Smart Growth

Waste Not Want Not: City Living is the Way to a Wealthier Nation

John Petro | Posted 11.29.2009 | Green


John Petro

To reduce the country's excessive energy consumption, we need to make our new and existing suburbs more like cities. This means embracing the principles of smart growth and transit-oriented development.

Village Green: It's Time for a Sustainable Revitalization Agenda for Smaller Cities

F. Kaid Benfield | Posted 11.09.2009 | Green


F. Kaid Benfield

Most small New England cities were once booming industrial centers, but over time they became subject to considerable disinvestment in the form of plant closings, job losses, weakened civic infrastructure, and shrinking tax bases.

Village Green: It Takes a Village to Age In Place

F. Kaid Benfield | Posted 09.21.2009 | Green


F. Kaid Benfield

One of the goals of smart growth must be to create neighborhoods that foster "aging in place."

Village Green: Distracted Driving Is Also an Enviromental Issue

F. Kaid Benfield | Posted 09.14.2009 | Green


F. Kaid Benfield

Texting-while-driving is not just a safety issue, it's an environmental issue too. If our streets aren't safe and perceived as such, it'll be that much harder to convince people to walk or bicycle.

Village Green: How to Fix Local Transit & Road Planning

F. Kaid Benfield | Posted 09.03.2009 | Green


F. Kaid Benfield

Most of the issues of growth, mobility, equity and the environment that we address here are fundamentally regional in character. But our political mechanisms place most of the authority for dealing with them at the smallest levels of local government.

Village Green: How to Make Smart, City Neighborhoods Even Greener

F. Kaid Benfield | Posted 08.13.2009 | Green


F. Kaid Benfield

We need compact development, not large lots, to protect our waterways. But how do we soften the localized impacts of density and deal with the stormwater that runs off of dense urban sites?

Village Green: Tax Sprawl, Subsidize Infill

F. Kaid Benfield | Posted 07.31.2009 | Green


F. Kaid Benfield

When it comes to policy on sustainable progress, we should be including measures that change the way we are doing things, not merely advance the technology that allows us to do things the same.

Village Green: New Numbers Prove Smart Growth Reduces CO2, Cost-Effectively

F. Kaid Benfield | Posted 07.23.2009 | Green


F. Kaid Benfield

Suddenly people who two years ago wouldn't give smart growth advocates the time of day are talking about things like transit-oriented development and growth boundaries.

Village Green: Revitalizing Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine (Part 1)

F. Kaid Benfield | Posted 07.03.2009 | Green


F. Kaid Benfield

Cincinnati's historic Over-the-Rhine neighborhood is poised to become one of America's greatest revitalization stories, in the process creating a national exemplar of sustainable development.

Village Green: Dramatic New Maps Show the Geography of US Carbon Emissions

F. Kaid Benfield | Posted 06.27.2009 | Green


F. Kaid Benfield

The maps demonstrate vividly that, although emissions on a per-acre basis are greatest in highly urban areas, it is in the suburbs and outlying areas where we pollute the most on a per-household basis.

Bike to Work Day: Motivation for Getting Back on the Bike

Scott Dodd | Posted 09.25.2009 | Green


Scott Dodd

The theory is that drivers get more used to seeing bikers on the road and know how to deal with them. So it might actually be a smart strategy not to be out there by yourself.

Village Green: Federal Stimulus Threatened to Overrun Small Town with Sprawl

F. Kaid Benfield | Posted 06.12.2009 | Green


F. Kaid Benfield

New development should pay its own way, or at least make a justification as to why the subsidy is in the public interest when all factors, including the consequences of sprawl, are considered.

Village Green: Putting the "UD" Back in HUD, Sustainably

F. Kaid Benfield | Posted 06.05.2009 | Green


F. Kaid Benfield

Let's be honest -- HUD has become the Department of Subsidized Housing, and that must change. We've got to put the "UD" (urban development) back in HUD.

When the Real Estate Market Recovers, Smarter, More Sustainable Development Will Claim a Larger Share.

F. Kaid Benfield | Posted 05.11.2009 | Green


F. Kaid Benfield

Suburban sprawl as we have known it may not be dead but it is surely not well, and we are already seeing the beginning of its end.

The United States of Transit Cutbacks

F. Kaid Benfield | Posted 04.18.2009 | Green


F. Kaid Benfield

One of the sad ironies of our time is that, as demand for public transportation is soaring to levels not seen in 50 years, the recession has dampened government support for transit.

Forging an Equity Agenda Aimed at Inclusion Across America

Arlene M. Roberts | Posted 01.18.2009 | Politics


Arlene M. Roberts

There is no better time for implementing an equity agenda than now. 37 million people live in poverty and many more are one paycheck away. All it takes is one health crisis or a downsizing at the office.

Very Smart Growth

Jared Seeger | Posted 08.09.2008 | Green


Jared Seeger

When it comes to choosing places to live, many of us don't seem to listen to our inner monologue.