Goldberg: A Response To Smart Growth Critics

"As some critics would have it, Smart Growth and affordable housing are mutually exclusive. By aiming to slow the spread of the metropolitan footprint, they say, Smart-Growth practices restrict development of cheap land at the urban fringe, while steering new housing and other construction toward pricier land in already-developed areas. The critics would have a point if Smart Growth began and ended with urban growth boundaries. For an illustration, one need only look at a city like Boulder, CO, which surrounded itself with a greenbelt and saw housing prices skyrocket well beyond the reach of many of the people who hold jobs within the boundary."

Thanks to Chris Steins