Jacobs Advance Planning Group- EcoPlan

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ECOPLAN Integrated Systems Thinking


Jacobs Advance Planning Group By all expert accounts, we are living in the century of the city. The most common challenges facing developing cities today include: urban infrastructure, public finances, economic development, carbon emissions, energy, and public health and safety. These complex problems require dynamic solutions. Our clients’ long-term success is dependent on the collective ability to provide solutions that leverage innovative technology, forwardthinking business models, effective coordination across multiple organizations, and creative public-private partnerships. With our scale and diversity, Jacobs is positioned as a global leader in providing technical solutions toward achieving sustainable EcoCities. Jacobs’ cross-disciplinary efforts have created a unique opportunity to leverage our collective knowledge and experience to develop lasting solutions for our clients.


OUR APPROACH Technology and planning have transformed urban centers from nuclei of pollution and disease to some of the most sustainable and healthy locations on Earth. Jacobs is driven to innovate beyond current practices to create iconic cities which excel at achieving the triple bottom line of environmental, social, and economic sustainability. Maximizing achievements toward the triple bottom line requires an integrated, holistic, and systems based plan evaluated with metrics and championed by local organizations. Successful action creates harmony between people, profit, and nature, allowing each to flourish through mutually-beneficial relationships. We live in a unique period where we can begin integrating nature and technology rather than using technology to overcome our natural environment. Jacobs in collaboration with Biomimicry 3.8 optimizes design by emulating the well-adapted forms and processes of local wildlife. Providing cities the opportunity to fit into their natural environment by using nature’s billions of years of research and development. Jacob’s approach to sustainable cities ensures today’s prosperity does not hinder the possibilities of tomorrow.


Life’s Principles ENVIRONMENTAL

Thirty million species on our planet have learned to live sustainably within the operating conditions of the earth over time by evolving to fit into place, becoming progressively more well-adapted overtime. Human designs in recent human history can be characterized as rather mal-adapted for survival within these operating conditions. We can learn from naure and leverage biomimicry as a design ethos for sustainability to be more well-adapted to the planet.

ECONOMIC

SOCIAL

The evolutionarily successful characteristics of organisms can be summarized by a set of Life’s Principles™ that describe how life is welladapted across species through time. This set of principles has been used to create strategic frameworks for sustainability.

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Jacobs has an alliance with Biomimicry 3.8, who bring Life’s Principles into design through collaboration with our designers. This experience has reminded us that nature does not work in silos. It is integral that we understand nature’s form and use it to create a more resilient and sustainable tomorrow.

Life’s Principles


ECOPLAN ENVIRONMENTAL

One of the challenges faced in achieving sustainability goals is designing with an integrated and holistic systems based approach. Jacobs has developed a methodology based on principles of ecology to guide the optimized physical relationships forming a master plan. The methodology, called ECOPLAN establishes a framework to organize, map, and assign site-specific systems.

SOCIAL

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At this basic organizational level, ECOPLAN provides a mechanism for interaction and intervention, fostering better integration and accounting of resources. This ECOPLAN process yields a more robust and meaningful definition of goals and achievements specific to our projects.

TRANSPORT ENERGY

GOVERNANCE

MATERIALS

COMMUNITY

ECOPLAN makes the often vague and lofty, triple bottom line: people, planet, and profit tangible. Many organizations and project teams still operate in classic silos, following linear processes while working as functionally separate groups. Our designers created the ECOPLAN approach to break down these organizational silos and incorporate a site’s natural, social, and economic context into our solutions. The three categories of Environmental, Social, Economic sustainability are divided into a series of 17 lenses or filters by which a city can be evaluated and measured. A story can and should be told about each lens, including goals, factors, opportunities, partners, and ultimately metrics.

ECONOMIC

FOOD

HEALTH

E C O ECOPLAN PLAN

WATER

EDUCATION

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JOBS

ATMOSPHERE ECOSYSTEM

CULTURE

SHELTER

COMMERCE


Environmental ENVIRONMENTAL

Our environment provides the very resources we need to survive, but improving quality of life and rising populations worldwide are causing us to use resources at an alarming rate. Environmental sustainability protects the integrity of our natural environment and provides opportunities for the community to interact with it responsibly.

ECONOMIC

SOCIAL

Within our environmental category of ECOPLAN, we have 6 distinct lenses in which we use as a guide when designing for environmental sustainability; Ecosystem, Water, Atmosphere, Materials, Energy, and Food. We use these lenses to create integrated strategic plans that improve the environment of communities based on their unique context.

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Australia Education City | Melbourne, Australia


ECOSYSTEM

ECONOMIC

SOCIAL

ENVIRONMENTAL

Preserving and protecting important natural features, agricultural areas and habitats maintains the integrity of native, physical and ecological landscapes, and provides better health and environment for the local population.

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Sustainable University Campus Plan | North Africa


ENVIRONMENTAL

WATER

ECONOMIC

SOCIAL

Ensuring readily available, high-quality water sources is vital to any community. Protecting the hydraulic system through reuse and stormwater management is a secure way to safeguard the health and well-being of residents and wildlife.

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Alaska Railroad Master Plan | Anchorage, Alaska


ENVIRONMENTAL

ATMOSPHERE

ECONOMIC

SOCIAL

Minimizing automobile and fossil fuel dependence and utilizing prevailing winds are just two ways we can dramatically improve local atmospheric conditions and diminish the effects of our daily choices on future generations.

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Buckhead Green | Atlanta Georgia


ENVIRONMENTAL

MATERIALS

ECONOMIC

SOCIAL

Every material is composed of energy. Responsible use of these materials utilizes this embodied energy to its full potential. Quality materials with long life-cycles, renewable materials which can be replenished, and recyclable materials which can be reused are responsible choices in sustaining the future a city.

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Confidential Location


ENVIRONMENTAL

ENERGY

ECONOMIC

SOCIAL

Ensuring adequate and reliable energy production, promoting energy efficient building design standards, and striving to reduce energy consumption through clean alternative energy sources minimize the negative affects we have on our natural resources.

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Energy City Master Plan | Kingdom of Saudi Arabia


ENVIRONMENTAL

FOOD

ECONOMIC

SOCIAL

Protecting valuable agricultural assets from future development and incorporating agriculture into urban design promotes local economies and social sustainability.

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Financial District Master Plan | Changchun, China


ENVIRONMENTAL

Social SOCIAL

Social sustainability can empower a community to create its own cultural identity and redefine wealth, while also creating opportunities for upward mobility through utilizing social infrastructure. An investment in members of a community is an investment toward the city’s future.

ECONOMIC

A socially sustainable city helps advance members of the community to the point of self-actualization. To help cities achieve this, we created 7 lenses to evaluate social sustainability within ECOPLAN; community, culture, health, education, governance, transport, and shelter. Integrating social infrastructure into communities provides opportunities for residents to live more fulfilling and productive lives.

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Arena District | Bellevue, Washington


ENVIRONMENTAL

COMMUNITY

ECONOMIC

SOCIAL

Creating opportunities for social interaction and a range of public spaces such as plazas, parks, and greenways, can vastly improve quality of life. A vibrant community serves as its own economic engine, drawing in more demand for residences and businesses.

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Gaodian TOD Master Plan | Xiamen, China


ENVIRONMENTAL

CULTURE

ECONOMIC

SOCIAL

Cultural facilities can remind us of where we have been, give us a reason to cheer, or stimulate our imagination. Promoting a balance of cultural venues ensures everyone has opportunities enjoy living and learning in their community.

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Arena District | Bellevue, Washington


ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMIC

SOCIAL

HEALTH Access to healthcare is a vital piece of any city, but walkable communities with active recreation, nutritional foods, clean water, and opportunities for social interaction take a preventative approach by supporting a healthy lifestyle.

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The Stitch | Atlanta, Georgia


ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIAL

EDUCATION

ECONOMIC

Fostering world-class, lifelong educational opportunities for all members of a community supports innovation, upward mobility, and a strong future.

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Australia Education City | Melbourne, Australia


ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIAL

Ensuring adequate services and policy helps community members focus on higher needs. This leads to healthier, happier, and more productive lifestyles knowing their general health, safety, and well-being are protected.

ECONOMIC

GOVERNANCE

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Jimei TOD Master Plan | Xiamen , China


ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIAL

Transporting people and goods in a safe and efficient manner has created the global economy we experience today. This ability to efficiently move goods, people, and ideas is just as important at the local scale as the global.

ECONOMIC

TRANSPORT

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Torch Transit Station | Xiamen, China


ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIAL

Housing choice is a key indicator of community health. Citizens should have access to affordable housing within a reasonable distance of their workplace. Variety in price, housing type, and density are important factors in creating integrated and vibrant communities.

ECONOMIC

SHELTER

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Australia Education City | Melbourne, Australia


ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIAL ECONOMIC

Economic $

The ability of cities to facilitate economic productivity has led over half of the world population to live in urban areas. An economically sustainable city creates economic growth by providing great value to residents and the business community without exhausting its human, built, or natural resources The lenses of commerce, value, and jobs are used to evaluate economic sustainability within ECOPLAN and integrate with environmental and social sustainability to promote growth and prosperity.

Financial District Master Plan | Changun, China


ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIAL ECONOMIC

Thriving economies are diverse at every scale. Communities must establish the physical and operational framework necessary to foster local trade and encourage investment. The result is a vibrant and sustainable economic foundation. COMMERCE

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Financial District Master Plan | Changun, China


ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIAL ECONOMIC

Effective land use decisions have a direct correlation to real estate value. Cities and communities that think strategically about transportation, mobility, public space and flexibility see greater land values, experience market pressure, and demand higher rents.

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VALUE

The Stitch | Atlanta, Georgia


ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIAL ECONOMIC

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The presence of and access to jobs are important indicators of community health. One measure for determining community sustainability is the ratio of jobs to housing. Being able to work close to home, having services readily available, and employers with access to skilled employees all help to sustain a vibrant and efficient economy. JOBS

The Stitch | Atlanta, Georgia


Advance Planning Group Ten 10th Street #1400 Atlanta, GA 30309 USA

HOW WE THINK

We Think Strategically

WHAT WE DO

We Develop Solutions Through A Relationship-Based Approach

WHO WE ARE

We Are Professional Consultants, Thought Leaders And Integrators


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