By Don Southerton, KoreaLegal.org Editor
My article in Forbes… I’ve been a long time advisor on the Korea-facing projects providing high level strategy and cross cultural support. In a follow-up article, I plan to look at expectations and reality, plus why Green cars have a role in new urbanism.
New Urbanism: Comparing Songdo, South Korea to Belmar, USA
Songdo, South Korea Master Plan
Guest Post By Don Southerton
I’m a baby boomer. I grew up in a small town of 6,000 in northeastern Pennsylvania—a county seat surrounded by dairy farms. We walked to the elementary school, the neighborhood store for a loaf of bread and maybe a soda, and weekly shopping trips downtown–3 blocks from home. Most backyards displayed gardens with long rows of vegetables, some yards cultivated grape vines, raspberry bushes, or an apple tree. Seasonally, we ate tomatoes, cucumbers and green beans in the summer, then squash, sweet corn, and apples in the fall. Fresh eggs and milk came from local producers. People canned goods for the winter, and most home menus followed the seasons. Long before sustainability, environmentalism, and new urbanism, small town America was rooted in comparable notions.
…Jump forward a few decades; I now live in Belmar, a new urbanism community on the outskirts of Denver, Colorado. New urbanism represents a design movement that promotes walkable neighborhoods where residents live, work, dine, and shop. The communities embrace energy-efficient buildings, smart growth, transit-oriented development, sustainability, and quality of living.
…For Belmar, the developers converted a former 1960s era dying mall into a mixed-use community of 23 city blocks. The community incorporates LEED’s green standards, along with solar farms on the roofs of parking structures, and outdoor street lighting that conforms to the International Dark-Sky Association and limits light pollution. Retail stores like Belmar’s Target were built to meet LEED certification, while corporations including The Integer Group, an international advertising agency, embrace the community’s sustainability and green policies.
What perhaps is most interesting is that my desire to live in Belmar was highly influenced by another high profile new urbanism project—this one on the western coast of South Korea—Songdo International Business District (IBD), a joint venture of New York-based real estate developer Gale International and the engineering and construction arm of South Korea’s steel producer Pohang Iron and Steel Company (POSCO). The urban development is a master planned mixed-use community that set out and conform to rigid international standards for design, sustainability, and, most importantly, an unparalleled quality of life.
…A model for new urbanism, the developer’s vision for Songdo IBD went beyond Green, sustainability, and quality of life with western-style amenities to attract international visitors, residents, and business firms to South Korea. This in turn would pave the way for Koreans to interact more closely with foreigners, and create good jobs for the Korean people.
In both cases the developers set out to transform and reshape communities. For Songdo IBD, the city-size project is built upon reclaimed land and mudflats. For Belmar, it was a greyfield transformation of an aged and dated mall. In both cases, we find extensive master planning, large scale construction, mixed-use development, cultural amenities, and a pedestrian and transit oriented lifestyle with less dependency on automobiles—although I’d like to see the Belmar add some clean energy LPG or electric recharging stations.
….That said, living in Belmar my task at hand is now to look deeper into how closely the developers’ goals and visions for the respective U.S and Korean communities manifests over time. I plan to share my cultural research in future writings. Meanwhile, frequent visits to South Korea and Songdo IBD, along with daily strolls through Belmar will provide first hand impressions of 21st century new urbanism—amid memories on my youth growing up in small town America.
Don Southerton is a consultant, marketing strategist, and researcher for top Korean-based corporations with global business, along with major western firms that have ventures in Korea and Asia Pacific.
Southerton frequently comments in the media on topics including the Korean car market, Green technology, and global business. His work, Chemulpo to Songdo IBD, Korea’s International Gateway was released in August 2009 at the gala opening of the Songdo IBD and the Incheon Global Fair.
CSR, Green, Sustainability, and New Urbanism
Sunday, October 23rd, 2011By Don Southerton, Korealegal.org Editor
If readers don’t mind, I’ll step away from the legal focus of KoreaLegal.org to share some timely thoughts on CSR, Green, sustainability, and especially new urbanism–although there are lots of connections between these topics and South Korea.
My personal and professional interest first grew from involvement in Songdo International Business District, a Green-focused “city of the future” on the west coast of South Korea. Next, over the past years working with Hyundai Motor Group on a number of projects, I’ve learned much about (and been asked to share) their Korean CSR, sustainability, and Green automotive technology.
In addition, I’ve been asked by clients to research Korean firms highly engaged in wind turbine, ocean-wave, and solar technology manufacturing.
Together, a strong interest has been peaked. With an office in Denver, living and working in Belmar, new urbanism community, aligns well with my values. In fact, one of my academic writing projects will look at Korean and American new urbanism.
Belmar, developed by Continuum Partners, is a 22-block mixed use development on the site of the former Villa ItaliaMall. The developers are dedicated to energy-use reduction and the responsible use of limited natural resources.Belmar used the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED) criteria to guide the design and development of many buildings in the project.The project has been designed to reduce automobile reliance and to promote pedestrian and transit activity. There are multiple regional bus routes that circulate through the site with multiple stops (previously, no routes penetrated the 104 acre site). All on-site housing has been built with high quality, sustainable materials and energy conservation technology, ensuring high levels of energy efficiency and green building.
Belmar has worked with Waste Management to implement an expanded single-stream recycling program for all residents as well as office and retail tenants. Much of the construction material from the demolition of the original mall structure has been recycled. 88% of all materials by weight and volume from the original site have been reused. 100%, or in excess of 2 million square feet, of asphalt originally on site was milled into more than 40,000 tons of base material used for temporary roadways and the base under building slabs. Over 200,000 tons of concrete from the original mall slab were crushed and reused on site, the weight of which is equivalent to approximately two aircraft carriers. All steel, copper and aluminum was taken to recycling centers. Glass, doors, windows and light fixtures have been reused in Continuum’s downtown headquarters office as well as the on-site sales and leasing office at Belmar.
Belmar Solar Array
The most visible examples of alternative energy in Belmar are both the wind farm on the developments northwest parking lot and photovoltaic structures on top of the parking garages. The plan is for the system to supply all the electricity for the garages and sell the excess energy it generates back to the grid. 8,300 solar panels will be installed on the roof of three parking garages. The 1.7 megawatt array will generate approximately 2.3 million kilowatt hours of clean electrical energy per year. The power output will offset approximately 5% of the total Belmar power consumption. Solar powered pay-and-display parking kiosks are used to manage 350 on-street parking spaces.
Belmar boasts wind turbines on top of street lights, solar-powered parking meters and some of the most energy-efficient commercial buildings in Denver. The Belmar district also features a small urban wind farm with 14 turbines powering lighting for a large parking lot. The wind farm has the potential to generate 700-900 kilowatt hours of electric power per month.
Approximately 130 mature trees from the original site were transplanted to a temporary nursery site and replanted in the Belmar district.
Finally, all outdoor lighting has been designed in cooperation with the International Dark Skies Association to preserve and protect the nighttime environment and reduce light pollution.
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