Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Smart Growth

Omaha Developer Sells “Walkable Main Street” of Parking Lots

By Angie Schmitt | May 1, 2014 | No Comments

As the downside of sprawling development becomes better understood, some developers are getting better at greenwashing sprawl. Here’s a pretty great example from Omaha, Nebraska. Charles Marohn at Strong Towns came across a story about Lockwood Development’s new office park in the Omaha World-Herald. And he was so taken aback by the disparity between the rhetoric […]

Book Excerpt: “Dead End,” a Look at Sprawl and the Rebirth of Urbanism

By Ben Ross | Apr 22, 2014 | No Comments

“Dead End: Suburban Sprawl and the Rebirth of American Urbanism” is a new book by Ben Ross, longtime president of Maryland’s Action Committee for Transit and a frequent contributor to Greater Greater Washington. This excerpt is preceded by a section describing the post-war expansion into the suburbs and the surrender of public space to automobile traffic. Highways […]

How Hartford’s Bet on Cars Set the Stage for Population Loss and Segregation

By Tanya Snyder | Apr 17, 2014 | No Comments

Hartford, Connecticut, has one of the highest poverty rates in the country. The urban renaissance that has visited so many cities hasn’t arrived there. Housing is still cheaper in the city than in the suburbs, and although suburban poverty is growing alarmingly fast, it’s nowhere near the levels seen in the city. There are multiple […]

Why Is America Falling Farther Behind Other Nations on Street Safety?

By Angie Schmitt | Apr 9, 2014 | 13 Comments

Vox, the much-anticipated Ezra Klein/Matt Yglesias/Melissa Bell reporting venture, launched earlier this week to wide fanfare, and one of the first articles explained that “traffic deaths are way, way down” in the United States. It was exciting to see Vox show an interest in street safety, but writer Susannah Locke missed the mark with her […]

Apple Transportation Program Stuck in the Past

By Tom Fairchild | Apr 9, 2014 | 24 Comments

Tom Fairchild is the director of Mobility Lab. This article was originally published by METRO Magazine. As an avid iPhone user, I have bought into the sense that Apple could literally peer into the future and deliver me technology that I never realized I would so desperately need. For years, Steve Jobs and company seem to have been our […]

Smart Growth America: Sprawl Shaves Years Off Your Life

By Tanya Snyder | Apr 2, 2014 | 18 Comments

Want to live a long, healthy, prosperous life? Don’t live in sprawlsville. Atlanta, I’m looking at you. Nashville, you too. Southern California’s Inland Empire: ouch. Meanwhile, break out the bubbly if you live in Atlantic City, Urbana/Champaign, or Santa Cruz — which all rank close to giants like New York and San Francisco as some of […]

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