Affordable And Efficient Communities for 2013

Just getting started here, so I hope you’ll give me time to set my voice and you will tune in to provide a thoughtful dialogue. Like many of you, I am an urban planner with a distinguished background. My current emphasis is on new community development that will begin to emerge in the United States by 2013. Over the past two years, I was lucky enough to have a patron who sent me all over the world to see and record the best places, and meet with experts in energy efficiency, health care delivery, workplace transformation, learning and transportation demand reduction.

2 minute read

January 18, 2009, 3:02 PM PST

By Rick Abelson


Just getting started here, so I hope you'll give me time to set my voice and you will tune in to provide a thoughtful dialogue. Like many of you, I am an urban planner with a distinguished background. My current emphasis is on new community development that will begin to emerge in the United States by 2013. Over the past two years, I was lucky enough to have a patron who sent me all over the world to see and record the best places, and meet with experts in energy efficiency, health care delivery, workplace transformation, learning and transportation demand reduction. Money was not an object and being pretty resourceful, I was only limited by my own research, access and imagination. My goal was to collect relevant information and form strategic relationships with global companies interested in building seven new communities in Texas and New Mexico that would truly enable families to lead better lives. In summary, I learned three important lessons:

  1. Complexity Theory - All our problems are interrelated and if industries stay within their own silos of expertise then change becomes difficult, if not impossible.  By intertwining, innovation and efficiencies emerge almost immediately.
  2. Practically all of the products and services that we need to build sustainable communities already exist today - and are affordable, if implemented on a community scale.
  3. The United States is not the leader in new community development compared to England, Germany, Australia, Netherlands, Japan and Korea.

                 

Therefore, my blog is about sharing what I learned. Throughout, I kept a journal from which I will remember my experiences and blog from. I am hoping to learn more from you along the way, to exchange ideas and discuss how to build better communities for people to live, work and stay healthy.


Rick Abelson

Rick Abelson is a recognized leader in creating culturally significant land planning developments worldwide. His peers regard him as an original thinker and an internationally respected designer of destination attractions, mixed-use town centers, urban infill and new communities. In many cases, Rick’s projects have become the catalyst for civic revitalization and his early participation and strategic forward-thinking adds immediate financial value to properties seeking optimum land definition.

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Use Code 25for25 at checkout for 25% off an annual plan!

Redlining map of Oakland and Berkeley.

Rethinking Redlining

For decades we have blamed 100-year-old maps for the patterns of spatial racial inequity that persist in American cities today. An esteemed researcher says: we’ve got it all wrong.

May 15, 2025 - Alan Mallach

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

May 21, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

Rendering of California High-Speed Rail station with bullet train.

California High-Speed Rail's Plan to Right Itself

The railroad's new CEO thinks he can get the project back on track. The stars will need to align this summer.

May 19, 2025 - Benjamin Schneider

Connecticut Capitol Building

Connecticut Just Cause Eviction Bill Dies in State House

The bill would have protected tenants from unfair evictions by requiring landlords to provide a reason for ending a lease.

30 minutes ago - The Connecticut Mirror

Red SF Muni ticketing machine.

San Francisco Muni Raises Fares a Second Time

A 10–cent fare hike for adults is part of the agency’s plan to chip away at a growing budget deficit.

May 21 - San Francisco Examiner

Electric car charging station with several Chevy Bolts charging in parking lot of store in Bellingham, Washington

Electric Grid Capacity Could Hamstring EV Growth

Industry leaders say the U.S. electric grid is unprepared for the increased demand for power created by electric cars, data centers, and electric homes.

May 21 - GovTech