Parking Lot to Become Sustainable City Block
By MELISSA NEWTON
Updated 8:41 AM CST, Wed, Jul 29, 2009
A project currently under design in Dallas could put downtown on the environmental map.
Directly behind Dallas City Hall, on what's now a parking lot, will someday flourish a fully sustainable urban city block.
"When I think about sustainable, I look at it from an economic point of view, an environmental point of view and a structural point of view," says Urban Revision founder, Stacey Frost.
Surrounded by tall buildings, this block will eventually function somewhat like an urban oasis -- generating its own energy and even growing its own food.
"Hopefully what will happen here, there's residences, there's jobs there, maybe people working and living in the same place like we used to do 100 years ago," explains Building Community Workshop director, Brent Brown.
Still in the preliminary stages of design, the sustainable city block is a new concept for north Texas.
"I think this is pretty revolutionary across the country," says Brown.
And the framework for the design is being drawn up entirely in the minds of community members
Stacey Frost believes, "today we're introducing that framework to dallas, bringing all the experts and key players together, getting their input for what the content is that needs to be in the block."
"We're looking at how it should be first instead of coming in with some preconceived idea of this is what we have to do," Brown agreed.
A vision to pave the way toward a healthier environment and economy.
The project is still in the beginning stages. Groundbreaking could be more than a year away.
First Published: Dec 6, 2008 9:28 AM CST
You Might Like
You have 2000 characters left
