A typical car-dominated city downtown with larger box-like buildings and “ample parking,” with its associated congestion, smog and paving of surrounding land for sprawl. Ref: http://ecocitybuilders.org/downtown.html

The downtown in transition: restructuring while recycling building materials, digging up once-buried natural waterways, adding pedestrian infrastructure and building upon a transition to “mixed uses” and “balanced development” in which the important activities are provided for within a short distance.

Ref: http://ecocitybuilders.org/downtown.html

An ecocity downtown with waterways restored, bridges between buildings, pedestrian streets, solar active and passive energy technology and design, rooftop access to elevated “streets” and bridges between buildings. Slowly, people are moving in from the suburbs toward city and town centers using development profits to help pay for buying and removing buildings in automobile dependent areas. Now the city center runs on a fraction of the energy as before, has streets filled with fruit trees, is extremely friendly to the pedestrian and the whole city takes up much less room, making room for more agriculture and natural land.

Ref: http://ecocitybuilders.org/downtown.html