Building Materials for Better Neighborhoods

We all want to know how to build a better neighborhood, how to calm streets to make them safer, what to do to improve our neighborhood’s values, how to build affirmative community spirit. Here is a set of links and PDFs to offer some light and practical steps forward.

If you have any questions about City of Pensacola code, here’s the site, and please feel free to search within by topic: Code of Ordinances

First, some of the larger issues deserve attention, like how we frame and define a neighborhood. And how we create a home that’s congruent with the neighborhood and friendly to Florida’s future. We offer here the Florida Yards and Neighborhoods handbook. It’ll help you create a Florida-Friendly landscape! Florida-Friendly landscape

You’ve heard about Complete Streets. Smart Growth America offers a quick tutorial on what that means, and you can read about it in “Elements of a Complete Streets Policy.” Complete Streets Policy

Dan Burden is one of the deans of the walkability movement. Here’s an excellent piece, “Street Design Guidelines for Healthy Neighborhoods.” Street Design Guidelines

Here’s another from the Journal of Planning Literature, entitled “Neighborhood Planning Theory, Guidelines, and Research: Can Area, Population, and Boundary Guide Conceptual Framing?” Neighborhood Planning Theory Guidelines

The CivicCon series is still available on the PNJ website. We warmly encourage you to visit and revisit its various presentations. You can find that series here: CivicCon series

You’ll remember that Pensacola won the 2019 competition for the Strongest Town. Hooray! Here are links to Strong Town articles that might be relevant to your neighborhood or a particular issue of concern:

Creating the City You Want To Live In

Growth and the Fallacy of Control

When Traffic Engineers Can Not Hear-You

When Local Growth Is Really Just Redistribution

If you’re concerned about stormwater problems in your area, here are insights from the St. John’s River area: St. John’s River Storm Water