AICP and LEED certification for planners

[ColoGI]

t's not always relevant. But when you have something like a local green building requirement, it is helpful to have someone who can work with the property owners on LEED certification. Depending on the situation, a LEED ND (neighborhood design) could also be helpful.

Just got back from a conference where we were discussing this in DC - at first the developers had a conniption, but now they all get it and realize the value-added; after the first one, they don't need any help from some planner. I guess if you want your employer to pay for LEED so you can be employable that's great. As for -ND, its not that great. It's a good idea but a lot of concessions were made and anyone can do better in an ordinance than striving for those points.

[hilldweller]

Innovation and Design CREDIT (singular) is awarded to one person on a project team that is LEED AP, last I heard. No additional credits are awarded, no matter how many people on a project team are LEED AP. More than likely an engineer or an architect is already LEED AP so there is no incentive for anyone else to be LEED AP, including planners. LEED is a step in a right direction FOR SOME PROJECTS. I don't think it can, nor should, be applied across the board on every project.

I guess I'm not following.. so are you saying that planners can get credit for the use of various building technologies in a project which fall under LEED? How do they get credit for something (a "green" roof, for instance) without actually designing it? By the same token, that neighborhood plan deemed in a "smart location" (an absurdity to which chocolatechip noted)- an individual gets credit for that because he/she cuts a check to get to the USGBC? What of the charette/public participation process that led to the plan- is that just discounted?