Should society encourage parents to drive children to school rather than walk or bicycle? Should our transportation policies favor driving over walking, cycling, ridesharing, public transit and telecommuting? Probably not. There is no logical reason to favor automobile travel over other forms of accessibility, and there are lots of good reasons to favor efficient modes, so for example, schools spend at least as much to accommodate a walking or cycling trip as an automobile trip, and transportation agencies and employers spend at least as much to improve ridesharing and public transit commuting as automobile commuting.
Sprawl
A Look at Houston and its Environmental Impact
Stopping Sprawl Won't Happen Soon Enough to Fight Global Warming
Shift in Consumer Housing Preferences Favors Smart Growth

Home Location Preferences And Their Implications For Smart Growth
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.
Sprawling in Beijing

A Fable About Sprawl
Once upon a time, there was a city called City. And everyone living in City voted in the same elections and paid taxes to the same government.
And then 5 percent of the people decided that they wanted to live in an new neighborhood that was opened up for development by the highways. And they called it Richburb, because they were, if not rich, at least a little richer than many of the people in the city (since even if there wasn’t zoning to keep the poor out, new housing usually costs more than old housing anyhow).
The Planetizen News Brief - 7/9/09
4:30 minutes (4.19 MB)
Enviros struggle to move past NIMBY tendencies, iPhones begin tracking urban nuisances, and a small town main street succeeds -- all on this week's Planetizen News Brief, airing weekly on the nationally-syndicated radio show "Smart City". Read, listen or download.
Light Rail in Phoenix
"Grow Smart Bay Area" Report Released
The Planetizen News Brief - 6/11/09
4:35 minutes (4.25 MB)
The role of buildings on global warming, a car-free housing development, and the end of sprawl in New Jersey, all on this week's Planetizen News Brief, airing weekly on the nationally-syndicated radio show "Smart City". Read, listen or download.
FL Growth Legislation Hinges on "What Is Urban?"
Suburban Growth Is From Country, Not Abandoned Cities

Transportation Concurrency and Sprawl
Transportation concurrency is the subject of a bill that has passed one house of the Florida legislature. "Concurrency" is the Florida term for "adequate public facilities controls," indicating that facilities need not necessarily be in place at the time of project approval but that they must be scheduled to become available "concurrently" with demand from proposed development.




















