Community Innovation Book: Chapter 3 (Location Efficiency)

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Enjoy this brief excerpt from Chapter 3:

"Location efficiency” refers to the economic, environmental, and social effects produced when a high concentration of people lives in a place. Thick human density makes possible the energy efficiencies of mass transit systems...

Location efficiency is why New York City is considered to be perhaps the “greenest” community in America—its wall-to-wall density and crowded subways and buses reduce its carbon-production “footprint,” per capita use of energy, and emissions...

“Rural areas are generally considered to be ‘greener’ than urban areas when it comes to climate change, when in fact the exact opposite is the case,” notes John Cleveland, a CNT director and vice president of the Innovation Network for Communities, in a review of climate change impacts on communities. “Urban environments are extremely energy efficient when compared to suburban and rural environments. For instance, while the average per capita production of carbon dioxide
in the U.S. is 20 tons, the per capita production for New York City is 7 tons and for Chicago 12 tons. Based on these measures, urban environments are more than twice as ‘sustainable’ as suburban and rural environments. The primary reasons for this are dwelling proximity—dwelling units that share walls dramatically increase energy efficiency—and lower Vehicle Miles Traveled due to lower auto ownership, availability of public transit, and closer proximity of services."