October 11, 2019
Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) Information

Research-Based Articles

Environment-Sustainability-Preservation

• Density Without Demolition –Tearing down old buildings won’t make our cities more affordable or inviting. It’s time to make better use of the buildings and spaces we already have.
• Why the Most Environmental Building is the Building We’ve Already Built – A new report suggests that retrofitting is almost always more energy efficient.
• When a House is Demolished More than a Home is Lost – demolition and construction now account for 25% of the solid waste that ends up in US landfills each year.
• Can Historic Preservation Cool Down a Hot Neighborhood? – The new plan to landmark Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood aims to protect more than just buildings: It’s designed to curb gentrification.
• Why Historic Preservation Needs a New Approach — In hot real estate markets, we lose too many buildings because rapid investment creates conditions that lead to demolition, often as a result of the false claim that it’s the only way to add needed density.
• Effects of Teardowns – As smaller homes are replaced by larger ones, the correlating increase in impervious surfaces makes stormwater management more difficult. When runoff water is not readily absorbed, it charges city storm drains, often overwhelming them, before seeking basements and garages.
• Appetite for Deconstruction – Upwards of 300,000 houses are demolished annually, which generates 169.1 million tons of construction and demolition debris—about 22 percent of the U.S. solid waste stream.
• How Buildings Impact the Environment — Building waste is often disposed of in either landfills or incinerators. Not only does this pollute the land and the air, but the transportation required to remove such waste has a major impact on the environment as well.
• Using the Historic Tax Credit for Affordable Housing – Historic tax credits benefit a wide range of building types and communities throughout the United States – urban centers, small towns, rural areas. They include high-style architect-designed masterpieces as well as simple functional buildings.

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