New Development: Always a Good Sign?

Dan Rodricks has been reading a lot of "good news" about new residential building permits being taken out around Baltimore, and questions whether new development is always a good sign.

1 minute read

July 12, 2010, 7:00 AM PDT

By Tim Halbur


Rodricks questions the traditional measure of growth in the economy: "Foreclosures continue, and many of the people who for a time owned a home have returned, perhaps permanently, to the ranks of renters. But we still look to new housing for evidence of recovery."

"The fact that homebuilders are getting busy again - and that we still use housing starts as a measure of progress - means we're not quite ready for the concepts of sustainability necessary to meet the realities of the 21st Century."

Sunday, July 11, 2010 in The Baltimore Sun

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