Just Communities Information Exchange

Housing and Transportation Affordability Index

The Housing and Transportation (H+T®) Affordability Index is an online tool that provides a comprehensive view of affordability that includes both the cost of housing and the cost of transportation at the neighborhood level.

Zero Net Energy Communications Toolkit

The Zero Net Energy Communications Toolkit is a set of online resources developed by the New Buildings Institute and Resource Media to address zero net energy (ZNE) communications goals. The toolkit answers commonly asked questions about ZNE and provides messaging for consistent communications around this ultra-efficiency goal.

Participatory Asset Mapping Toolkit

Healthy City's Participatory Asset Mapping Toolkit is an instructional guide that provides community-based organizations with concepts, methods and tools to collect knowledge and experiences from community members about local assets.

Building Healthy Places Toolkit

ULI’s Building Healthy Places Toolkit: Strategies for Enhancing Health in the Built Environment outlines evidence-supported opportunities for enhancing health outcomes in real estate developments. The toolkit is a useful complement to the EcoDistricts Protocol Health + Wellbeing Priority area.

Mobile Grocery Store Units

Mobile grocery units are gaining momentum as a way of combatting food deserts. The USDA defines food deserts as “a census tract with a substantial share of residents who live in a low income area that have low access to a grocery store or healthy affordable retail outlet.” Their mobility allows for outreach to multiple neighborhoods at a time.

Transportation Demand Management

Transportation demand management (TDM) refers to various strategies that change travel behavior (how, when, and where people travel) in order to increase the efficiency of transport and parking systems in alignment with planning objectives. Many factors affect people’s transport decisions, including the relative convenience and safety of travel modes, cost and land use.

District Wastewater Management

District wastewater management systems provide collection, treatment and dispersal or reuse of wastewater from individual buildings or clusters of buildings near the location where the waste is generated. Studies indicate that more distributed methods of wastewater collection, which rely mostly on gravity-fed pipes, will have fewer negative environmental impacts than systems that expend large amounts of energy for conveyance.

Active Living

According to the Active Living Research program from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, active living integrates physical activity into the daily routines of people — 30-60 minutes per day. To facilitate and support opportunities for active living, a focus on the built environment and good urban design is essential—including neighborhoods, transportation systems, buildings, street and sidewalk design, parks and open space.

District Stormwater Management

District-scale “green” infrastructure helps preserve the local on-site water balance. They not only reduce the amount of stormwater available for runoff, but also the pollution from urban nonpoint sources that enter local streams. Neighborhood-scale stormwater management should begin with rainwater management at the site or individual property level and then scale up to the watershed level.