A 'Smart' Solution For Urban Sprawl

Maryland Governor Parris Glendenning and panelists at a two-day conference in Boston sponsored by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Center for Real Estate debated the impact of the smart growth movement nationally and for the state. All agreed that the smart growth movement is here to stay. Bruce Katz, director of the Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy at the Brookings Institute, said that Maryland and Oregon are no longer the lone pioneers in the smart growth movement, but are being joined by less likely states including Utah and Tennessee. "I don't think it's a fad or a hiccup," Katz said of the smart growth movement. For Massachusetts, the panelists said, smart growth won't be successful unless it addresses the no. 1 issue in the state--affordable housing. In terms of housing, ''The Boston area is about the worst case scenario there is outside the West Coast,'' said Robert Lang, director of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech. The American Planning Association's Stuart Meck criticized the state's zoning legislation as "the most incoherent" in the country and deserving of an overhaul.

Thanks to Stuart Meck