Sprawl
Planners Can Help Increase Opportunity and Fairness
Transportation and land use planning decisions affect economic opportunity and mobility—the chance that children become more economically successful than their parents. We can help create more equitable communities.
Advocates Press for Harder Questions While Pittsburgh Experiments With Self-Driving Cars
Five self-driving car companies are currently operating in Pittsburgh, without much critical rigor in asking about the consequences of the technology to the city.
Kentucky Planning a New Freeway Around Louisville, Raising Alarms
Local news sources are shedding light on planning for a new highway route that could pass through sensitive habitat of endangered that has yet to undertake a formal environmental or public input process.
Scrutiny for Houston Development Patterns After New Stormwater Regulations
Advocates and researchers say new development regulations, with more stringent flood protections, aren't doing enough to control the stormwater impacts of sprawl.
Climate Crisis, Housing Crisis on a Collision Course
Sprawl might relieve the housing crisis, but it would also exacerbate the climate crisis. Tough choices will be necessary in regions like San Diego, where the question of where to accommodate growth is very much in question.
Successful Metropolitan Areas Prioritize Proximity
Brookings buils on the findings of recent research about jobs densification in cities around the country to make a larger point about the benefits of proximity in urban design, as compared to sprawl.
Op-Ed: Metra Expansion May Encourage Sprawl
The $45 billion transportation bill approved by the Illinois Legislature ended up including more public transit funding than it originally offered, but a Kendall County Metra project raises questions.
Water Situation Changes for Sprawling Phoenix-Area Development, Delayed by the Recession
The Phoenix metropolitan area is growing again, but the water supply isn't. Many development plans derailed by the Great Recession won't find it easy to start where they left off.
New Urbanism and Jacobs: A Tangled Disconnect
New Urbanism was in part born of the criticisms of 20th century planning principles popularized by Jane Jacobs, but Jacobs infamously derided the new school of thought.
The Wonderful World of Vicious Circles
Government's pro-sprawl and anti-density policies often create problems that justify more of the same.
Support for Shrinking the Nation's Oldest Growth Boundary
Lexington, Kentucky's growth boundary survived a comprehensive plan update in 2019, after years of controversy. A housing crisis, a growing city, and a broken land use system are rearranging the political arithmetic behind the greenbelt.
Controversial Development a Big First Step Into Untouched Desert North of Phoenix
The developers of 1,400 homes in the desert north of Phoenix say they understand the responsibility of being the first to develop an area. Opponents would rather there was no development at all.
Study Documents the Public Health Effects of Long School Commutes
Richard Florida cites new research to argue that car culture and car oriented communities are the main culprits in the unhealthy lifestyles of U.S. school children.
Op-Ed Exposes The Land Use Connections to Congestion in North Texas
The rapid economic growth of North Texas might not translate to economic mobility for many residents if the region can't better connect land use and transportation planning, according to this opinion piece.
How Not to Do Growth
The state of Florida is moving forward with the Multi-use Corridors of Regional Economic Significance (M-Cores) plan to build several new toll expressways in rural parts of the state.
In L.A., With a Reputation Sprawl, Homes Near Transit Selling at a Premium
Homebuyers are looking for locations with quality transit access in Los Angeles, and they're willing to pay more for the option having transit nearby.
The Economic Defense of Sprawl (And What's Wrong With It)
Defenders of suburban expansion argue that government should build more roads in order to open up more land for housing. What's wrong with that argument?
Order Without Design: Pro-Housing, Pro-Infrastructure
In Order Without Design, Alain Bertaud takes a middle position between consistent supporters of suburbia and sprawl critics.
Opinion: Even the Green New Deal Repeats the Same Old Sprawling Mistakes
With infrastructure and housing prices in the national discussion more than ever before, the federal government still doesn't seem ready to really change its ways.
Where Gas Taxes Only Serve the Needs of More Sprawl
The gas tax, suburban highway spending cycle is both self-serving and self-destructive, according to this article.
Pagination
City of Yakima
City of Auburn
Baylands Development Inc.
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Birmingham, Alabama
City of Laramie, Wyoming
Colorado Department of Local Affairs
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.