Algiers Village Living Communities Challenge Vision Plan

LCC PETALS / IMPERATIVES
The following sections are a review of how Algiers Village might meet each of the Living Community Challenge “ Petals”
and “Imperatives.”
This report does not contain the level of detail that might be expected from a Masterplan. Instead, this Vision Plan lays
out an aspirational goal of what Algiers Village could be if multiple entities work together to achieve a common goal.
Although there is much work needed to parse out individual responsibilities, the four nonprofits that initiated this project
have aligned around the common vision expressed herein.
Every project must define the community’s site boundary and select a category based on the density of the area. Algiers
Village falls into the LCC’s category of Village or Campus Zone. 1 The Living Community Challenge is organized into seven
performance areas (Petals). Each performance area has a number of more detailed requirements (Imperatives). Each
Imperative will be analyzed to see if Algiers Village can meet the Living Community Challenge requirements. The following
LCC Petal descriptions are from the International Living Future Institute’s website.
LIVING COMMUNITY CHALLENGE
PERFORMANCE AREAS & IMPERATIVES SUMMARY
Refer to the following pages for a full discussion of how the Algiers Village Vision Plan may address each of these
Performance Areas (or, LCC “Petals”) and Imperatives.
PLACE
Restoring a healthy interrelationship with nature.
The intent of the Place Petal is to clearly articulate in a Community where it is acceptable for people to build and how
to protect and restore a place once it has been developed, and to encourage the creation of Communities that are
once again based on the pedestrian rather than the automobile. In turn, these Communities should be supported by
local and regional agriculture, since no truly sustainable Community can rely on globally sourced food production.
WATER
Creating developments that operate within the water balance of a given place and climate.
The intent of the Water Petal is to realign how people use water and to redefine “waste” in the built environment,
so that water is respected as a precious resource. Scarcity of potable water is quickly becoming a serious issue as
many countries around the world face severe shortages and compromised water quality. Even regions that have
avoided the majority of these problems to date due to a historical presence of abundant fresh water are at risk: the
impacts of climate change, highly unsustainable water use patterns, and the continued draw-down of major aquifers
portend significant problems ahead. A water-independent community is a stronger, more resilient community, and the
Challenge calls for Communities that honor the realities of each project’s bioregion.
1 LCC refers to the category as a Living Transect, and bases this on the community’s current zoning and/or density. Algiers Village does not
have zoning, but based on the Floor Area Ratio of the existing density within the proposed boundary, the Village falls into LCC Transect L3: Village or
Campus Zone (FAR of 0.1 – 0.49). Floor area ratio (FAR) is the measurement of a building’s floor area in relation to the size of the lot/parcel that the
building is located on. Typically, FAR is calculated by dividing the gross floor area of a building(s) by the total buildable area of the piece of land upon
which it is built.