Leadership and implementation are the two most critical elements of the green development process. As developers, you have to be truly committed and understand what you are doing. We spent a lot of time researching and educating ourselves about all aspects of the process, from the choice of materials and features; to the way these features are integrated into the whole building design, to how they meet code. Once you are armed with this knowledge, you must educate government officials, contractors, and the project team. The City of Highland Park provided much-needed leadership in seeing us through this process.