Despite wide agreement about its importance to the future of humanity, sustainable urban design remains a complicated, largely fragmented field of practice. The diversity of issues, scales, disciplines, and contexts make it challenging to deliver integrated outcomes that measurably advance sustainability goals.

The Sustainable Urban Design Handbook hopes to change this–through the presentation of a comprehensive approach that makes sustainable urban design achievable in every project, at every scale, in every city. Authors Nico Larco, Professor at the University of Oregon, and Kaarin Knudson, Mayor-Elect of Eugene, Oregon, will share their work and introduce this comprehensive approach.

Drawing from best practices in the field and peer-reviewed research, The Sustainable Urban Design Handbook presents a framework that organizes more than 50 elements of sustainable urban design under five topics—Energy Use & Greenhouse Gas, Water, Ecology & Habitat, Energy Use & Production, and Equity & Health—and relative to four project scales. It is an accessible, graphically rich reference for educators, designers, planners, developers, officials, and anyone engaged with the creation of sustainable urban environments.

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