City leaders, company executives and residents in the St. Louis region are all planning for a “green” future. The city of Clayton, Mo. is an example of a city that included green strategies in its Vision 2013 plan, striving to be a regional leader on environments initiatives over the next five years. The plan includes reducing fossil-fuel dependency, encouraging green building practices, expanding the city’s recycling program, encouraging walking, biking, and other alternative forms of transportation, and changing traffic signals to LED energy-efficient lights.

Developers, builders, architects, designers, and companies that want to be more environmentally responsible recognize that future building trends are headed toward sustainable development. A big push for this type of development is coming from regional developers themselves, who recognize that while up-front costs can be higher with sustainable building, the costs are quickly mitigated by long-term savings and have less of a negative environmental impact.

Newly founded in 2008, Green Street Properties is one commercial developer, whose focus is to purchase urban properties in the City of St. Louis and to redevelop and reposition them to be LEED certified and “green” sites. Green Street even works with “brownfields” properties, or previously used land that is contaminated, to clean it up and transform it into valuable land again. Clayco, Conrad Properties, HOK, The Lawrence Group, and others are all promoting sustainable commercial development across the region.

Residential builders are also coming on the scene to build “green” homes. Belcher Homes, EcoUrban Homes, and Sage Homebuilders are just a few to mention.

St. Louis regional chapters of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and the American Institute of Architects are also actively involved in working to maintain environmental quality throughout the region.

Funding approved by voters in the region permitted the Great Rivers Greenway District in collaboration with the Metro East Parks and Recreation District to develop The River Ring, an interconnected system of greenways, parks, and trails that will encircle the entire St. Louis region. The River Ring creates a more bike- and pedestrian-friendly region, giving residents a “greener” means to travel.