LEED for Green Neighborhoods

The pilot phase has begun on a new LEED: LEED for Neighborhood Development – the first national standard for neighborhood design. A collaboration between the US Green Building Council, the Congress for the New Urbanism and the Natural Resources Defense Council, the new rating system integrates the principles of smart growth, urbanism and green building.

LEED certification will provide independent, third-party verification that a development’s location and design meet accepted high standards for environmentally responsible, sustainable, development.

The program emphasizes the design and construction elements that knit buildings together in to a neighborhood, and provides guidelines for better location, design and construction of new residential, commercial and mixed use development.

Specifically, the pilot program for neighborhood development evaluates projects in four areas:

– smart location and linkage
– neighborhood pattern and design
– green construction and technology
– innovation and design process

238 projects across the U.S. are participating in the pilot phase, which concludes in early 2008. Comments will be incorporated and the final version of LEED for Neighborhood Development will be released later that year.

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