Shaping America's Cities: Part 2 - A Debate Over Smart Growth

Ohland: "Smart growth makes sense for every kind of city because it isn't a choice, really...Because smart growth is the only way we can begin to limit the number of vehicle miles traveled, it is an important solution to these many problems. And that is why we must practice smart growth...The real estate market is coming back to urban core neighborhoods and suburban town centers all across the United States for the first time in 50 years."

Breugmann: The reason the majority of people in every urban region in the affluent West use automobiles for most of their trips today is because, on average, automobiles are twice as fast as mass transit..This is why residents of dense cities, even with highly developed public transportation systems, spend longer getting to work than residents of low-density places where almost everyone drives...In fact if we didn't have the polarizing debate about sprawl and smart growth, it would probably be easier to tackle our transportation problems."