When Will Smart Growth Start Working?

"Push past the anecdotes and buzz, though, and development looks about the same as ever. Most new suburban tracts consist of oversized houses clustered around cul de sacs. In older cities, growth opponents have honed naysaying into a self-righteous art. In Sacramento, ambitious planning bills tend to stall or die... At the heart of Smart Growth is an argument that critics of suburbia have made since ranch homes replaced ranches: There's got to be a better way. The notion that every family deserves a plot of land chews up our natural resources, they say. And if every pinprick of a town maps out a future that ignores neighbors and the larger region, then chaos -- traffic congestion, for starters -- is inevitable. The solution of planners and environmental activists is to steer growth and rein it in."

Thanks to Chris Steins