Our Mission is to help all local governments build more resilient, environmentally conscious, economically secure, and socially equitable communities.
The Sustainable Development Code offers best practices for community development. It is estimated that 50-75 million more people will live in the U.S. by 2040. This increase in population plus aging buildings suggest that an additional 90 billion sq. ft. of commercial, retail, and industrial space and 80 million new residential units will be needed. At current rates of expansion, accommodating the additional space and units will result in the destruction of greenfields the size of Oklahoma. In addition, many development codes are decades old and not prepared to confront today’s changes, such as environmental changes like climate change and invasive species, economic changes like the sharing economy and autonomous vehicles, and societal changes like obesity, safety, and inequality.
That’s where the SDC comes in. Through a rigorous editorial and interdisciplinary research process with law schools and practitioners from across the country in several disciplines, the SDC provides concrete ways for communities to amend development codes and adapt to changes as they occur. The SDC aims to help all local governments, regardless of size and budget, build more resilient, environmentally conscious, economically secure and socially equitable communities.
SDC is comprised of three levels: subchapters, recommendations, and briefs. SDC contains 32 subchapters that serve as a menu for local communities to choose the issue confronting them. For each of the 32 subchapters, the SDC makes 25-35 recommendations to amend development codes. The recommendations are categorized as “removing obstacles” (what in the existing code is harming your community), “create incentives” (where can we look to encourage developer, homeowner, and others’ actions), and fill regulatory gaps (what are the minimum standards your community will accept).
Each of the recommendations then has a brief designed by and for public officials, staff, experts and the public. The briefs consist of three key sections: introduction, effects, and examples. The introduction explains the recommendation to amend the code. The effects section explains how adopting the recommended ordinance may affect the community and code. Each brief then provides 2-3 examples of local governments, which have adopted the recommendation. The SDC explains each example in plain language. In addition, the SDC concludes with an additional 3-6 examples of local governments, which have adopted the recommendation. Here, the SDC provides citations, links, and one sentence describing the ordinance.
We want to hear from local governments that are doing great things. If your community recently passed an action to improve the sustainability of your development code, please let us know!