Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Smart Growth

HUD Awards Bring “Bittersweet” End to Sustainability Program

By Tanya Snyder | Nov 23, 2011 | 2 Comments

Just days after the interagency Partnership for Sustainable Communities was issued a death blow by having its funding axed in the FY2012 transportation budget, which President Obama signed into law Friday, HUD issued a reminder of just how sad that loss is: The agency released its list of 2011 award grantees — communities embarking on […]

Quantified: The Price of Sprawl in Florida

By Angie Schmitt | Nov 14, 2011 | 8 Comments

We all know sprawl is costly to local communities. Roads, schools, sewers: It all adds up. But the total price-tag is hard to determine, and that ambiguity undermines efforts at reform. What qualifies as sprawl? How much additional infrastructure is needed to support it? That’s why it’s exciting that a group of concerned Florida homeowners […]

Transforming Tysons Corner: A High-Stakes Suburban Retrofit

By Tanya Snyder | Oct 27, 2011 | 7 Comments

“That strip mall just got rezoned for high rise buildings.” “These auto dealerships are going to disappear.” Those aren’t words you hear very often in suburbia, but if you’re hanging out in Tysons Corner, Virginia, you’d better get used to it. This office enclave, which sits dead center between Washington, DC and Dulles International Airport, […]

The Federal Government’s Smart Growth-Inspired Landlord

By Tanya Snyder | Oct 25, 2011 | 1 Comment

Robert Peck says he’ll gladly pay more to locate office buildings near transit – the time saved commuting makes it worthwhile. Peck isn’t any old office manager. He’s the commissioner of the GSA Public Buildings Service, also known as “the landlord for the civilian federal government.” He’s in charge of acquiring office space for all […]

Rail~volution: Will New Americans Fuel Smart Growth or Suburbanism?

By Tanya Snyder | Oct 17, 2011 | 13 Comments

This year’s Rail~volution conference — the annual gathering of livability advocates, urban sustainability coordinators, and transit agency officials – kicked off today with remarks by Chris Leinberger of the Brookings Institution and Manuel Pastor, who teaches demographics and ethnicity at the University of Southern California. Leinberger noted that Hollywood does more consumer research than anyone […]

New Urbanists: No Economic Recovery Without Smart Growth

By Angie Schmitt | Oct 6, 2011 | 14 Comments

What happened to the United States over the past several years is most commonly described as a recession. By the technical definition of the word we’re two years into a recovery. But it sure doesn’t seem that way. Meanwhile, a growing chorus of intellectual leaders says the country is experiencing something different than a normal […]

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