Zoning is a popular policy tool. Miami should use it to build healthier homes | Opinion

The future of Miami will largely depend on what we build today.

As a public policy tool, zoning codes have the advantage of local control, plus the flexibility to adapt to neighborhood context. When it comes to zoning, it is not necessary to reach consensus in Tallahassee in order to take a step forward in Miami.

In Miami, planning and zoning codes have been used to promote a range of socio-economic and environmental issues, including affordability, sea level rise, solar power production, stormwater management, urban heat island effects, and tree preservation. These measures are laudable and necessary, and it is time to include public health in the mix.

Zoning code in Miami should support healthier buildings by recognizing projects that participate in international certification programs or implement other health-first measures. Recent science from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences reveals an increasing understanding of the link between indoor air quality and several diseases and health conditions.

Perhaps the most obvious threat in this humid climate is mold, which is known to exacerbate asthma and allergy symptoms.

Another concern is volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including proven human carcinogens, such as formaldehyde, released into indoor air from building materials, synthetic finishes, and furnishings. Very fine particulate matter from household dust, smoke, or cooking with fossil fuels is another deadly threat, with research suggesting that long-term exposure is correlated not just with lung cancer, but with breast cancer as well.

Buildings can be designed to protect occupant health better. Defenses take many forms, including eliminating toxic and fragile materials, minimizing void spaces in the walls, moving insulation to the exterior, adding dehumidifiers and air filters, and installing electronic air quality monitors.

At the municipal scale, healthy building is a complex topic that is best approached through a rating system with multiple points and categories, analogous to the LEED rating system that is used for energy efficiency and sustainability. In fact, the Miami 21 zoning code requires some buildings over a threshold size to be certified by the United States Green Building Council under the LEED program or an equivalent standard.

In January, the International Well Building Institute (IWBI), a leading global advocate for people-first places, launched the WELL for Residential standard, with a comprehensive, evidence-based rating and certification system for healthy homes.

The WELL standard awards points for a broad array of steps that architects, designers, and builders can take to create better indoor air quality, more comfortable sleeping temperatures, brighter interiors, calmer acoustic environments, and opportunities for regular exercise.

It is time for Miami 21 and other local zoning codes to support public health by incentivizing real estate development projects to adopt WELL or other similar ratings such as those available from the EPA or the USGBC.

As with LEED, these incentives can begin in certain zones or building types and could take the form of bonus area or additional height as a gradual on-ramp to a future mandate.

These initiatives should be encouraged in affordable, midmarket, and luxury homes alike across substantially all of the city’s neighborhoods. Improvements in the health of our populace translate directly into lower healthcare costs and higher productivity while furthering the identity of Miami as a hub for innovation and an attractive place to live, characteristics that support our broader economic future at every level of society.

Compared with LEED, the WELL for Residences standard is in its infancy, but the issues these standards address are longstanding.

By adapting the zoning code to promote these standards, Miami has an opportunity to provide national leadership in healthy home building.

Ted Caplow, Ph.D., is an entrepreneur, an engineer and a patented inventor who has worked in sustainable technology since 2003. Caplow is the creator of the Science Barge and a founder of New York Sun Works, BrightFarms, and Caplow Manzano. He and his team recently completed the first certified WELL residence in the world, located in Miami. He holds an advisory position at the University of Miami Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering.