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From miserable city to one planet community
Stockton’s housing market is badly suffering from the economic downturn. The City was recently ranked by Forbes Magazine as one of the 10 most 'miserable cities' in the US. Further, Stockton was challenged by the California Sate Attorney General to provide a revised General Plan that will guide the transformation of the City from a dormitory community to a place that reduces carbon emissions, preserves farmland and encourages compact urban form.
While smart growth can aide in meeting carbon reduction targets set for 2020, achieving 2050 goals will require substantive change - not only to planning & building practice, but to lifestyle. A challenge of ‘The Preserve’ Master Development Plan is to create urbanism that re-brands Stockton, and, provides legitimate employment and lifestyle opportunity complementary of its’ downtown core.
The Preserve MDP articulates a compelling vision that promotes the transformation of Stockton, establishing it as a leader of sustainable planning and design (specifically in energy, water, transportation, and material systems) and is instrumental in re-defining Stockton at the leading edge of Green House Gas reduction and sustainable development for the region.
The Preserve is one of a limited number of communities developing master plans in collaboration with BioRegional and is eligible to receive endorsement as a 'One Planet' Community. The Preserve embraces BioRegional’s 10 principles which seek to reduce the ecological footprint of residents to a truly sustainable One Planet level by 2020, without sacrificing lifestyle.
Critical to the evolution of Stockton, the PMDP presents a compelling and innovative framework that directly confronts five key urban and environmental issues impacting the Central Valley: Unbalanced Market-based Urbanism; Loss of Strength of Central Cities; Carbon Emission Reduction; Loss of Agricultural Land; and Loss of Habitat.
The Preserve MDP is the product of an aggressive, far-reaching sustainable agenda, undertaken in a comprehensive manner, by a team of leading professionals committed to substantive change of paradigm.
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