Waste Hater is a monthly series where we interview friends in the industry doing interesting and awesome work to reduce all kinds of waste, food or otherwise. This January, we spoke with Matthew Grocoff, the environmentalist and development leader behind Veridian, a new sustainable community in Michigan.

It’s one thing to talk the talk about living sustainably, it’s another to build a zero carbon neighborhood.

At County Farm Park in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the team behind Veridian, a forthcoming net zero community, is undoubtedly walking the walk. Imagine a space where homes and businesses are run on solar energy, grocery stores sell only local products, abandoned lots become urban farms, and bike lanes dominate travel paths. 

On top of that, imagine this place is accessible to everyone. 

“Equity and beauty are preconditions for sustainability,” Matt Grocoff, co-founder of development firm Thrive Collaborative which is creating Veridian, tells Replate. “If it’s not socially just, you can’t achieve it.”

Typically, sustainable products are deemed resources for the wealthy and elite. The majority of people who drive electric cars and shop organically are those who can afford the luxury.  Veridian counters this ideology through its inclusive approach to housing.  Across 13 acres by a 130-acre park, developers will build 160 homes: 110 at market rate developed by Thrive Collaborative and 50 affordable housing units developed by Avalon Housing. Thirty of those units will be reserved for people experiencing homelessness. The neighborhood is targeted to achieve net zero energy, and face the interior of the community, where trillium-lined trails, gardens and playgrounds will be scattered. 

Grocoff and his team plan to break ground on this initiative in April, when the snow clears and dirt loosens up, and development will be ongoing. As of now, Veridian stands to be one of the nation’s first mixed-income net zero energy communities.

“All of life depends on underlying networks,” Grocoff observes. “If we’re creating a system that’s only at one price point, that’s not creating a mutually beneficial system. We have a crisis of loneliness right now, and part of that is caused by how we design our neighborhoods. We’re segregating people by income, and we have to stop. You think about a gap between rich and poor, but it’s really stratified by every economic demographic. You see all the same price homes in one neighborhood or building.”

Veridian marks a move towards regeneration and community, restoring abandoned grounds and instilling values and roles that capitalize on what’s within reach. In addition to solar-run homes, there will be charging stations for electric vehicles, rainwater capture and irrigation systems, food gardens and fruit trees, energy efficient indoor air filtration, parks and recreational activities, and a grocery store stocked with local products and farmers’ goods. Within that market, food rescuers will redistribute anything left behind.

Ultimately, Grocoff says it’s about engagement - with the environment and each other.

“We’re creating places for people to gather,” he points out. “All our homes face inward onto common spaces and greenways. We are reclaiming one of the oldest barns in the state, will disassemble and restore it on site for yoga or movies on Saturday night, and other indoor activities. There will be a bike pavilion and parking lot that can be used for farmers’ markets….all these areas become social spaces that are mutually beneficial and serve more than one purpose. Nothing we design has a singular purpose.”

Once Veridian is up and running, Grocoff believes more neighborhoods will follow suit. 

He adds, “What we’re proving is that these visions of achieving a sustainable world by 2050 are real. We’re proving it’s not an imaginary far off place. It’s right here, in the moment, we’re living it and it’s possible. Now!

For more information about Veridian, visit their website.

For more information on Replate, visit our site.