Algiers Village Living Communities Challenge Vision Plan

INTRODUCTION
As a project of the Ecovation Hub—the local economic development initiative centered around growing jobs in the green
economy—the Windham Regional Commission and BuildingGreen Inc. partnered to explore certifying a Living Community
Challenge project in the Windham Region. The partners sought towns, communities, and nonprofits interested in pursuing
certification to the Living Community Challenge (LCC) standard through a competitive Call for Letters of Interest in the
winter of 2017.
Through this recruitment process, the Friends of Algiers Village and three of its like-minded community partner
organizations submitted an application, and the project was selected to receive technical assistance from BuildingGreen
and Windham Regional Commission to develop a “Vision Plan.” This Vision Plan is the first step in assessing the feasibility
of developing a LCC master plan for Algiers Village in Guilford, Vermont.
What is the Living Community Challenge?
The Living Community Challenge (LCC) is a voluntary certification program that was recently developed by the
International Living Future Institute (ILFI). An extension of the Living Building Challenge certification system, LCC is widely
regarded as the most advanced measure of sustainability at a community scale. The framework aspires for a “symbiotic
relationship between people and all aspects of the built environment” by laying out a set of goals for town planning
commissions, designers, and contractors to fulfill on any building project that falls within the boundaries of a selfdesignated
“community.”
Communities can be defined as a single block, a park, a campus, or an entire neighborhood or village. Essentially, LCC is
a framework for developing a sustainable community master plan and overlaying social and environmental performance
metrics. More information about this certification program can be found at: http://living-future.org/lcc.
One of the main intersections in Algiers Village in Guilford, Vermont.