Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Smart Growth

Would President Romney Build Roads or Rail?

By Tanya Snyder | Sep 27, 2011 | 9 Comments

All eyes are on Texas Gov. Rick Perry these days, the faraway frontrunner in the Republican race. But as the primary goes on (and on and on) more Republicans might take note of the fact that in a matchup with President Obama, only one candidate stands a chance of winning: former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. […]

Alex Steffen: We Can’t Avert Climate Change Without Dense Cities

By Tanya Snyder | Aug 9, 2011 | 17 Comments

Alex Steffen goes by the title “planetary futurist,” which makes me realize I should probably spruce up my title to something that makes me sound like I should be wearing a cape, too. What he does is write about sustainable cities, on WorldChanging.com for seven years and more recently in his book, Carbon Zero. He […]

The Latest Target of House Spending Cuts: EPA’s Smart Growth Office

By Tanya Snyder | Jul 28, 2011 | 2 Comments

For much of this week, the House has been debating next year’s appropriations bill for Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies. The bill includes harsh cuts to many key safety and environmental programs, including the EPA’s Smart Growth Office. According to the Obama administration’s statement of policy on the bill, “The bill terminates funding for EPA’s Smart Growth […]

Federal Regulations at Odds with Demand for Urban Housing

By Angie Schmitt | Jul 26, 2011 | 2 Comments

The real estate market is undergoing the most rapid period of change in a generation — and the shift is decidedly urban. A succession of recent studies have found there is an under-supply of urban-style housing — attached and small-lot, single-family homes — on the scale of about 13 million units. On the other hand, […]

Meet the Obscure Unelected Agencies Strangling Many U.S. Cities

By Angie Schmitt | Jul 21, 2011 | 8 Comments

Do you know the name of your local Metropolitan Planning Organization or Council of Government? Most Americans don’t. In fact, most people probably have no idea these agencies even exist, let alone what they do. Yet they are surprisingly powerful and play a substantial role in shaping the places where we live and work. Led […]

Smart Growth to Blame For the Housing Crash? Not By a Long Shot.

By Abigail Gardner | Jun 16, 2011 | 2 Comments

This guest post was written by Abigail Gardner of Smart Growth America. The Wall Street Journal yesterday posed the question of whether smart growth policies and land use restrictions were to blame for the housing boom and bust. The hypothesis comes from Wendell Cox, a long-time critic of smart growth, who, in a recent paper, […]

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