Fight Sprawl by Supporting Infill
Norman Wright, a city planner in Tennessee, writes in Planetizen about a better way to prevent sprawl. Instead of fighting sprawl with ever more demanding regulations, why not instead start encouraging infill? Why not give infill development a competitive advantage in the marketplace? Wright’s argument is premised on two things. First, he posits that many people would […]
Read MoreIn My Backyard
Matthew Yglesias has another smart column in Slate (it’s refreshing to see someone bring free market theories to bear on progressive issues). In the past, he’s offered opinions on everything from using congestion pricing to promote public transit and eliminating building height restrictions to increase economic vitality. This time around, he’s tackling a subject near and dear to […]
Read MoreThe New SimCity Baffles Urban Planners
In a fascinating experiment, Fast Company brought in teams of urban planners to tackle the new SimCity. All were supporters of New Urbanism, an urban design movement that focuses on sustainability, walkability, mixed-use developments, and connectivity. The results were disastrous. Although the planing teams began with the best of intentions, they instead ended up with coal-fueled cities, […]
Read MoreTea Party v. Smart Growth
I just read an absolutely fascinating article by Anthony Flint in The Atlantic Cities about how Tea Party Activists, in the name of aggressively smaller government, are working to undermine long held smart growth principles. Flint describes the scene: Across the country, Tea Party activists have been storming planning meetings of all kinds, opposing various plans by […]
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