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LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND)
SummaryCNU has partnered with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and the Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC) to lay out a coordinated and powerful environmental strategy: sustainability at the scale of neighborhoods and communities. The joint venture, known as LEED for Neighborhood Development (or LEED-ND), is a system for rating and certifying green neighborhoods. LEED-ND builds on USGBC’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) systems, the world's best-known third-party verification that a development meets high standards for environmental responsibility. LEED-ND integrates the principles of new urbanism, green building, and smart growth into the first national standard for neighborhood design, expanding LEED's scope beyond individual buildings to a more holistic concern about the context of those buildings. More than one-third of greenhouse gas emissions are produced by buildings (primarily in heating and cooling), but another third is spent transporting people and goods to and from those buildings -- and transportation emissions are growing much faster. Workplaces, shops and residences -- even energy-efficient ones -- in remote, auto-dependent locations generate vastly more transportation-related emissions than locations in urban places where transit-use, walking, and bicycling are viable options. Simply put, no building can be considered truly green unless it’s in a green urban neighborhood -- and the principles of traditional city and town design as promoted by the CNU are essential guidelines for creating and supporting these neighborhoods. By focusing on traditional neighborhood design principles -- such as density, proximity to transit, mixed use, mixed housing type, and pedestrian friendly neighborhoods -- LEED-ND is recognizing the environmental benefits inherent in New Urbanism. LEED-ND aims to encourage development teams, planners, and local governments to construct sustainable, compact neighborhoods. The new program rates neighborhoods according to four categories: smart location and linkage; neighborhood pattern and design; green infrastructure and buildings; and innovation and design process. Like other LEED systems, this one identifies core prerequisites -- such as avoiding critical wildlife habitat and having streets open to the general public -- as well as dozens of additional characteristics, which projects must meet to gain any of the four levels of LEED certification: certified, silver, gold, and platinum. Ultimately, LEED-ND's standardized benchmark will encourage and measure existing trends toward revitalizing existing urban areas with walkable neighborhoods, consequently reducing the number of automobile trips and preserving natural, undeveloped lands. 
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CommentPlease review and comment on the current draft of LEED-ND. This public comment period represents the best opportunity for urbanists to advise the core committee as they put the finishing touches on the rating system. USGBC is hosting the online commenting form. After a simple sign-in function, you can target comments to specific prerequisites and credits. Refer to CNU's guide to the recent changes for more information. Join the LEED-ND Corresponding Committee to receive up-to-date information on the rating system. Email nd@committees.usgbc.org . Timeline
ResourcesCurrent Draft Pilot Version
General Information
Contact informationNora Beck, CNU Planning Associate, 312/551-7300, nbeck {at} cnu org |