Op-Ed

Stimulus money is available for a variety of energy efficiency projects, but many understaffed cities are having trouble meeting the impending deadlines. Jessica Millman, Joe Schilling, and Kathryn McCarty have found a loophole that can help.

The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy spent two years looking at smart growth policies in a number of states to see how well they've achieved their goals. Gregory K. Ingram, President of the Institute, explains the results.

Last week, Mayor Bloomberg's office announced an initiative to encourage developers to include grocery stores in new projects. Nevin Cohen, whose research focuses on urban food system, reviews the plan.

With stimulus funding creating new transit projects across the country, now may be a great time to use innovative methods for funding development around transit, say Nadine Fogarty and Gloria Ohland of the Center for Transit-Oriented Development. Portland and Denver are just two communities that have seen property values rise around rail.

Planetizen has teamed up with National Journal, a weekly politics and policy magazine, to explore transportation issues. As part of National Journal's Transportation Experts blog, we've asked Planetizen Interchange bloggers and National Journal's Transportation Experts whether money from the Highway Trust Fund should be used for non-highway projects like bike lanes and pedestrian walkways.

Slow Cities? Swedish sustainability? Collaborative networks of small towns across the world are coming together to share knowledge and drive innovation, particularly when it comes to sustainable living. Heike Mayer and Paul L. Knox of Virginia Tech are authors of a new book on small town sustainability.

A new report out of Oregon suggests that the fiscal costs of successful resort developments significantly outweigh their benefits -- and taxpayers are burdened with the tab. Erik Kancler of Central Oregon LandWatch explains.

When architects Anne Van Ingen and Wes Haynes set out to aid the New Orleans recovery effort by restoring a home in the Ninth Ward for low income buyers, they thought their work would be welcomed. But bureaucratic interference and misguided policies have turned a good deed into a nightmare, writes Roberta Brandes Gratz.

It's an exciting time for transit advocates, says Peter Gertler, vice president and high speed rail services chairman for HNTB Corporation. Here are five steps Gertler says will keep mass transit moving forward, and build a more balanced transportation policy.

'Urban design' is still a relatively new discipline, a nexus of urban planning, architecture, and increasingly, landscape architecture. Alex Krieger has edited a new book that tackles the key issues in contemporary urban design, summarized here for our readers.

A new design competition is seeking solutions to L.A.'s transportation problems. But the real solution may not have anything to do with transportation at all.

Transit agencies spend a lot of money to make money. In many cases, the amount spent equals or even surpasses the amount they bring in from fares. So why charge them at all? Dave Olsen takes a look at Fare-Free transit, what's holding it back, and how to make it a reality.

The 'Subway to the Sea' project in Los Angeles isn't just about transportation- it also opens up a world of development opportunity, say architects Ernesto Vasquez, AIA and Jeff Mayer, AIA of MVE & Partners.

Don Elliott, author of A Better Way to Zone, argues that dynamic zoning regulations can help cities grow appropriately and avoid bottlenecks to good development.

John Norquist, President and CEO of the Congress for the New Urbanism, believes that President Obama should reconsider committing stimulus funds to decades-old freeway expansion projects and take transportation policy in a new direction.

According to the Census Bureau, the United States will have over 400 million people by 2040. How will population growth – 100 million more Americans over the next three decades – impact the quality of your environment? The answer will depend on the choices we make as a society, says James A. LaGro, Jr.

Communities aren't going to get a green code implemented, or any code, without that code appealing to developers, says Sandy Sorlien. They're building our new sustainable places and infilling our old ones.

Solutions to our global ills can be found in your local neighborhood, says Jay Walljasper. Great examples can be found in communities from South Bend, Indiana to Mississauga, Ontario.