This series of articles highlights Oakland's emergence as a "green" city, winning awards for its use of renewable energy, installation of solar power, and strategies for improving waterways and restoring watershed habitat (p. 3). It is the first city in the Bay Area to host two LEED platinum certified buildings, and plans are in place for more (p. 3). The city of Oakland recently partnered with the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce to form a "Green Business and Technology Cluster," in which key institutions and companies work towards building more green businesses and clean technology industries in Oakland and the Bay Area (p. 3).
"Oakland goes platinum"
One of the LEED platinum certified buildings is the Natural Sciences building at Mills College. The building, which consists of two labs, classrooms and offices, features green innovations such as a rainwater collection system, displacement ventilation, evaporative cooling, daylighting, and solar energy (p. 4). Downtown, StopWaste.Org's new renovated headquarters, also LEED platinum certified, takes advantage of daylight by having 90% of workspaces contain windows and preserves more than 95% of the original structure. The construction was done with 75% recycled materials and the building is powered by a solar electric system (p. 4).
"Downtown Living: Oakland's Green Scene Grows Up"
Oakland's downtown has undergone a recent renaissance, including an influx of residents, restaurants, shops and an art scene. While some of the buildings are LEED certified, all are environmentally friendly in that infill development in high-density neighborhoods fosters more sustainable living than the suburbs. Much of the infill is also due to former Mayor Jerry Brown's 10K Housing Initiative, which once encouraged developers to build even in neighborhoods that didn¹t at the time seem desirable and which have since become attractive "even in the midst of a nationwide housing slump" (p. 5). One example is The Uptown, slated to open in spring 2008, a "four-city-block development [that] will include 665 rental apartments,
9,000 square feet of retail and a 25,000-square-foot neighborhood park." Since the BART station is only one block away and the development is close to bus lines and will feature an on-site car share, developers expect residents to be much less dependent on private cars for transportation (p. 5).
"Green design a hallmark of building quality"
Many of Oakland¹s commercial buildings are also environmentally friendly. Old construction has been transformed with LEED-certified interiors in the case of the UC Office of the President, the Uptown Arts Building, and the Earthjustice National Headquarters, located in the restored Wakefield building. 1100 Broadway, a new development situated right above the 12th Street BART station, is slated to be restored and rebuilt with green aspects like a roof garden (p. 8). Other large commericial buildings in the pipeline are expected to pursue LEED certification as well (p. 8).
As mentioned by the DAPAC speakers, part of the downtown plan is to make downtown a model for green business and environmental practices and a specific goal is to create more environmental sustainability. The Oakland "green renaissance" is a model for how Berkeley can also become a center for environmentally friendly policies and practices, interwoven with a desire for development, revitalization and growth.
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