Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably , Solving Global Warming
Cool Town Studios has a very interesting new blog post about an award-winning development called The Rise in Vancouver. Although the project is anchored by big-box retail, the parking is underground, there are 90 homes above, the...continued→
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Living Sustainably
Lynchburg, Virginia last week became the latest jurisdiction to impose standards on big-box retailers. While the new standards do not preclude new Walmarts, Costcos and such from locating in the city, they do require that the stores be more pedestrian-,...continued→
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably
BENTONVILLE, April 1 - In a dramatic joint appearance this morning, Walmart CEO Mike F. Duke and former candidate John R. McCain announced major new initiatives to curtail poorly planned, sprawling land development across the country. "It's the right thing to do,"...continued→
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Living Sustainably , The Media and the Environment
I was introduced to Brian Ulrich's haunting photos of dead malls and big-box stores by a slide show in the current issue of Time. As Bryan Walsh's story "Recycling the Suburbs" (one of "10 ideas for changing the world...continued→
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Living Sustainably
To Bruce Springsteen's fans who were shocked that that their hero gave an exclusive album deal to Walmart, the Boss says it was a mistake. Longtime music critic Jon Pareles writes in yesterday's New York Times: "He...continued→
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably
Katie Worth reports in the San Francisco Examiner that the owners of the Potrero Center strip mall in the city are seeking a planning amendment that will allow them to build several stories of housing on the site, on top of...continued→
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably
Writing in yesterday's Washington Post, Joel Garreau (Edge City, Radical Evolution) collects ideas from several accomplished designer and developer types on how to reshape old big-box retail stores into spaces more suited to the 21st-century. It's a subject I've...continued→
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Living Sustainably
A lot, the giant company apparently thinks. But not as much as they think, say the facts:12:30 pm, Buncombe County, south of Asheville, NC, last week (August 6)For a startling depiction of the company's spread across the American landscape, see...continued→
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably , U.S. Law and Policy
Waynesville, North Carolina is a sleepy southern town about 30 miles or so from where I grew up. It's where I got my first traffic ticket, among other things.You know smart growth is catching on when a place like Waynesville...continued→
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably
I've been pretty hard on Wal-Mart and, believe me, they've earned it with their land-use practices. I awarded them my Thanksgiving turkey and then followed up with my despair over a news story touting their sustainability efforts.The problem with most...continued→
