for its dreams and aspirations.

Add Open Space to the mix, and now woods and urban forest, fields and ponds are bringing the richness of the seasons and nature to our door steps.

Nature has evolved mastery in stacking uses, creating vast mutually beneficial, symbiotic relationships in healthy environments. There is no waste to throw away.  There is no “away”.

Designing a Sustainable Urban Village is the first step. Once all the future residents, parties and players are satisfied on paper, a demonstration showcase site can be created.  Having lunch and experiencing a walkable lifestyle becomes a powerful incentive in ushering  in the emerging sustainable economy; a future built in real, lasting value.

Image courtesy of Floornature

What would you include in a Sustainable Urban Village in Santa Fe, that made it so great, you’d move in?! The September issue of the Green Fire Times is going to be a compilation of ideas and visions, and you’re invited to contribute!

Download the flyer here. Download tri-fold brochure here. (two sided print). Share this invitation with your friends and networks! Submittal deadline for article and images is August 5.

Image courtesy of Spears Architects

Suburban sprawl could well have run its course. It’s time for something new to emerge and resurrect the economy. Polls have shown that 1/3 of the Boomers are looking for a simpler, walkable lifestyle, and 88% of their children, the “Millennials” want to live in a creative, alive urban environment. 9000 Santa Feans currently commute to their jobs in town. Many of these people (and others) would welcome an alternative to car-dependent sprawl. This sizable unmet market demand could help the emerging sustainable economy….emerge!

Because this is a new market, your ideas and visions are key; Design it to your specs and needs, and I believe the planning and construction industries will work to make it real!

What would make this neighborhood so compelling, so supportive and fun, that you would move in??!!

Download the flyer here. Download the tri-fold brochure here. Share this invitation with your friends and networks! Submittal deadline for article and images is August 5.

Brian Skeele, June 16, 2011

What

A Deeply Affordable Sustainable Urban Village (SUV); a lively, 3-4 story, mixed-use, mixed-income neighborhood with enough density to make the commercial successful, say 5000 residents within walking distance.

Located Where?

To give these sorts of visionary ideas a place to focus, let’s look at an area in Santa Fe that has the potential to actually be transformed for the betterment of residents and businesses. With 72% paved parking area, Rail Runner access (commuter train), vacating car dealerships, an art/design college at one end, a hospital at the other end, and nearby Santa Fe High, De Vargas Middle School, two elementary schools, and Llano Library, St Michaels Drive is a good choice for visions of a major redesign.

SUVs can exist in rural, suburban, as well as urban locations. The key is to have the commercial and services supported by the residential within pedestrian-friendly distances, making non-car ownership a viable option. Not having to purchase, maintain, fill up, and insure a car is a substantial savings, and frees up disposable income for a wide range of benefits, such as local food, innovation start ups, as well as creates a healthier, walking lifestyle.

In a rural community, farming families and farm employees need affordable lifestyles, including affordable housing, transportation, land, water, organic fertilizer, etc. A rural SUV with the focus on agricultural production is an essential part of a regional food “shed”.

Similar dynamics exist in a suburban environment. Evolving into a pedestrian-centered lifestyle will increase the vitality and resiliency of up and coming mixed use, mixed income community. As we surpass global peak oil production and gasoline prices continually rise, the long commute is deeply threatened. Soccer Mom chauffeurs are soon to listed on the endangered species list.

Benefits Why

If Santa Fe was to create a SUV, the benefits could well be substantial;

A compelling reason to visit Santa Fe-with a world renown demonstration showcase site, a destination attracting eco tourists, students, government officials, and business owners from around the world, such has happened in Gussing Austria. economic growth-as in Gussing, many companies focusing on sustainability relocated (50 companies) and 1000 jobs were created. a significant revival of the local construction industry the development of Santa Fe’s capacity to collaborate. a Pathways curriculum, hands on, relevant learning, giving high school students the real world challenges that deeply respect and call forward their innate capacity.

Neighborhoods can once again become vibrant and alive- with safe, pedestrian- friendly streets and a simpler lifestyle supporting rich diversity; a mix of incomes and housing, young families and retirees, employers and employees, artist and patrons – a lifestyle that’s based on real, lasting values; a lifestyle that’s good for people, good for the planet, and good for the polar bears!

Watch this video!  along with an amazing shift in my thinking around banking, I love the moderator’s accent!

I was talking with a friend yesterday, a newly retired school teacher, and I asked her how she would improve schools. “Hire more teachers” she replied.

I agree. I’ve had several teachers tell me they don’t even have time to pee during the day. How can we bring creativity and innovation into the classroom, if teachers don’t have time to contemplate and investigate best practices??…

Another question…How are we going to hire more teachers in this shrinking economy? Santa Fe School District has been cutting the budget seems like 5-10% every year for the last 4 years, how in the world will be hiring more teachers?

The answer that popped up for me, is to invest in our state’s economy like North Dakota has.  Starting in 1919 I believe, all revenues (taxes, etc) have gone into the state bank, and then get loaned out to farmers and other N Dakotans.  These are not “flip this house speculative” kind of loans.  Now North Dakota has an economic surplus, the only state in the nation with an economic surplus.

New Mexico doesn’t have a state bank, yet.  State rep. Brian Egolf introduced a bill last year to create such an animal, but it has yet to pass.  I’m suggesting this is where we need to be heading…get New Mexico’s revenues invested in real lasting values, like Sustainable Urban Villages, built the economy, and fully fund the School Districts state wide!

These may not be interest free loans, but the challenge and opportunity before us is to get innovative, gather what works from around the planet, and build our future economically, socially, and ecologically sustainable!

Together, we can make sustainable real!! and have time to pee …every day!

The artists move into the industrial, run down part of town.  Rents are cheap, spaces are big. Cafes and bars start to open. The area becomes hip, creativity is flowing…and the lawyers move in. Nice restaurants and high end clothing stores open up.

Get ’em while they’re hot!

The prices skyrocket. The artists are forced to move out, the Soul fades…ah, but it’s a good investment! The Condos pop up, get ’em while they’re hot!

There are so many parts to this scenario that irk me, I don’t know where to begin!

First off, who created the value of this highly desirable place?  I’d say the artists.   I’d also say the suburbs are so boring, people are starved for soul, a “realness” with vibrant, alive streets. So we as a society get some of the credit, in a reverse kind of way.

The next think that irks me is how, in our mad rush for a great place to live, we end up doing great damage to  the very thing we love; … READ MORE >>

By Brian Skeele, on April 14th, 2011

I’ve started a list of good ideas that come about if we rethink the functions and interplay of our home and its neighborhood.  So far I’ve got 29 killer (If I do say so myself)  ideas.  The first 7 are home oriented, the last 22 are more neighborhood oriented. Add to the list via the comment area!

Home Design 

Granny Flat Above Garage

#2. Rent Out “Granny Flat” Over Garage

The space above the garage is an opportunity for a guest room, separate residence, or a home office.  A typical garage is what, 20′ x 24 ‘? That is 480 sq ft.  I know I want to stay independent when I get older, and having my own space would be fabulous!

The space could work really well for a young person as well. They’re learning to be more independent and they have a bio-clock that likes to stay up late and get up late.

Maybe you’d like to move into the granny flat, and rent out the main house, staying in the neighborhood with long time friends.

Design  tips.

Going up stairs is a great way to stay in shape. Maybe at some point, … READ MORE >>

Grading A-F; Schools as Centers of Community

By Brian Skeele, on April 7th, 2011

How do I feel about the A-F grading of New Mexico Schools? Well, thank you for asking!

The challenges of our times are so extraordinary, they call for a different approach to life. Working collaboratively on real world problems, creating living sustainability, with a community wide range of stakeholders is the school of our times.

Schools as Centers of Community Sustainability

What if each school and its surrounding neighborhoods  set the intention of having the school become the center of the community? The school would then work with the surrounding neighbors in redeveloping into a socially, economically, and ecologically sustainable community!
The grading, A-F, would be a indicator of how the school/neighborhood was doing in terms of sustainability;… READ MORE >>

The #1 way to Support Local Food is…

By Brian Skeele, on April 4th, 2011

The #1 way to Support Local Food is by… creating a deeply affordable lifestyle. Lowering the cost of living frees up customers’ pocket books so they can buy more local food and dine at restaurants serving locally produced food.

Local Farmers, Local Food…Santa Fe Saturday AM

A deeply affordable lifestyle is essential in other key ways as well. Farmers and their employees need affordable housing, water, land, processing facilities, season extending structures, fertilizers, etc.  Higher costs in any one of these networks of networks undermines our food security.

Here in Santa Fe we have one of the best Farmer’s Markets in the nation, apparently.  I think much of its popularity is because Santa Feans have more disposable income. And yet, in spite of all the success, Beneficial Farms CSA‘s Steve Warshawer estimates all the capacity of the Northern New Mexico regional farmers would feed only 2000 folks.  Santa Fe current population is around 70,000, with a surrounding regional total of approx 100,000.

For our regional capacity, our Food Shed, to grow significantly, I believe we will have to work  together to create deep affordability and free up more disposable income. I call it “Mixed-use, mixed-income neighborhoods, with lifelong learning and open space”. The open space is for agriculture, natural habitat, and recreation.

This strategy is good for everyone; builds our regional resiliency and food security, lowers our eco-footprint, and raises our quality of life!

Share your ideas and experiences in the comments area! Back yard chickens, collecting urine for fertilizer, compost piles, converting front yards to food forests, deep mulching strategies, farm to school programs, aquaculture, etc… the list is long….Together we can make sustainable real!… READ MORE >>

You can’t do it all-Neighborhoods as Extended Families.

By Brian Skeele, on April 1st, 2011

“…we once lived in small enough communities where people could help each other. Families were together… Parents have always needed help—but our generation decided that women should somehow do everything.” Michelle Obama

“You can’t do it all, it’s impossible… we have to reengineer support“

It takes a Village to raise a Family!

I was in the market checkout line and was immediately drawn to Oprah and Michelle Obama on the cover; the 1^st White House interview with Michelle Obama.

One of the conversation points that really caught my attention was this part about growing up in an extended family;

Oprah: What you mentioned earlier is key: We have to ask for help. You can’t do it all. It’s impossible.

Michelle Obama: That’s a conversation I’d love for us to have as a society. How do we set expectations that are attainable?… READ MORE >>

Meltdowns and Other Impending Bummers

By Brian Skeele, on March 17th, 2011

“Oh so many, ways to be wicked”

I woke this morning to the song playing in my head, Maria McKee and Lone Justice belting it out, my personal soundtrack….the Japanese Meltdown is in Day 6.

I call em Impending Bummers. When I think about doing something unknown, I can have a lot of apprehension, I can feel downright scared. I bite my finger nails, tear at my cuticles.

Maybe it’s the thousands of years of our collective worrying about getting eaten by a sabertooth tiger.  Or if Genghis Khan is going to show up in the spring this year…That may explain where the dread, this background anxiety, comes from. It certainly pushes me on a spiritual path in an attempt to find relief, but face it, as stewards of our amazing beautiful spinning green and blue planet, we suck…. READ MORE >>

Sustainable neighborhoods as popular as cell phones!

By Brian Skeele, on March 3rd, 2011

Over the years of studying what works, and looking at all the impending bummers coming from our sprawl, car dependent lifestyle, I continue to conclude that the cure, the silver bullet, is “Mixed use, mixed income neighborhoods, with lifelong learning and open space……everywhere”.  Even though I’m so sure these sustainable neighborhoods are the antidote to the vast majority of what ails us, a quick response time is everything.

The rate of carbon building up in the atmosphere, and the forecast outcomes,  require the developed nations to get to sustainable lifestyles pronto.

Talk about jousting at windmills….. I’ve set the intention that sustainable neighborhoods become as popular as cell phones, and get implemented around the planet. I take heart  from Margaret Mead’s “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world: indeed, it’s the only thing that ever does”.

The times call for a paradigm shift, transforming our car-dominated economy to a knowledge-based economy; from fossil fueled, polluting, wasteful overconsumption to renewable, non toxic, more efficient, lowered consumptive living.

As we get good at clearly defining the benefits, the popularity will soar.  Mixed use, mixed income neighborhoods with lifelong learning and open space are the way we are gonna make sustainable real!… READ MORE >>

I should have been a woodshop teacher, (BA in Industrial Arts) but went into construction instead.

Much to my amazement, I keep being drawn to learning, my own ongoing growth and the Santa Fe School District’s trials and tribulations. Quite a few years ago, I came across the idea that schools could be centers of communities; in fact they used to be, all across America. The light bulbs went off…What if schools were reconfigured and became the hearts of “Mixed use, mixed income neighborhoods, with lifelong learning, and open space”??!!

Live, work, play, learn, shop, all within walking

If they were conveniently located, and multiple stories for commercial shops and teacher’s housing were added for smarter density, teachers could walk to work and to the corner grocer.

If the buildings were used by the community into the evenings year round, the sharing of  facilities would lower everyones’ costs. The cafeteria and dining area could be a restaurant/cafe, a bakery, and a community gathering space after hours.  Solar panels on the roofs could supply electricity and hot water for not only the school, but excess capacity could be sold to the surrounding neighborhood, adding to the District’s coffers, with increased efficiency and lowered transmission losses.

All of these functions, planning, and redevelopment makes for great hands-on learning. It’s all curriculum. It’s all preparing our children with real learning for real jobs in the growth industry of the 21 st Century, the transformation of suburbia into sustainable neighborhoods.

So keep on the lookout for curriculum, mentoring programs, and other learning possibilities in your areas of concern, and post them to the website. This page will gather them all and make em available for learners of all ages- because we’re all learning what makes sustainable real!