Smart Growth
Streetsblog Basics
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Wastefulness
The Republican presidential campaign recently produced a couple of characteristic bits of what Americans, for lack of a better word, call “news”: Newt Gingrich declaring that New Yorkers “live in high rises and ride the subway” and thus don’t care about gasoline prices; and Tea Party “activists” in Virginia, Florida and Maine convinced that smart-growth initiatives are — wait for it — a UN plot!
February 6, 2012
Tappan Zee Plans Flunk New York’s Smart Growth Test
The Cuomo administration's plan for an extra-wide, transit-free Tappan Zee Bridge is exactly the kind of project that New York state's smart growth law is supposed to prevent.
January 25, 2012
Rail~volution: Will New Americans Fuel Smart Growth or Suburbanism?
This year’s Rail~volution conference — the annual gathering of livability advocates, urban sustainability coordinators, and transit agency officials – kicked off today with remarks by Chris Leinberger of the Brookings Institution and Manuel Pastor, who teaches demographics and ethnicity at the University of Southern California.
October 17, 2011
New Urbanists: No Economic Recovery Without Smart Growth
What happened to the United States over the past several years is most commonly described as a recession. By the technical definition of the word we’re two years into a recovery. But it sure doesn’t seem that way.
October 6, 2011
Would President Romney Build Roads or Rail?
All eyes are on Texas Gov. Rick Perry these days, the faraway frontrunner in the Republican race. But as the primary goes on (and on and on) more Republicans might take note of the fact that in a matchup with President Obama, only one candidate stands a chance of winning: former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
September 27, 2011
Federal Support for Smart Planning Is on the Line Today
A Senate panel will vote today on two budget bills for FY2012, one of which is for transportation and housing programs. The draft of the bill isn't available until after the subcommittee markup today, but Smart Growth America is calling attention to the fact that it's important to make sure the bill includes funding for the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, the partnership between USDOT, the EPA, and HUD.
September 20, 2011
Alex Steffen: We Can’t Avert Climate Change Without Dense Cities
Alex Steffen goes by the title “planetary futurist,” which makes me realize I should probably spruce up my title to something that makes me sound like I should be wearing a cape, too. What he does is write about sustainable cities, on WorldChanging.com for seven years and more recently in his book, Carbon Zero.
August 9, 2011
From Sprawling New Jersey, a New Way Forward for State DOTs
Despite the rather obvious link between transportation investments and development patterns, land use planning is simply not a consideration at your average state DOT.
August 3, 2011
Meet the Obscure Unelected Agencies Strangling Many U.S. Cities
Do you know the name of your local Metropolitan Planning Organization or Council of Government? Most Americans don't. In fact, most people probably have no idea these agencies even exist, let alone what they do. Yet they are surprisingly powerful and play a substantial role in shaping the places where we live and work.
July 21, 2011
Paradigm Shift in Charleston: County Leaders Reject Highway Expansion
Chalk this up as a major victory in the livable streets movement: Thanks to a heroic effort by advocates for smart growth and rural preservation, officials in Charleston, South Carolina have unanimously rejected a plan for a half-billion-dollar highway expansion.
April 18, 2011