Smart Growth

Sustainability To Be a Centerpiece of Japan's Rebuilding Effort

Having just returned from a United Nations-led tour of disaster-ravaged areas of Japan, Warren Karlenzig reports on efforts across the region to rebuild along smart growth and green economic development models.

March 6, 2012 - Common Current

A Paean For Rural America and Its Working Landscape

Lee Epstein and Kaid Benfield pen a post on the importance of working rural landscapes to the sustainability agenda, which seems to be increasingly overlooked by smart growth advocates.

March 5, 2012 - Switchboard

Has Increased Urbanism Initiated A Decline In American Driving?

Eric Jaffe discusses new charts released last week that purport to show the continued decline of vehicle-miles traveled in the United States, and wonders if increased urbanism can be credited as the cause.

March 2, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

Debating Smart Growth

Last Thursday I debated the merits of smart growth with ‘Anti-planner’ Randal O'Toole at a community forum in Langley, a rapidly-growing suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia. A recording of the Debate and presenters' slide shows are available at www.southfraser.net/2012/02/smart-growth-debate-media.html. At the end more than three quarters of the audience voted for a pro-smart-growth resolution. This may reflect some selection bias – people concerned about sprawl may have been more likely to attend – but I believe that given accurate information most citizens will support smart growth due to its various savings and benefits.   Smart growth sometimes faces organized opposition by critics. It is important that planners respond effectively and professionally. Here is my critique of O'Toole’s claims and some advice for planners who face similar critics. 

February 27, 2012 - Todd Litman

Information Sources in Planning: "Smart Growth Online" vs. “Freedom Advocates”

Where there are no facts, sentiment rules. - Oswald Spengler, The Decline of the West   In my previous two posts I have set the stage for our consideration of information sources in planning by arguing for the relevance of such an effort when it comes to (increasingly controversial) urban planning issues, and to situate such in terms of recognizing the influence of our world views on the production and use of informational and built environments. 

February 22, 2012 - Michael Dudley

No Car? No Problem in Washington, D.C.

Drawing on 2010 Census data, the Coalition for Smarter Growth highlights the prevalence of alternative transportation in the nation's capital.

February 22, 2012 - Greater Greater Washington

Lessons Learned in Providing On-Site Open Space for Multifamily Developments

Bob Bengford, AICP, MAKERS, examines the goals and benefits, notable challenges, and lessons learned in providing on-site open space for multifamily developments, including a comparison of how a few Washington cities regulate this type of open space.

February 22, 2012 - MRSC Planning Advisor

Downturn Proves Resiliency of Smart Growth

In an interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune, Geoffrey Anderson and Bill Fulton reflect on the new normal for development across the country, which astonishingly to anyone looking back twenty years, has absorbed Smart Growth principles.

February 17, 2012 - UT San Diego

Why Tea Party Criticism Should Matter to Planners

Andrew H. Whittemore contends that planners dismiss the far-fetched theories of a grand United Nations sustainability conspiracy at their own peril.

February 8, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

A Shift of Attention to Local Planning Policies by the Tea Party Becomes National News

The 'lamestream media' picks up the story of Tea Party activists railing against efforts to control sprawl and conserve energy.

February 6, 2012 - The New York Times

A Tale of Two Cities

Melinda Burns uses two California cities through which to investigate the reasons why the foreclosure crisis has impacted communities in dramatically different ways.

January 20, 2012 - Miller-McCune

Why Infill Development May Be Bad for Your Health

A new study has created unexpected tensions between public health advocates and smart-growth-oriented urban planners.

January 12, 2012 - California Watch

How To Retrofit The Suburbs to Increase Walking

Researchers look at the largely suburban South Bay area of Los Angeles to offer ways to retrofit auto-oriented suburbs for more pedestrian travel.

January 9, 2012 - Access

Advice on Responding To Tea Party Members Critical of Smart Growth

The year 2011 may be remembered by some as the year planners began fielding objections about smart growth from Tea Party supporters. Nathan Norris offers his four-step process for responding.

January 9, 2012 - PlaceShakers

Is Smart Growth a United Nations Plot?

Tea Partiers, anti-smart growthers and Wendell Cox all agree: Agenda 21, a United Nations program adopted in 1992, contains dangerous ideas that if implemented could damage economic growth and cement world government control over the U.S.

December 13, 2011 - New Urban Network

Readers Respond To Leinberger's 'Death of Fringe Suburb'

The Times published three responses to op-eds by Leinberger and anti-sprawl contributor, Louise A. Mozingo. Univ. of IL urban planning professor and author Robert Bruegmann and Carnegie Endowment director Shin-Pei Tsay present contrasting viewpoints.

December 12, 2011 - The New York Times - Letters To Editor

Mitt Romney, New Urbanist?

During his tenure as governor, Romney took several pro-smart growth actions, says Alec MacGillis in the New Republic.

December 2, 2011 - The Oregonian

Best Smart Growth Projects in America

This year, the Environmental Protection Agency looked at "articulate" city plans that aimed for a more sustainable future. There were five plans across that nation that were awarded for "achievement in smart growth."

December 1, 2011 - The Atlantic Cities

Boston Area Cities Receive Smart Growth Funding

Each of the cities just north of Boston will use its federal funds however it sees fit to boost smart growth principles and local economic development.

November 13, 2011 - The Boston Globe

San Francisco Mayoral Candidates Lacking Urban Vision

In the thick of the campaign, the American Institute of Architects invited the eleven major candidates for mayor of San Francisco to debate their respective visions for the City by the Bay.

November 7, 2011 - The Examiner

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