GreenTRIP Imagines a San Jose That Balances Population Density with Smart Development

 

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Imagine a San Jose with more people, but less traffic.  Imagine a walkable, bikeable, and more environmentally friendly San Jose.  Imagine an even more vibrant and diverse  San Jose, made possible by a lower cost of living.  That San Jose is exactly what TransformCA imagines every day.

On Wednesday, TransformCA launched GreenTRIP Platinum Certification, an expansion of their GreenTRIP program. GreenTRIP stands for Traffic Reduction and Innovative Parking, and it’s a new way to think about real estate development.

It’s pretty simple: real estate projects that require less parking (by, for example, giving public transportation passes to residents, incorporating carshare spaces into the development’s design, and adding bike racks) are less expensive to build and thus less expensive to live in.  GreenTRIP certification measures how well residential real estate
projects incentivize residents to use non-car transportation.  Screen Shot 2015-01-29 at 7.48.07 AM

San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo speaking at  the GreenTrip launch TransformCA imagines a future where real estate developers seek GreenTRIP certification in the way today they might seek LEED certification.  As San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo put it on Wednesday, real estate development based on GreenTRIP principles could help “retrofit a city built for automobiles into a city build for people.”

Microsoft is very proud to join the Knight Foundation in supporting TransformCA’s GreenTRIP project.  To learn more about TransformCA’s vision of smart growth, visit their site: www.transformca.org.