The Importance of the Environment in Traditional Neighborhood Developments

The Importance of the Environment in Traditional Neighborhood Developments

By Raven Halle

As Earth Day approaches and conversations surrounding climate and environment become even more prevalent, it’s increasingly important to talk about and understand the ways in which the place we call home influences the environment—and also how the environment influences our home. Like we’ve examined in prior articles, traditional neighborhood developments (TNDs) focus on using, rather than reducing, their natural environments. In short, traditional neighborhood developments conserve energy through efficient land use while also lessening the dependence on automobiles, which, in turn, promotes pedestrian movement towards parks, lakes, and the other green spaces typical of TNDs.

Where conventional neighborhood developments place precedence on the automobile, traditional neighborhood developments center around foot and bicycle traffic. And although TNDs focus primarily on non-automobile modes of transportation, the consideration of the environment in relation to the automobile is made clear: things like street trees serve to reduce visual pollution, and large, often circular patches of grass help to both mitigate and direct the flow of traffic. These successes in walkability are made possible by working with the land, not against it.

Even in language is the importance of the earth to traditional neighborhoods made evident. For example, we use the term “built environment” to refer to the man-made features of TNDs. Combining “built,” which suggests something not naturally made, with “environment,” which implies an organic component, does much to show that TNDs, at their linguistic core, are concerned with making the best use of organic elements, whether they occur naturally like lakes or are planted, like street trees. These aspects aim to create synergies not only between built and natural environments, but also between residents of a community by inviting more social interaction and lessening the isolating factors found in conventional neighborhoods, such as fenced-in parks and yards. Since we have previously gone into detail about the aforementioned things like pedestrian traffic, street trees, and green spaces, it’s necessary to now view things from a wider lens, especially in relation to Earth Day and the environmental impact of traditional neighborhood developments on their surrounding natural environments. Some base principles of TNDs, including walkability, accessibility, and affordability, further contribute to the earlier conversation about placing more emphasis on bicycle and foot traffic than on vehicular traffic.

This notion alone is huge in terms of sustainability: because TNDs are developed in a way that values walkability and accessibility, it is inherent to most TNDs that automobile-produced carbon emissions are much lower, as non-motor modes of transportation are encouraged more than driving. This, then, ties in with the idea of public transportation.

While many traditional neighborhoods may not have their own forms of public transportation we would consider typical, like buses or subways, it is often the case that we can consider carpooling to be its own sort of public transport. The increase of social interaction as a result of green spaces like parks lead to a greater sense of connection, which can then grow organically into a system of carpooling—whether it be to work, school, a place of worship, or the grocery store.

Further, and on a larger scale, traditional neighborhoods are rendered environmentally sustainable through things that are intentional, like parks and lakes, and things that, like nature, happen organically, like community-grown public transportation. Street trees combat visual pollution and serve as a method of forest conservation; walkability reduces greenhouse emissions; green spaces add fresh, breathable air; and mixed-use buildings cut down on construction. All of these factors exemplify the notion of naturally-occurring sustainability. And it’s because of these things that TNDs are sustainable, and through TNDs, we find connections that ultimately sustain us all.