It turns out that the “law of demand” (the tendency of higher prices to reduce consumption) and the principles of urban economics (that improved accessibility increases land values) still apply. If we are smart, we can use these to help solve problems and benefit consumers.
Smart Growth
When Preservation Trumps Smart Growth
A New Jersey town along the one of the state's light rail line has rejected a plan for adding new mixed-use residential to its downtown, for fear of new development threatening its main street's historic character.
Streetsblog
People Like Cars, And There's Not Much You Can Do About It
Wed, 05/07/2008 - 08:05
With climate change on the mind of the world's policy makers, the auto-oriented design of our cities has been singled out as a major culprit -- and understandably so. Cars burn a lot of fossil fuel, so getting people to walk, bike and use public transportation more would help cut down on pollution and green house gases.
But how to get people out of their cars? The key, many agree, is to redesign cities. Right now cities are designed for people moving around in their cars, so it's unreasonable to expect people to use any other means of transportation. But give them a city that's planned for walking, biking and public transit -- and it could be a whole new ballgame.
Despite The Best Intentions, Sprawl Continues In Oregon
Though the state is considered a model for smart planning, Oregon's sprawling landscape shows that the state has much the same problems as the rest of the country.
The Oregonian
Is Residential Energy Use Affected By Urban Form?
In the current issue of Housing Policy Debate, Reid Ewing and Fang Rong argue that sprawling urban form contributes to higher residential energy use. Two responses -- one from Samuel Staley and another by John Randolph -- rebut the paper.
Housing Policy Debate
Smart Growth's Role In The Housing Crisis
The housing markets most affected by the subprime mortgage fallout are those with the toughest land use regulations, argues Wendell Cox.
The Heritage Foundation
Learning From Vancouver
Scholar and Brookings Fellow Christopher B. Leinberger says Vancouver provides an accessible model for American cities as they look for examples of sustainable development done right.
The Tyee
The Next Steps Toward A Sustainable Sacramento
The Sacramento region has become a national model for smart growth planning. But what, asks Bill Fulton, will it take to make the region sustainable for decades to come?
California Planning & Development Report
Insuring Good Cities, One Mile At A Time
Wed, 04/23/2008 - 21:16
I once was consigned to a table full of business school students at a land-use conference at UCLA. Trying to be a good sport, I offered the only idea that I'd ever had about business: car insurance charged according to miles driven. I posited that since risk and mileage were more or less correlated, it only made sense that people who drove more and incurred more risk should pay more.
My tablemates stared back at me as if I had just issued a rousing recitation of Das Kapital.
A Battle Over Building Heights
In anti-growth Santa Barbara, preservationists and smart growth advocates have forged a compromise that will permit taller buildings for developments that include affordable housing.
The Santa Barbara Independent
Time to Adapt to a Warmer World is Now
Public officials and scientists are starting to say that adaptation to climate change is just as important as trying to stem climate change. One way to adapt is to embrace smart growth principles that reduce energy usage, according to this article.
California Planning & Development Report
California's Growth Debate Continues Amidst Housing Slowdown
Sacramento Bee's political columnist Dan Walters discusses the California growth debate amidst the temporary development lull and questions whether the state is ready to embrace smart growth, despite recognizing that it reduces global warming.
The Sacramento Bee
A Call For Smart Growth-Based New Towns
It's politics, not planning, that drives up housing costs. Rather than back away from regulations, more professional planning is needed to create healthy and affordable communities.
The Seattle Times
Fifty Criteria to Rate Smart Growth Developments
Atlanta's Livable Communities Coalition has begun scoring development projects on 50 smart growth criteria and has recommended approval of its first project, a mixed-use development in Cobb County.
Atlanta Journal Constitution
Introducing Smart Growth To An Edge City
A new master plan for Los Angeles's Century City attempts to undo some of the shortcomings that typically plague Modernist master-planned edge cities. Its goals include walkability, greening, and a more appealing public realm.
Planning Magazine
Thinking About Smart Growth in Montana
Gallatin County, Montana, has experienced 20 percent population growth over the last eight years, and officials are hoping that the adoption of smart growth principles will help guide the rapidly developing area towards a sustainable future.
Bozeman Daily Chronicle
Smart Growthers Snooze, EJ Advocates Roar, Carbon Solutions Wither
The coal industry, electric utilities and manufacturers are in line to get trillions of dollars in federal funding to reduce carbon emissions, leaving virtually no money for smart growth and transit solutions to climate change.
California Planning & Development Repot
Sacramento Outsmarts San Francisco, L.A.
Residents of San Francisco and Los Angeles like to feel superior to supposedly unsophisticated Sacramento. Yet, Sacramento appears to be ahead of the hip coastal areas when it comes to actually implementing smart growth.
California Planning & Development Repot
Climate Change May Prompt Revolution In Transportation Planning
Transportation planners and public officials have begun to consider ways to reconfigure cities and alter driving patterns in order to reduce vehicle miles traveled and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
InTransition Magazine
An Algorithmic Antidote To Sprawl
Wed, 02/20/2008 - 11:50
How could a new chamber of commerce algorithm drive decisions about employer locations, improve mobility of workers, while reducing pollution accruing from longer daily work trips? The answer is simple, says the chief economist of the Greater Dallas Chamber, Lyssa Jenkens, “You change the data system to deliver information people never got before.”
