Europe's Sustainable City Planning Trends

19 October 2007 - 10:00am

Emerging trends in five European cities suggest what could be ahead for the U.S. development environment, observes author Michael Mehaffy.

"In the past, Europe has offered early clues to a number of coming trends for the United States, including historic regeneration, brownfield redevelopment, and transit-oriented development, among others. So it is no surprise that the much-discussed recent tipping point in the U.S. sustainability agenda also had its counterpart in Europe and, if anything, was reached there first as well."

Examples include London's congestion pricing scheme, transit- and pedestrian-friendly land use planning in Copenhagen, and Barcelona's economic development of its historic core.

[The full article is available as a PDF courtesy of Urban Land Magazine].

Source: Urban Land, August 1, 2007
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"It's so out of control," said Duany, referring to the current state of public participation in planning decisions in the United States. "It's an absolute orgy of public process… basically, we can't get anything done."