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WSJ: McMansions aren’t what they used to be

July 3, 2009

Posted by Kaid Benfield in Living Sustainably

Tags:
community, demographics, housesize, markettransformation, mcmansions, smartgrowth, sprawl

  In an article published in The Wall Street Journal on June 29, June Fletcher reports a new survey showing that large houses have fallen out of favor with the American homebuying market: "A new study out Monday by the American...continued

They are stardust. They are golden. But are they right about “shrinking cities”?

July 2, 2009

Posted by Kaid Benfield in Environmental Justice , Living Sustainably

Tags:
community, detroit, historicpreservation, landbanks, neighborhood, recession, revitalization, rustbelt, shrinkingcities, smartercities, smartgrowth, sprawl, vacantproperties

Warning: this is a long one. Readers of a certain age will remember Joni's Mitchell's iconic anthem "Woodstock," celebrating the famous 1969 music festival (which, incidentally, she did not attend, but I digress).  The song became a monster hit for...continued

Streets for seniors: a video look at issues and remedies

July 1, 2009

Posted by Kaid Benfield in Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably

Tags:
community, completestreets, neighborhood, pedestrians, safety, smartercities, smartgrowth, traffic, walking

Streetfilms has released a great short video about how our streets and traffic patterns pose particular challenges to senior citizens on foot.  With the assistance of New York City's Transportation Alternatives, that city's impressive DOT has begun an earnest look...continued

Tax greenfield development, subsidize infill

June 30, 2009

Posted by Kaid Benfield in Living Sustainably , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
costsofsprawl, globalwarming, greenfields, infill, markettransformation, smartercities, smartgrowth, sprawl

    Tyler Caine has a terrific post on his sustainability blog Intercon extolling climate change policy to get on the smart growth bandwagon.  He says it extremely well, so I am just going to quote a few bits and...continued

Great principles for “smart growth schools”

June 29, 2009

Posted by Kaid Benfield in Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably

Tags:
community, neighborhood, schools, schoolsprawl, simplesteps, smartgrowth, walkable

    Last fall, I posted a two-part photo essay on school sprawl and the alternatives.  As I wrote then (in Part 1), "schools used to be the heart of a neighborhood or community.  Children and not a few teachers...continued

Cut'n'Paste Cities and "Design a Livable Street" - fun interactivity

June 26, 2009

Posted by Kaid Benfield in Living Sustainably

Tags:
cities, community, photography, smartercities, smartgrowth

     Cut'n'Paste Cities is a web-based participatory project that invites readers to share what they like best (and least) about cities, through their own photographs: "A global call to action and an invitation to urban dwellers to describe through photography...continued

New Urban News: “Containing development at the fringe” is the way to reduce CO2

June 25, 2009

Posted by Kaid Benfield in Living Sustainably , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
globalwarming, markettransformation, neighborhood, newurbanism, smartgrowth, sprawl, suburbs, transportation

In the June 2009 issue of New Urban News, researchers Lawrence Frank and Sarah Kavage report that "location [of a neighborhood] within a region" is a highly significant determinant of residents' travel behavior and, therefore, "containing development at the fringe...continued

Farmland worth saving (photo essay)

June 24, 2009

Posted by Kaid Benfield in Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places

Tags:
agriculture, conservation, farmland, maryland, openspace, preservation, smartgrowth

  These wonderful photographs of Frederick County, Maryland, are all by my friend Kai Hagen, writer, photographer, conservationist, entrepeneur, and County Commissioner.  Kai is concerned that development is sprawling out onto prime soils even while there are ample sites within...continued

Revitalizing Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine (Part 4: making it green)

June 23, 2009

Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
cincinnati, community, globalwarming, greenbuilding, historicpreservation, overtherhine, revitalization, smartercities, smartgrowth, sustainability

  This is the final installment of my miniseries about Cincinnati's remarkable Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, potentially a national model for smart, green revitalization.  For previous posts in the series, visit Part 1 (the legacy and the challenge), Part 2 (building on...continued

New numbers prove smart growth reduces CO2, cost-effectively

June 22, 2009

Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
capandtrade, CCAP, climatechange, globalwarming, markettransformation, sb375, smartgrowth, sprawl, transportation

For the most part, the climate change establishment - whether in government, industry, or the environmental community - has ignored the potential of land use strategies to provide significant reductions in carbon emissions while also producing multiple other environmental, economic,...continued

US transit cities in-the-making

June 19, 2009

Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
community, smartercities, smartgrowth, transit

  Grist has an informative and fun read, written by Jonathan Hiskes and Katharine Wroth, on "the best US transit systems you never knew existed": "As cities big and small rethink how their residents get around, new systems are taking...continued

Transportation Secretary LaHood leads the way on sustainability

June 18, 2009

Posted by Kaid Benfield in Living Sustainably , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
community, DOT, highspeedrail, lahood, livablecommunities, locationefficiency, smartercities, smartgrowth, sustainability, transit, transportation

This is not your father's DOT.  A couple of days ago I wrote a post on the remarkable (and now three-agency) partnership on sustainable communities within the Obama administration.  Secretaries Ray LaHood (DOT) and Shaun Donovan (HUD) and Administrator Lisa...continued

The Future Scotland debates: can architecture “set our souls free”?

June 17, 2009

Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably

Tags:
architecture, community, lighthousecentre, scotland, smartgrowth, sustainabledevelopment

    Barry Didcock, a contributor to Glasgow's Sunday Herald, seems to think it can.  Me, I don't know that architecture can set my soul "free," exactly, but I believe it can indeed be soul-stirring and soul-nourishing. The question arises...continued

EPA joins exciting HUD/DOT partnership on sustainable communities

June 16, 2009

Posted by Kaid Benfield in Living Sustainably , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
DOT, EPA, epasmartgrowth, housing, HUD, lisajackson, planning, smartgrowth, sustainabledevelopment, transportation

The more the merrier, and one only wonders what took them so long.  Back in March, the Obama administration announced an exciting new partnership between the federal transportation and housing & urban development departments to pursue together an agenda for...continued

Revitalizing Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine, national model in the making (Part 3: making impressive progress)

June 15, 2009

Posted by Kaid Benfield in Environmental Justice , Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
cincinnati, community, gentrification, historicpreservation, neighborhood, overtherhine, revitalization, smartercities, smartgrowth

This was going to be the final installment of my miniseries about Cincinnati's remarkable Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, but I'm on too much of a roll to finish today.  (Or, as my man Van would put it, "it's too late to stop...continued

Kaid Benfield
Kaid Benfield
Director, Smart Growth Program
Washington, DC
I want this blog to be a conversation about the intersections between development, community, and...
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