Location, location, location. Choosing a smart home location can help households become healthy, wealthy and wise, since it affects residents’ physical activity levels, long-term financial burdens and opportunities for education and social interaction.
Smart Growth
Maryland's Smart Growth Law A Dud According To University Study
Maryland's 1997 landmark smart growth, hailed as one of the most innovative policies in the nation, has turned out to have failed in what it hoped to accomplish - preserve open space and cluster urban growth, according to a just-released report.
Washington Post
Toronto Condo Will Provide Carsharing Instead Of Parking
A 42-storey condo building to be built in Toronto will include parking for nine car-share vehicles and 315 bicycles but no on-site parking spaces for residents’ private automobiles.
Toronto Star
DC Goes NU
New Urban News looks at the growing influence of New Urbanists and their ideas in Washington, from the appointment of former CNU director Shelley Poticha to a HUD position to the new Livable Communities Act proposed by Sen. Christopher Dodd.
New Urban News
Don't Forget Roads, Says Kotkin
Joel Kotkin explains why the Obama Administration's focus on transit is wrong-headed and doesn't do anything for the majority of Americans.
New Geography
Shift in Consumer Housing Preferences Favors Smart Growth
Consumer preference surveys indicate that total U.S. demand for large-lot, exurban housing will not increase, while demand for small-lot and attached housing in accessible, multi-modal locations will double during the next two decades.
Victoria Transport Policy Institute
Residential Infill, 70's-Style
Tue, 08/25/2009 - 14:00
In 1979, the City of San Diego launched a plan to steer new development into the craftsman-lined neighborhoods close to downtown. The idea was sound: scatter higher density housing throughout existing smart growth communities.
A Whale of a Savings
Clark Williams-Derry has been searching the horizon for the Moby Dick of smart growth statistics, and he's found it in a new study out of UC Irvine.
Sightline Daily
Strange Turn of Events Impedes the Adoption of Miami 21
Sat, 08/08/2009 - 18:19
Hundreds of activists, students, politicians, lawyers, developers, architects and planners swarmed Miami's City Hall on Thursday for the City Commission's first reading of Miami 21. By some estimates, nearly 80% of the the 100-plus testimonials were spoken in favor of Miami 21, with Miami Mayor Manny Diaz kicking off the event with an 11-minute pro-Miami 21 paean. It was certainly one of the most eloquent, if not most passionate speech I have heard him deliver during his tenure. Strangely, Commissioner Angel Gonzalez was missing from the dais for what might have been the most important vote of the year. Apparently, the two week notice was delivered in time for him to reschedule surgery.
Miami 21's Final Act?
Sun, 08/02/2009 - 19:40
After more than four years of public meetings, new drafts, extensive revisions, debate, and controversy, Miami 21 is finally scheduled for its first City Commission reading on August 6th. For all who have, or continue to work patiently and dilligently on the groundbreaking zoning code, this is exciting and relieving news.
The Transportation Prescription
A new report identifies ways to incorporate health objectives into transportation and land use planning.
The Convergence Partnership
New Report: Use Cap & Trade Revenue To Invest In Smart Growth
Cap and trade is the topic du jour in climate change circles. A new report from CCAP makes the economic case for using those revenues to promote smart growth that reduces transportation emissions though VMT reductions.
Center for Clean Air Policy Press Release
Smart Growth Program Vetoed
Texas Governor Rick Perry recently vetoed a bill that would have created a state level "smart growth" program.
New Geography
Infill is Standard Operating Procedure
The U.S. Bureau of the Census is producing new data that shows how infill development is affecting urban areas. Wendell Cox says that the new data shows that infill has been happening since 1960 with or without mandates.
New Geography
Save the T from Ruin
The Metropolitan Area Planning Council will unveil a new plan for growth and preservation in Greater Boston, which calls for a new pattern of development based on "Smart Growth".
The Boston Globe
The New Normative Planning
Wed, 06/10/2009 - 18:10
The conference bags handed out to the attendees of the 2007 National Planning conference in Philadelphia had four words printed on one side: value, choice, engagement, community. The words echo the long mission statement of the American Planning Association, evidence of what I described last year as the pragmatic position of the profession that refrains from making a larger argument about the form of the city. Here's a taste:
"Our collaborative efforts will continue to result in great success for APA and the vital communities we strive to support, and APA members will continue to help create communities of lasting value. We value choice and community engagement, diversity, inclusion and social equity."
Since then, a new program from the organization and other evidence may suggest a subtle shift in professional values now underway.
