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Ecocities
An ecocity is a human settlement that enables its residents to live a good quality of life while using minimal natural resources.

Buildings
Its buildings make best use of sun, wind and rainfall to help supply the energy and water needs of occupants. Generally multistory to maximize the land available for greenspace.

Biodiversity
It is threaded with natural habitat corridors, to foster biodiversity and to give residents access to nature for recreation.

Transport
Its food and other goods are sourced from within its borders or from nearby, in order to cut down on transport costs.

The majority of its residents live within walking or cycling distance of their workplace, to minimise the need for motorised transport.

Frequent public transport connects local centres for people who need to travel further.

Local car sharing allows people to use a car only when needed.

Industry
The goods it produces are designed for reuse, remanufacture, and recycling.

The industrial processes its uses involve reuse of by-products, and minimise the movement of goods.

Economy
It has a labour intensive rather than a material, energy, and water intensive economy, to maintain full employment and minimise material throughput.

—Ecocity definition written by our sister organization, Urban Ecology Australia
Ecocity Builders

PO Box 697
Oakland, CA 94604
Phone/Fax 510-444-4508


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We are a non-profit organization dedicated to reshaping cities, towns and villages for long term health of human and natural systems. Our goals include returning healthy biodiversity to the heart of our cities, agriculture to gardens and the streets, and convenience and pleasure to walking, bicycling and transit. We visualize a future in which waterways in neighborhood environments and prosperous downtown centers are opened for curious children, fish, frogs and dragonflies. We work to build thriving neighborhood centers while reversing sprawl development, to build whole cities based on human needs and “access by proximity” rather than cities built in the current pattern of automobile driven excess, wasteful consumption and the destruction of the biosphere.

(Illustrations: above, Ecocity San Francisco and below, Ecocity New Orleans by Richard Register)

NEWS!

1.Ecocity Builders has been awarded a two year grant from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District under their Regional Strategy category for Climate Protection to explore the Urban Villages approach to sustainable development, working with the City of Oakland and local community partners and organizations

LINK TO OAKLAND PROJECT PAGE

2. Heart of the City Project: With funding from the Helen & William Mazer Foundation and Berkeley patrons, Ecocity Builders has hired celebrated landscape architect Walter Hood to develop a design for Center Street in downtown Berkeley.

LINK TO BERKELEY PROJECT DESIGN PAGE

3. Richard Register has been appointed to San Franciso Mayor Gavin Newsom's newly formed Open Space Task Force.

4. Richard also recently finished serving on Oakland's "Oil Free Oakland by 2020" Task Force. He was appointed by Councilmember Larry Reid, 7th District

5. We successfully convened the 7th International Ecocity Conference (Ecocity World Summit) April 22-26, 2008 in San Francisco.

Jaime Lerner, Keynote Speaker