Green Urbanism

Green and urban. At first glance the two go together like balloons and thumbtacks. But combine green building concepts and urbanist ideals and you’ve got just that, “green urbanism,” a growing movement toward walkable communities that are not just nice to live in but good for the environment, too.

We Americans tend to look for green solutions when we can see the savings, which is why so many people have turned down the thermostat in the winter; turned it up in the summer, and installed curly light bulbs all over the house.


“All those things are really good things for us to do,” said Mark Nickita, president of Archive DS, a Detroit architecture and design firm that specializes in improving urban areas. “But there