Background and description
The Lloyd District is a Portland neighborhood that is home to the Rose Garden Arena, the Portland Convention Center, Lloyd Center Mall, offices for more than 5,000 workers, 176 dwelling units, and MAX light rail service. The area is bordered by couplets and ring roads that provide convenient auto access but create boundaries between the Lloyd District and adjacent neighborhoods. The Lloyd District is bordered by the Willamette River to the west. The Pearl District is just across the river and within walking distance via the Broadway Bridge. Freeway infrastructure, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, and Grand Avenue couplets deter pedestrian and bicycle access to the River and the Pearl District. To the south, the Lloyd District is bounded by I-84, which is located in Sullivan's Gulch and isolates the area from adjacent neighborhoods.

In 2001, the Portland Development Commission (PDC) published the Lloyd District Development Strategy which established a vision for the Lloyd District as a vibrant urban neighborhood with a diverse and dynamic mix of uses, high density, a distinct identity, an optimal network of shared building systems, and a variety of transportation options and linkages for pedestrians, vehicles, and mass transit. The Development Strategy identified mobility, activity, livability, and identity as key principles to guide major public and private decisions about future development within the Lloyd District.

To build on that vision, in 2003 the PDC issued a Request for Proposal for the Lloyd Crossing Sustainable Urban Design Plan, inspired by the value system of the city, the PDC and key stakeholders. Its goal was to add the key concepts of sustainability and achievability as an integral part of the development strategies and recommendations for a central 35-block area of the district called Lloyd Crossing. The RFP's challenge was to create a vision for the study area that is environmentally and financially sustainable, and which has the kind of critical urban qualities that distinguish it within the context of the greater Portland area as a unique, vibrant, attractive and healthy community.

The 35-block Lloyd Crossing study area currently contains approximately 2.8 million square feet of developed building area, in a mix of office, retail, lodging, residential, restaurant and above grade parking use. The baseline Floor Area Ratio (FAR) established by Portland's zoning code allows a total of approximately 15.6 million total square feet of above grade development on these blocks. Over the next 45 years, the study model anticipates that the market for real estate in the study area could potentially absorb the addition of approximately 8.1 million square feet of new above-grade building development, for a total of 10.9 million square feet. This represents approximately 70% of the baseline FAR capacity in the study area.

Selecting the team
The RFP established a two-stage selection process in which the initial respondents were narrowed to three teams, each of whom were commissioned to develop preliminary concepts and ideas demonstrating their vision for the area. A selection committee composed of city staff, property owners, and neighborhood representatives selected the winning Mithun team to further develop these initial concepts into an overall neighborhood plan.

Part of the success of the Lloyd Crossing team can be attributed both to the diversity of team members (which went beyond traditional design disciplines such as architects, planners, landscape architects, and engineers to include real estate development and economic analysis as well as experts in the fields of energy, water use, construction cost, public relations and branding) and to the use of simple but powerful concepts such as preservation of urban density and using metrics derived from natural systems (water, energy, air, habitat) as benchmarks for environmental performance.

Integrated Design: Capturing the Vision
A Project Advisory Committee and Project Technical Committee were established by the PDC to provide a forum for discussion and feedback to the consultant team. The vision for the Sustainable Urban Design Plan was conceived and refined through a series of interviews, meetings, background research, and collaborative work sessions with key stakeholders from these groups.

As part of this process, clear and compelling images and diagrams were developed that allowed the team to document and explain complex interrelated concepts to a wide variety of stakeholders. Simple before and after comparisons were made demonstrating the environmental impact of individual sustainable strategies and the financial implications of their implementation over time. During this initial process, the concept of Predevelopment Metrics evolved as a central organizing theme for the plan. It established an environmental performance benchmark for the study area based on the natural underlying conditions of the site prior to urban development. This was a powerful organizing force that allowed stakeholders to think beyond traditional limitations of property lines and existing urban systems.

After initial goals had been set and the Predevelopment Metrics concept evolved, there were many iterations of the strategy - payback cycle. Each idea or strategy was tested by the team against the cost - benefit analysis for the district financial model. Benefit modeling include detailed analysis of the input - output flows into the district. These included carbon balance, water and energy use, solar utilization, tree cover, and habitat. One of the most exciting steps was combining the environmental metrics with financial payback and urban design elements through collaborative integrated design, maximizing the synergies of a whole-system approach. New, expressive forms were created for urban intersections, and wastewater treatment became part of the central urban space. The concept of green buildings was stretched and expanded to encompass "green neighborhoods".

Obstacles
The scope and complexity of the plan presented some challenges for the team. As a visionary document, the Lloyd Crossing plan necessarily looked beyond many conventional assumptions about urban development, energy use, and boundaries between public and private interests. Over the course of the plan's development, close contact was maintained between team members and key stakeholders, sometimes on a daily basis, so that individual concerns (how should parking be allocated? how do operational savings get distributed? how much housing development is realistic in the short term?) could be addressed before they expanded into issues that might derail the overall direction of the plan.

Many times it was difficult to obtain full attendance from the entire stakeholder group at all review meetings. At a certain point in the process it became apparent that having two separate committees was working against the goal of having an integrated, clear set of strategies for the plan. Over time, the client committees were restructured and combined into a single Steering Committee that enabled a more efficient and thorough feedback process to the consultant team.

Discovery
When this project began, neither the PDC nor the consultants knew whether it was possible to achieve a development that was both environmentally and financially sustainable, much less one that met the very aggressive performance standards set by the initial vision.

The diversity of the interdisciplinary team helped create a culture of collaboration and learning that challenged each team member to expand their traditional notion of design beyond individual buildings, streets, and landscape to financial, organizational, operational and environmental systems. The extended time period of the study (45 years) also encouraged participants to focus on long-term benefits related to environmental performance rather than on typical short-term economic gains or losses.

Together the team learned that through an integrated approach, it was possible to conceive a plan that meets the highest level of environmental performance, generates positive investment returns, and creates a unique urban neighborhood. Even though implementation of the vision will require strong public/private partnerships with new governance models, regulatory creativity - and a "prevention rather than the cure" long-term perspective on how best to invest public funds - the plan has already generated wide-spread support and excitement.

Next steps
The plan developed a detailed series of follow-up steps to be taken towards implementation. Much work remains to be done in order to realize its vision in the Lloyd District. Some of the ideas in the plan, such as stormwater bioswales in public intersections, have been taken up as separate research and development projects within the City. The fundamental issues of public/private partnership required for initial development of the Catalyst Project are being discussed between the City and private landowners.

The real value of the plan may lie in its pioneering nature and ability to inspire like-minded thinking in other areas. Its methodology and vision can be scaled up or down to a wide variety of applications, from individual buildings, to campus planning, to neighborhoods and cities and even entire regions. As a public document, it can help to promote the kind of innovative thinking that lays the groundwork for additional breakthroughs in the integrated design of sustainable infrastructure, natural systems and places for the 21st Century.