The Greening of Urban America

“It’s all about making buildings more sustainable–designing and building them in a more sustainable way, so that they don’t require so much maintenance and energy to keep them going,” he explains, noting that sustainability incorporates more than just the design of a particular building. “One of the most important things you can do is build in the right place. It’s not just what you build, it’s where you build.”

Marchetto notes that were he to build the most sustainable, energy-efficient building imaginable in one of New Jersey’s many suburban office parks, the amount of energy used and carbon emissions created by people driving there would far outweigh any benefits provided by the building’s design.

Instead Marchetto is a major proponent of the “new urbanism.” “One of the most important things in LEED about sustainability for me is trying to build near public transportation. It’s really important that we have these transit village type of locations where people live and work in proximate areas so that the energy isn’t wasted just moving back and forth to get to work or to get home. That’s why it’s so important where you build.”

He notes that by 2050, the U.S. population is expected to grow by 40%, and wonders where all those people will live. “The idea of mixed use is extremely important–buildings that have office, hotel, residential, retail, parking, all in the same building. So one of the things we’re moving to–besides building in areas that have transportation–are buildings with multiple uses,” he says.

Although some ideas sound a little more far-fetched than others, Marchetto is certain that there’s a revolution going on in urban planning. He’s currently in the approval process for a 60-story building in downtown Jersey City that would include a Whole Foods in the basement, three stories of additional retail space, a public plaza, several floors of parking, offices, conference space, and about half-way up the building a sky lobby topped by hotel rooms and residences. The skyscraper is topped by solar panels that swivel to follow the sun’s movement and provide some of the building’s electricity.

Another project that he’s involved with would replace an existing parking garage with a building that includes parking, a charter school, ground-floor retail space, and residences. “On the roof of the parking garage is a big enough plot–5,000 or so square feet–where we could plant rows and rows of vegetables. Imagine if people could just go up on the roof and pick some lettuce for dinner or if you were driving by and saw corn growing on the roof. It would really change how people think about what you can do in an urban environment.”

He acknowledges that while the building could never produce all the food for its residents and that the details about the rooftop farm would need to be worked out, anything that can reduce the distance food travels to our tables is a good thing.

Going Green Takes Green

One of the problems with green building, Marchetto acknowledges, is that much of the technology, such as solar panels, is still very expensive, “although it’s becoming more affordable, and more precise, so you get more energy.” He says that incorporating green factors into a building’s design can increase the building cost by 5% to 10%. Some of those additional expenses can be recouped through tax breaks or reduced energy and maintenance costs.

In urban environments, Marchetto prefers to retrofit existing buildings, noting that while it can be more difficult to work with a building originally constructed for a different purpose 100 years ago, it has advantages beyond the aesthetic. While some of the adaptations may be expensive, you don’t have to tear down and cart away the existing structure, not to mention LEED points for saving the building.

“On a building-by-building approach all of these things can apply, but in my mind they’re only a small fraction of the overall approach to sustainable,” Marchetto says. “The biggest, most important thing is compactness and living and working near public transportation and to stop sprawling out.”

Managing Editor Robert F. Keane can be reached at [email protected].