Smart-Cities & Eco-Villages
We provide an integrated approach to Resilient Township Planning that prioritizes a holistic process in the township development concept.
Develop Resilient Community Planning and Design Concepts
Resilient Community Planning is an integrated approach to creating a concept for community development. Every parcel of land in a city or town is different, requiring various zoning responses, environmental considerations and cultural adherences.
However, by respecting the genius loci and local regulations, and by using sound land use planning principles and cohesive, intentional design guidelines, we can help you reduce economic and environmental costs while enhancing community livability. Think about the philosophies behind new urbanism and smart growth—walkability and the prioritization of people over vehicles.
At Nadi Group, we understand that multi-scale challenges require multi-scale solutions. Therefore, it’s critical to consider the community as an ecosystem of integrated structures that work independently and together, offering support and redundancy if a disruption occurs.
We believe that the integration of renewable energy technologies and the careful management of natural resources, including vegetation, wetlands and water that are essential to a thriving residential township.
What is a Community Development Concept?
A community development concept is preliminary step towards developing a master planned community for a large, planned residential neighborhood. It collects and prioritizes the client's needs and challenges to determine the best course moving forward.
In contrast to many residential subdivisions, Master Planned Communities are often self-contained mini-cities with several recreational and commercial amenities. The general development idea with a Master Planned Community is that a master developer will acquire a massive land parcel, which can vary between 2,000-10,000 acres (or greater) located in an urban or suburban environment.
The development may become one significant residential area or broken down and phased into multiple neighborhoods. Usually, the developer will gradually sell it to residential builders or commercial developers to build out the community over time.
We help developers create master planned communities with:
Each feature can be viewed as a Jenga piece, when you remove a piece, the structure (township) becomes less sturdy (resilient). The key to a successful and popular master-planned community is delivering a strong sense of belonging and neighborhood design to homeowners—your clients.
Meanwhile, community spaces have the power to bring people together and beautiful public amenities can influence where people choose to live, work or play. An appealing community image and desirable outdoor amenities can create uniquely recognizable community identity, make your project more competitive, and improve resident’s quality of life.
When we think of public spaces, we think of green space, benches, monuments and more. The most successful public spaces offer various amenities that can entertain and support a diverse range of people. Urban specialist Sangmoo Kim writes for the World Bank Organization, “Public spaces are the living rooms, gardens and corridors of urban areas. They serve to extend small living spaces and providing areas for social interaction and economic activities, which improves the development and desirability of a community.”
At Nadi Group, we see the intrinsic value of public spaces. However, like many of our projects, we approach developing public spaces with their genius loci in mind. In the context of public spaces, this is called placemaking. The art of placemaking “inspires people to collectively reimagine and reinvent public spaces as the heart of every community… [facilitating] creative patterns of use, [and] paying particular attention to the physical, cultural and social identities that define a place and support its ongoing evolution.”
Successful and engaging public amenities support a greater sense of place and local character, which in turn, brings people together, creating stronger connections, safer streets and better value. Even incremental changes or updates to current spaces within established communities has insurmountable benefits. At the Nadi Group, we’ve built a robust portfolio enhancing public spaces that meet and exceed the community’s needs.
Water Feature
Even the mere sound of water can transform how a person feels at that moment, which is why fountains and water features should be essential tools in the development of public spaces.
There are many ways to incorporate a fountain or water feature into a public space—it can act as a decorative piece, an entertainment piece or a functional piece of infrastructure.
Landscape architects and designers can use and manipulate water in landscapes to produce different experiences for the user. They can design fountains and water features to act as a playground (splash pad), a hub or wayfinding device, or a place to cool off in (mist).
Land Art
Land art extends far beyond the confines of the space. It shapes, critiques and captures the history, time and essence of where it’s placed, creating “more vibrant expressions of human imagination.” It’s a collaborative process to create a piece of permanent land art that has longevity.
Artists, city councillors, government, design firms and communities work together to create a piece of public art that evokes a stronger sense of place and identity. It can also integrate within the built environment, “[breaking] the trend of blandness and sameness” and addressing issues such as health, safety and wayfinding.
Public Plaza
The National Institute of Building Sciences defines a public plaza as “a community amenity that serves a variety of users, including building tenants and visitors and members of the public.”
Public spaces, like a plaza, are instrumental to any city, town or community as they can be a wayfinding feature, offer opportunities for passive and active recreation and provide a canvas for public artwork.
Private Gathering Spaces
Now, more than ever, private outside gathering spaces remain a critical component of any development. With innovation and creativity at the forefront, we can approach these spaces to form patios, dog parks and green roofs used exclusively by the people who live, work or play in the corresponding building.
It’s an essential amenity to include as it provides physical, emotional and mental benefits, but also environmental considerations that will add value to the property, including rainwater harvesting, sense of place and community gardening.
Recreational / Urban / Public Park
Parks and open spaces are necessary for the health and wellbeing of our cities and communities. They offer opportunities for passive and recreational opportunities, mental relaxation and a deeper relationship with nature. Moreover, parks and open spaces provide a space for people who cannot easily access green space of their own.
We can’t ignore the power these spaces have on the community, including revitalization efforts, engagement, economic development, safety, environmental stewardship, learning, arts and culture, and tourism.
When you develop a community that includes these features, it creates inherent value, and people will come to live, work and play.
How Does Resilient Township Planning Compare to New Urbanism and Smart Growth?
Resilient Township Planning finds inspiration and direction from New Urbanism and Smart Growth. Walkable streets, mixed housing, commercial areas and accessible public spaces remain at the forefront of our work in this practice area.
Why Hire The Nadi Group For Your Resilient Township Planning Project?
At the Nadi Group, we help developers create unique and memorable township design concepts through three tiers listed in this section.
We take a holistic approach to Resilient Township Planning. However, small incremental changes or upgrades will also have a significant impact on your project. We can help guide you and ensure that your township base design has value, growth and longevity from the onset of its development or from any enhancements you choose to make.
New Urbanism Overview
New Urbanism is a planning and development approach based on the principles of how cities and towns had been built for the last several centuries: walkable blocks and streets, housing and shopping in close proximity, and accessible public spaces.
In other words: New Urbanism focuses on human-scaled urban design. (Congress for the New Urbanism)
Smart Growth Overview
Smart Growth is an approach to smart city development that encourages a mix of building types and uses, diverse housing and transportation options, development within existing neighborhoods, and community engagement.
The following ten principles are considered the foundation of a smart growth approach: mixed land uses; compact design; a range of housing opportunities and choices; walkable neighborhoods; distinctive, attractive communities with a strong sense of place; open space, farmland, natural beauty and critical environmental areas; development for existing communities; a variety of transportation choices; development decisions predictable, fair and cost-effective; and community and stakeholder collaboration in development decisions. (Smart Growth America).
Human-scaled urban design principles remain a critical component to ensure resiliency. These approaches prioritize residents of a township (or community or municipality) to build a more equitable base with considerable room for growth and innovation.
FAQs
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the process, timeline, and requirements for Resilient Township Planning.
Community resilience is the sustained ability of communities to withstand, adapt to, and recover from adversity. A resilient community is socially connected and has infrastructure that can withstand disasters or extreme weather events, fostering strong community recovery.
Resilience planning is a process that communities can undertake to identify potential hazards and threats, and then establish adaptation, mitigation, and recovery plans. The goal is to reduce likely impacts and ensure that key infrastructure systems continue operating, or quickly begin providing services again. The two key components of the process are assessing risks and addressing risks through developing action plans.
Resilient planning is never a ‘one-and-done’ process. It is reiterative and needs to be consistently updated with constantly updated data and futureproofing.
There are usually multiple streams of community feedback: resident and municipal feedback most importantly. Collecting and responding to both streams is critical to a successful project. Resident consultation, in tandem with early municipal input and feedback, always inform our design process.
Common challenges include identifying the most likely risks to a community; accurately assessing these risks; having proper guidance in developing viable actions plans and assembling the resources with which to implement these plans in a timely manner.
Client Testimonials
Hear directly from those who have partnered with the Nadi Group and see the impact of our expertise on their projects.
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