Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably
As I wrote yesterday, environmental and economic forces are requiring that suburbs become more walkable, more transit-accessible, and more convenient than we have typically seen in the last 50 years. Yesterday we considered the new plan for Tysons Corner,...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably
It is becoming ever more clear that the suburbs of the current century cannot look or function like those of the late twentieth. Environmental and economic forces both are requiring that communities be more walkable, more transit-accessible, and more convenient...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably
(I am honored today to present another guest post from Rachel Sohmer, one of my smart growth colleagues here at NRDC.) Did you catch the New York Times article about tiny parks tucked among the concrete of Midtown Manhattan? It...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
"Bus rapid transit" sounds like an oxymoron, especially to US residents. But that needn't be the case, as this great little film on the system in Paris demonstrates: Filmmaker Elizabeth Press of the Livable Streets network and...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably
Yesterday's edition of The Providence Journal eloquently champions the cause of sustainable development. It also contains kind words for that state's excellent smart-growth advocacy organization, Grow Smart Rhode Island: "The economic challenges facing Rhode Island, already serious, have grown...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably
I've long been a fan of University of Maryland architecture professor Roger Lewis, especially for his "Shaping the City" columns in The Washington Post. Roger was articulating the principles of smart growth and livable urbanism long before the...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably , Solving Global Warming
Portland, Oregon has become such a recognized model of progressive planning and development that people like me are actually discouraged from talking about the region in professional circles. "Everybody already knows about Portland," the line goes. I don't think that everybody already...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
Maybe so, writes Andrew Revkin, in his Dot Earth blog on The New York Times website. More specifically, Revkin points us to other Times stories on something called the Air Car and on "tiny houses." The French-designed Air Car, soon for...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably , Solving Global Warming
On September 26 at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, the Congress for the New Urbanism will host Sustainability 2008:"Join a group of foremost green experts in exploring the field that will determine the future of our cities...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably , Solving Global Warming
The economics of real estate have fundamentally changed. So says Scott Polikov, writing for citiwire.net. In a very well-written column, Polikov lays out the underpinnings of what he believes to be a new real estate paradigm: “We all knew...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably
A jury of top international architects and urbanists has selected ten winners of the Philippe Rotthier European Prize for the best urban neighborhoods built in the last 25 years. The winners are all fabulous projects featuring revitalization, walkable design, mixed...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
An important new report based on painstaking empirical research in 17 locations finds that, on average, transit-oriented development (TOD) reduces car trips by 49 percent in the morning peak period and 48 percent in the evening peak, compared to what...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably
The Vermont-based Orton Family Foundation has committed $10 million in cash and staff over the next five years in a major new initiative to stem the tide of “anywhere USA” development and help small- to medium-sized communities strengthen their unique...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably
The magazine Cottage Living has released its 2008 list of the best neighborhoods in the country. Their feature is really well done IMHO.Despite the magazine’s name, their choices aren’t necessarily “cottage-y” as I usually think of the word, but they...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably , Solving Global Warming
I’m getting to be a fan of Canadian land use planning. While Canada has sprawl just as the United States does, my country’s neighbors (or should I say “neighbours”) to the north are less timid about addressing it than most...
