Eco-Districts: The Latest Architecture and News

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Renzo Piano Building Workshop has designed a series of ‘floating’ seaside residences for a new eco-district in Monaco. Dubbed Portier Cove, the eco-district will be a new extension of the Principality’s existing coastline from the Grimaldi Forum to the Formula One tunnel. RPBW is working on the construction of the Grand Immeuble and the Port d’Animation, which will occupy the west side of the offshore extension of Monaco. The floating residences will rise above a seaside promenade on caissons along the coast.

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San Francisco's Planning Department is working with California's sustainability guidelines to structure growth within the city in accordance with the state's requirements and the city's goals through the department's Sustainability Development Program. The program aims to reduce water consumption, reduce waste and enhance community-scale energy resources. To aid in the fulfillment of these goals, the program is implementing a tool called Eco-Districts - a community of property owners, businesses and residents within a neighborhood that collaborate to develop and initiate sustainable development projects in their area. Using a set of performance metrics, neighborhoods can shape their projects with custom strategies for their community.

The Eco-District is fundamentally a community-driven development that has the potential to achieve the smart growth of sustainable ideas but also build local urban identity and enforce a sense of place among its residents. The Eco-District movement has already taken shape in Austin, TX; Boston, MA; Seattle, WA; Washington, DC; and Portland, OR is various degrees of development. San Francisco's adoption of this tool will help drive the successes of the Sustainability Development Program with a focus on holistic approaches of neighborhood development and support with environmentally conscious improvements.

Read on for more about the types of Eco-Districts that have been developed in San Francisco.