Smart Growth
Redefining "Smart Growth" for the 21st Century
Kaid Benfield of the NRDC thinks it is time to add more specifics to the definition of smart growth. He prescribes a set of six new focus areas, including equity and health, that he argues should be emphasized in the 21st-century smart growth agenda.
Environmentalists Torn Over Smart Growth
A Berkeley, CA growth initiative revealed the stresses that smart growth play on grassroots environmental organizations like the Sierra Club where members determine positions.
Lassoing a Plan for El Paso
Fort Bliss in El Paso, TX will be getting 30,000 more troops under the Base Realignment and Closure program, which means a major effort to plan for the added people.
Dissecting Wendell Cox
Bill Fulton looks at Wendell Cox's new study linking regulation to high home prices and concludes that it is based on self-fulfilling assumptions.
Does Smart Growth Lead to More Expensive Housing?
Wendell Cox believes so. In this article, he quantifies the effect of land use regulation on the cost of new home construction, which he says leads to
Does Portland's Innovative Planning Hinder its Competitiveness?
Wendell Cox questions the economic impact of the city's much-celebrated land use and transportation policies, which are intended to strengthen the urban core and discourage sprawl.
Smart Growth Brain Trust
A new law in New York State requires state agencies to form smart growth advisory panels to determine whether proposed infrastructure projects meet smart-growth principles.
Transportation Research Helped Create Sprawl, New Report Says
We've been measuring traffic congestion all wrong, a new report shows, and that's been making more highways look like the solution to long commutes. They're not.
New Study Reexamines Causes and Costs of Congestion
Analysis indicates that compact development reduces the time urban residents spent in traffic and requires less spending on highways.
How could Ventura transform?
A short documentary exploring the development challenges that the City of Ventura faces.
Smart Growth = Clean Air
Kaid Benfield presents the evidence that compact development can bring about a decrease in noxious emissions.
West Baltimore's 'Highway to Nowhere' Coming Down
This past Friday, demolition began on a segment of Baltimore's infamous "Highway to Nowhere" to expand parking for the local commuter rail service (MARC). A side benefit: reuniting communities separated since the 1970s.
New York Passes Smart Growth Bill
Governor David Paterson signed The Smart Growth Public Policy Infrastructure Policy Act on Monday, which directs the state to invest in infrastructure in dense communities rather than sprawling ones.
Do You Have Innovative Smart Growth Projects That Need Funding?
As the post-recession economy continues to plod along, those in the non-profit sector continue to face stiff funding competition. Organizations furthering the smart growth/new urbanism cause may find this to be particularly frustrating, as re-working how and where America builds has never been so important.
Urban Lifestyle Preference On The Rise
Using the 15-year-old transformation of Rockville, MD's mall-centered downtown to a mixed-use town square as an example, the real estate industry sees the suburban-to-urban lifestyle change spreading across much of the country.
Green Urbanism's Affordability Problem
Nature writer David Oates embeds himself in green, urban Portland and finds much to like about the green city movement but also much room for improvement.
Remaking Southern California Cities
A video created for the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) presents a serious look at what infill development would look like in Ventura and Fullerton.
GreenTRIP Sustainable Transport Building Certification Program
There are various ways to define building sustainability. A narrow perspective assumes that sustainable development simply means that buildings minimize energy consumption and climate change emissions, but a broader perspective recognizes that sustainability requires consideration of additional economic, social and other environmental impacts, such as lifecycle affordability, social equity, community integration, public health and safety, and land use impacts.
Complete Streets Bill Heats Up
In Albany, NY, a "complete streets" bill that would dictate that all new roads follow guidelines for bike and ped accessibility is gaining ground as it passes through the state Congress.
Smart Growth, 10 Years Later
Wisconsin looks back at tens years with a smart growth law in effect, with most critics calling it a success with some room for improvement.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority
