The Sustainable Urban Design Handbook

The Sustainable Urban Design Handbook gathers the best sustainability practices and latest research from the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, planning, development, ecology, and environmental engineering and presents them in a graphically rich and accessible format that can help guide urban design decisions in cities of all sizes.

The book presents a comprehensive framework that organizes more than 50 elements of sustainable urban design under five main topics-Energy Use & Greenhouse Gas, Water, Ecology & Habitat, Energy Use & Production, and Equity & Health-and relative to four project scales: Region & City, District & Neighborhood, Block & Street, and Project & Parcel. Each element chapter includes a summary of importance and background, compares typical practices and recommended approaches, explains connections to other elements, and concludes with urban design guidelines that can be used to directly inform projects and decisions.

Easy to use and reference, The Sustainable Urban Design Handbook provides both an in-depth introduction to topics across sustainable urban design and serves as an on-going reference for anyone involved in the creation of sustainable urban environments. This resource will be useful to design and planning professionals, community members, students, and elected officials in guiding decisions about our sustainable future.

Nico Larco, AIA, is a Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at the University of Oregon where he is the Director of the Urbanism Next Center and Co-Director of the Sustainable Cities Institute. Prof. Larco researches and teaches sustainable urban design, has developed the Sustainable Urban Design Framework, and assists projects in how best to apply these principles and approaches. His work around Urbanism Next is focused on how technological advances such as new mobility, autonomous vehicles, e-commerce and the sharing economy are changing city form and development. Prof. Larco assists cities and projects with future-proofing, has run workshops and charrettes nationally and internationally on this topic, and is currently coordinating work in this area with various municipal and state agencies across North America and in Europe. He is also a Strategic Advisor at TNO, a Dutch think-tank. Prof. Larco has published in various academic and professional journals and his work has been covered by Wired, the New York Times, Fast Company, Bloomberg News, Forbes, the Financial Times of London, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. He was a Fulbright Scholar in 2012/13 in Spain at the Polytechnic University of Catalunya and at the University of Navarra, a Visiting Professor at TU Delft in 2018/19, and was a Fulbright Scholar in 2019 at the Pontificia Universidad Católica in Chile. He has testified on his research to the US Congress, has worked on research for the European Commission, and was a speaker at TEDx College Park.

Kaarin Knudson, AIA, is an architect, urban designer, educator, and advocacy leader with more than 20 years’ experience working to advance sustainable design and community-led solutions. She works with organizations and project teams to integrate sustainable urban design goals, housing policy innovation, and participatory design process in projects of all scales. She founded her design consulting firm and the housing advocacy organization, Better Housing Together, in 2017. In the decade prior, Kaarin led award-winning urban design, planning, and architectural projects in Oregon, and her work was recognized by the American Institute of Architects at the urban, campus, building, and interior scales. Most recently, Kaarin has advocated for and advised on the implementation of Oregon’s landmark ＂middle housing＂ laws, which ended exclusionary zoning in cities and expanded the range of housing types allowed in typical single-family-only neighborhoods state-wide. Since 2008, Kaarin has taught architecture and urban design at the University of Oregon, where her advanced design studios have explored sustainable urban design, inclusive architecture, democracy, and environmental justice. She speaks at regional and national conferences about housing, sustainable cities, and the complex work of guiding community change.