Mixed-use, new urban developments, such as vibrant Melrose Arch, can reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions, explains Gauteng Regional Director for Amdec Property Development, Nicholas Stopforth.

When it comes to 'green development' Amdec, the foremost developers of mixed-use property, already has an edge on other local property development companies.

Amdec owns 50% of the landmark mixed-use Melrose Arch in Johannesburg and is also the appointed development manager for Melrose Arch, driving the roll out of all development projects on the prestigious multi-use precinct. Amdec is also undertaking the development of the old Conradie Hospital on 22ha of ground in Cape Town's Pinelands with 300,000m2 bulk of mixed-use property. Furthermore, Amdec is currently converting 47,000m2 of bulk at 120 End Street, centrally located near Ellis Park in Doornfontein in Johannesburg, into 925 affordable apartments.

Green development is globally topical at the moment. In South Africa it has been given prevelance with the formation of SAPOA's Green Building Council, creating an awareness of how planning, design, facilities, services and the construction of buildings, neighbourhoods and cities contribute to the carbon footprint.

According to a recent article in The Philadelphia Inquirer by John Norquist, the president and CEO of this year's Congress for New Urbanism, "we would use less energy living closer together. High–rise cities like Philadelphia and New York rarely come to mind as models of environmentalism, but they should. With people living closer to each other, walking more and taking advantage of public transit, cities have powerful environmental advantages".

Of course, notes Norquist not everyone can be, or wants to be, a dweller of New York or Centre City Philadelphia. "The good news is that a variety of neighbourhoods help reduce greenhouse gas emissions," he reports. "When it comes to energy consumption and carbon-dioxide emission, development patterns matter," stresses Norquist.

How and where we build new homes, offices, shops, restaurants, public parks and other facilities makes a difference, and new urbanism, such as that of Melrose Arch, is proving especially effective in this cause.

"Millions of dwellings will need to be built in this country over the next few decades. Urban life has become a market favourite. A good solution to meeting the need for housing and, simultaneously, green development is building a good portion of these homes in livable, walkable, 'high street' traditional neighbourhoods," says Stopforth.

Contrary to what you would expect, New Yorkers generate on average 7.1 metric tons of greenhouse gasses in a year, two-thirds less than the average 24.5 metric tons generated by most Americans, according to a report prepared for New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's green blueprint.

"The freedom to load up a car or bakkie and hit the road is part of the South African identity. That isn't the problem. The problem is how much you use that bakkie," says Stopforth.

Norquist explains that extreme driving patterns stem from highway-based transportation systems and zoning patterns that have become the norm in the last 50 years. "Today's standard zoning requires homes to be in suburbs, offices in office parks, stores in mall or along big-box strips, even places of worship are often safely away from any chance that they'll be reachable on foot," he says.

Fortunately, alternatives are gaining momentum. Miami, for example, is one of several cities reworking its zoning to encourage neighbourhood-based development. Hurricane-damaged Gulfport, Mississippi, recently adopted an alternative code that will help create neighbourhoods of character and value, not sprawl.

Amdec's Melrose Arch, with its close proximity to all urban necessities in a mixed-use environment, provides a superior level of convenience, easily linking people with their living, working, retail and social facilities through pedestrianised areas and public transport systems.

"Mixed-use developments also provide environmental benefits, with decreased petrol and diesel consumption and reduced pollution, and important health and social benefits such as reducing time and stress of driving and providing a safe environment," says Stopforth.

This international 'high-street' style of living reduces fuel consumption and is also able to leverage off bulk infrastructure, which means the buildings themselves, and not only the people who live in them, consume less energy, with the related environmental benefits.

"The vision for Melrose Arch of commercial, retail and residential space in a single precinct has proved farsighted, resulting in its increasing appeal," says Stopforth, who believes that, even with all this, Melrose Arch can further reduce its carbon footprint and could even earn carbon credits, alluding to a revolutionary environmental initiative which Melrose Arch expects to announce in the near future.

"New-urbanism is certainly growing in popularity and mixed-use precincts meet the needs of those who value time, convenience, safety and the environment while thriving on the vibrant urban energy, providing practical living within a big city," says Stopforth.

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