Original Green: Recovering Sustainable Traditions

Learning Objectives: 1: Explain the environmentally destructive effects of sprawl-inducing zoning and subdivision regulations. 2: Describe the critical need to returning to the patterns of walkable urbanism that has proven sustainable for generations. 3: Assess methods for reversing the harmful effects of sprawl on the built and natural environment by places that are nourishable, accessible, serviceable, and securable, and buildings that are lovable, durable, flexible and frugal. 4: Using Original Green concepts, participants will begin to learn how to reintegrate urbanism into complete, compact, walkable communities and urban centers.

Steve Mouzon has led or contributed to many advances in sustainable place-making and building design. He runs a veritable “skunk works” of sustainability, place-making, and building-making ideas and tools from his office in Miami Beach. He founded the New Urban Guild, which is a group of architects, designers, and other New Urbanists dedicated to sustainable buildings and places native to and inspired by the regions in which they are built. The Guild was instrumental in the creation of the Katrina Cottages concept. Steve’s Katrina Cottage VIII, which opened the second generation of Katrina Cottages, was awarded a Charter Award by the Congress for the New Urbanism. The Guild’s Project:SmartDwelling initiative sets out to redefine the American home much smaller, smarter, and more sustainable. Steve’s SmartDwelling I was featured in the Wall Street Journal’s Green House of the Future story alongside designs by three other notable green architects, including William McDonough. Steve is an architect, urbanist, photographer, and board member of the Transect Codes Council.