What is an example of Avoidance in urban application?

• A. Planting more trees along a street.
• B. Using low-impact construction materials.
• C. Relocating a road to reduce noise.
• D. Moving a building footprint to avoid cutting down an old-growth oak tree.

Answer: (D)

Avoidance means designing the project so the environmental harm never happens. In urban planning, that means changing plans to prevent an impact entirely. Moving a building footprint to avoid cutting down an old-growth oak tree is a clear example: by keeping the tree, the project proceeds without triggering that environmental harm at all.

Other options address the environment in other ways but don’t eliminate the specific impact. Planting more trees along a street adds greenery and benefits the area, but it doesn’t prevent the original footprint from affecting trees. Using low‑impact construction materials reduces the construction footprint, yet it doesn’t avoid the potential harm from the current project design. Relocating a road to reduce noise aims to lessen the effect, which is a mitigation-by-design approach rather than avoidance.