Urban Myths about Ecology and Development
MYTH
FACT
1
Environmental protection and land development are incompatible.
Careful land development can enhance environmental resources and reduce pressure on more sensitive resources elsewhere.
2
Environmentally sensitive development adds little to market value.
Green projects often achieve premium prices and fast absorption rates.
3
Zoning regulations protect the environment.
Land use regulations often discourage development practices that protect the environment.
4
Compact development causes more environmental harm than low-density development.
Compact development can direct growth away from environmentally sensitive areas.
5
Concentrated development means more traffic congestion.
In dense developments, people drive less, walk more, and use mass transit more.
6
Large-lot residential development preserves open space and reduces infrastructure costs.
Suburban large-lot development often is both ecologically and financially inefficient.
7
Green building practices are too costly to become mainstream.
The economic competitiveness of green features is on a steep upward curve -- with both market share and demand on the rise.
8
Developers and environmentalists are always in conflict.
The growth-versus-environment debate is not an either-or proposition.
Urban Land, Jul 2002, p 54, by David J. O'Neill and Victoria R. Wilbur.
