Smart Growth
Streetsblog Basics
These States Are Actually Aiming for More Pedestrians to Die On Their Roads This Year
Federal officials have long allowed states to set their own pedestrian safety targets — and even the deadliest are still choosing goals that would be an increase over previous years.
June 28, 2024
Mass. Senator Markey Has Four Bills to Loosen Car Culture’s Grip on U.S. Cities
March 3, 2021
OPINION: The Industry City Rezoning Is Bad for Brooklyn
'It’s a stunning example of the economic exploitation and segregation that characterize gentrifying New York,' argues Assembly candidate Marcela Mitaynes.
August 21, 2020
Federal Bill Seeks to Prioritize Pedestrians (Albeit A Tiny Bit More)
A new federal bill would mandate that 5 percent of all federal highway funds be diverted to "Complete Streets" to hopefully stem the blood tide of pedestrian deaths in this country.
July 11, 2019
White House: Make Cities Affordable By Building for Walkability, Not Parking
The Obama administration is taking on the crisis of rising rents in American cities, releasing a series of recommendations today to spur the construction of more affordable housing. Among the many ideas the White House endorses: allowing more multi-family housing near transit and getting rid of parking minimums.
September 26, 2016
Walkable Cities Are More Affordable Than You Think – We Need More of Them
People living in walkable cities may have high housing costs, but they also tend to have low transportation costs and better access to jobs, according to a new study from Smart Growth America [PDF].
June 15, 2016
Planning for Less Driving, Not More, Would Lead to Big Savings
What if, instead of basing policy around the presumption that people will drive more every year, transportation agencies started making decisions to reduce the volume of driving? And what if they succeed?
November 23, 2015
New Jersey Squanders Transit By Surrounding Stations With Sprawl
New Jersey is the most population-dense state in the country, and many residents get to work via one of its several transit systems. But too many of New Jersey’s transit stations are surrounded by single-family housing, severely limiting the number of people -- especially low-income people -- with convenient, walkable access to transit. Some entire transit lines are out of reach for people of modest means.
July 9, 2015
It’s Smart to Be Dense
As the world’s population continues to urbanize, our cities have two options for growth: densify or sprawl. To accommodate a more populous and more prosperous world, the spread-out, car-dependent model of the 20th century must change. In this video, the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) and Streetfilms team up to bring you the most important reasons for building dense.
July 6, 2015
More Money Won’t Fix U.S. Infrastructure If We Don’t Change How It’s Spent
"America's infrastructure is slowly falling apart" went the headline of a recent Vice Magazine story that epitomizes a certain line of thinking about how to fix the nation's "infrastructure crisis." The post showed a series of structurally deficient bridges and traffic-clogged interchanges intended to jolt readers into thinking we need to spend more on infrastructure.
February 5, 2015