Richardson-Ewing Renew Debate on Smart Growth and Sprawl

National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education

URBAN SPRAWL or SMART GROWTH?
Which is the problem? What is the solution?

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (August 30, 2004) – Is urban sprawl really a problem? If it is, is Smart Growth the right solution?
Two veteran land use researchers who have tangled over this high profile issue in the past – Reid Ewing, a research professor at the National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education, and Harry Richardson, the James Irvine Chair in Urban and Regional Planning of the University of Southern California -- will reunite on the University of Maryland campus September 29th for a special debate of land use issues.

In 1997, Ewing and Richardson (jointly with his USC colleague, Peter Gordon) debated the virtues of sprawl in papers published in the Journal of the American Planning Association. Since their publication, these articles have been widely cited in the sprawl debate and recognized by the American Planning Association as classic articles published in JAPA over the last 25 years.
Ewing and Richardson will be joined in the debate by Mary Corbin Sies, professor of American Studies and distinguished researcher on American suburban development, and Robert Nelson, professor of environmental policy in the School of Public Policy and long-time advocate of private approaches to land use management.
The debate will be moderated by Gerrit Knaap, an Urban Studies and Planning professor at the University of Maryland and executive director of the University's National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education.

The debate will be held in the Architecture Lecture Hall in the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation on September 29 from 2:30 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. Admission is free.