San Francisco’s so-called Treasure Island may become the Super-Green City of the Future:
Built for the Golden Gate International Exposition in 1939, Treasure Island was claimed as a Naval base during World War II. When the base was finally decommissioned 11 years ago, San Francisco began studying how to redevelop it. From nearly 300 meetings among city officials, engineers, architects and the public emerged a plan for the most ambitious new community in the United States—a 13,500-person “urban oasis” that will rise from the soil of reclaimed Superfund sites, combining cutting-edge technology with restored natural systems to leave a light footprint on the Earth. After ground is broken in 2009, Treasure Island will become a testbed for the newest ideas in energy efficiency, water conservation, waste management and low-impact living. Says Rogers, with idealism undaunted by the task ahead: “We want it to be the most ecological city in the world.”
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Turning Treasure Island into the archetype of an ideal city—one in which residents want to live, work and play—requires completely re-envisioning how it will be laid out. The single-family homes on cookie-cutter lots will disappear, Rogers explains, and current renters will be able to apply for new multifamily units and residential towers concentrated on the island’s south and west edges. Housing density will increase from eight to 75 units per acre, allowing developers to double the amount of land left as open space while accommodating five times as many people.The sprawling blocks, which now stretch up to 2000 ft. long, will shrink to a pedestrian-friendly 400 ft., and 90 percent of residents will be within a 10-minute walk of downtown. There, they will be able to access stores and services such as a post office and a new ferry terminal that will provide frequent shuttles to San Francisco. Bicycle lanes will connect residents to Yerba Buena Island and the east span of the Bay Bridge.
Similar “new urbanist” principles have been applied to communities across the country, such as Stapleton on the site of Denver’s old airport. But Treasure Island’s planners take the ideas one step further. After analyzing weather patterns, for example, they decided to reorient street grids 35 degrees west of due south to optimize solar exposure and protection from the wind. Not only will the diagonal alignment make outdoor spaces more comfortable throughout the year, it will save energy on heating, cooling and lighting structures.
All the buildings on Treasure Island will meet the gold standard of the U.S. Green Building Council, further reducing energy consumption. In the island’s 220 acres of open space, a new, biologically diverse ecosystem—including plants found in coastal prairie and oak woodlands—will help offset the city’s greenhouse gas emissions by locking up carbon dioxide. This natural sequestration, together with increased energy efficiency and a decreased reliance on automobiles, will drop per capita carbon emissions 60 percent, from 7740 to 3030 pounds per year.