A thriving natural environment creates opportunity for private developers and local economies, an economist argues.
In the New York Times, economics professor and former Obama adviser Austan Goolsbee urges the Trump administration to embrace environmental conservation as an economic growth strategy. Environmental regulation can benefit the private sector while helping to revitalize struggling rural towns, he argues.
"Accessible public lands and vibrant wildlife bring people to small towns and rural areas," Goolsbee writes. "They attract tourists and give residents a reason to stay, and give an enormous boost to the private sector in the very places the administration is trying to help." In 2017, visitors spent $50 billion on recreation in federal lands.
Moreover, "cleaning up pollution or protecting public spaces can unlock value in the private sector and allow it to grow." Without regulation and cleanup efforts on the Chicago River, for example, "billions of dollars of economic value would never have existed"—including the Trump Hotel and Tower.
Read the full story: Preserving the Wealth That Conservation Built
How the Trump Presidency Could Impact Urban Planning
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Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
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California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
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Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
Los Angeles just elected an urban planner as its mayor
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Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax survives legal challenge
A panel of judges found that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate injury as a result of New York City's implementation of the tax.
Eastern Nebraska is running out of electricity
Data centers and electrification are straining eastern Nebraska’s grid, throttling economic development.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
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City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority