Dense urban living works for some people, but not for many others. Planners need to balance their visions with a respect for the core wants and needs of today’s families.It is true that cars can lead to pollution and other problems. Many Smart Growth planners have tried to discourage driving by making it hard to park and drive. […]
Infill
Robert H. Kuehn Jr.: “Thinking Like a Developer”
Robert H. Kuehn Jr., a champion of affordable housing and mixed-use developments, contributed “Thinking Like a Developer” to Preserving and Enhancing Communities: A Guide for Citizens, Planners and Policymakers (2007). Kuehn discusses brownfields revitalization, avoiding acrimony, and a common developer mistake that drives density (p.42-51): A key issue is whether the property to be developed […]
Smart Growth: When Polls and Reality Diverge
We are not in favor of unsustainable living, but identifying and implementing sustainable practices is more complex than it might appear… It is common knowledge among pollsters that what people say may differ from what they do. This is particularly the case when a question has a “politically correct” answer (see “spiral of silence”).In the case of […]
Energy Intensity Less in Single-Family Homes Than High-Rises
An implicit assumption in many of the briefs for Smart Growth is that multi-unit dwellings are more resource-efficient than single-family homes. However, Department of Energy Tables show that this is not true, at least not on the basis of energy per square foot of living space. Table 8c. U.S. Residential Energy Intensity Using Weather-Adjusted Primary […]
Smart Growth with Balance: The American Planning Association
In its advocacy of Smart Growth, the American Planning Association supports the principles of citizen participation, preservation of neighborhood character, respect for urban greenspace, and fairness. The APA’s Policy Guide on Smart Growth, adopted in 2002, defines Smart Growth as follows: Smart growth means using comprehensive planning to guide, design, develop, revitalize and build communities for all […]
UMass Press: “Natural Land: Preserving and Funding Open Space”
The University of Massachusetts Press (Amherst) recently published Preserving and Enhancing Communities: A Guide for Citizens, Planners, and Policymakers, a timely addition to the Sustainable Northampton debate. The book generally supports Smart Growth concepts while it also underscores the value of urban open space. We focus on the latter in these excerpts from Chapter 10, “Natural Land: Preserving and Funding […]
New York Times: The Green Alleys of Chicago
Paved surfaces are notorious for creating stormwater runoff and pollution issues, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Chicago is having success with new kinds of paving materials, reports The New York Times (11/26/07): …with nearly 2,000 miles of small service streets bisecting blocks from the North Side to the South Side, Chicago is the […]
Gazette: “Region’s storms going to extremes, report finds”
Today’s Gazette reports New England is experiencing more extreme rainstorms than in the past. We can also expect longer periods of relative dryness. Extreme downpours and snowstorms are rising in frequency nationally, with the highest increases in New England…Massachusetts saw a 67 percent rise in severe storms during [1948-2006], trailing only Rhode Island and New Hampshire……the […]
Our Column in Today’s Gazette: The Hidden Risks of ‘Smart Growth’
Today’s Daily Hampshire Gazette features a guest column written by Dennis Helmus and Adam Cohen, members of NSNA. The column, reprinted below, touches on a number of points we have raised in recent weeks. We have added links so topics can be explored in greater detail. The hidden risks of ‘smart growth’By Dennis Helmus and Adam CohenSmart […]
Wendell Cox: “METROPOLITAN DENVER AT RISK: How Densification Will Intensify Traffic Congestion, Air Pollution and the Housing Affordability Crisis”
Wendell Cox, a critic of Smart Growth, made this presentation to the Apartment Association of Metro Denver Economic Conference on January 23, 2001. He underscores how density and traffic congestion go together, in Europe as in America: If Denver were as dense as Los Angeles it would cover a bit more than one half the area. […]