Hello Susan,
Thanks for visiting transect.org and discussing these important ideas. Even though I don't live in your county I hope it's OK if I jump in and help with a few questions. There is a Facebook Cause with the following brief explanation of what transect-based planning entails. (The video you posted is very misleading. The initial shots could actually be a walkable T-3 Sub-Urban Zone, a perfectly good human habitat, if it is adjacent to more mixed-use areas (higher Transect Zones) so people can choose to walk to useful destinations and activities. Here's what's on the Facebook Cause page:
Stop Sprawl and Protect Neighborhoods with Transect-based Planning
We promote understanding of the built environment as part of the natural environment, through the planning methodology of the rural-to-urban transect.
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Auto-dependent sprawl has been exacerbated by single-use zoning, which separates Residential areas from Office and Retail.
In transect-based planning, these single-use zones are replaced by diverse habitat zones called Transect Zones.
A transect is a path or cut through the environment, used for sampling and organizing habitat elements. We sample streets, buildings, and plantings.
This provides the DNA for new transect-based plans and codes that protect and create compact, walkable neighborhoods while preserving open lands.
Visit the Center for Applied Transect Studies at
Center for Applied Transect Studies for open source planning tools and education for your community and region.
Hope this helps!
Cheers,
Sandy Sorlien
Director of Technical Research
Center for Applied Transect Studies
Miami, FL and Philadelphia, PA