Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Sprawl

The Assumption of Inconvenience

By Ryan Avent | Sep 30, 2009 | 32 Comments

The secret of European eco-friendliness? Maybe not. Photo: romerican/Flickr Early this week, I noticed a number of my favorite bloggers linking to this Elisabeth Rosenthal essay at Environment 360, on the mysterious greenness of European nations. The average American, as it happens, produces about twice as much carbon dioxide each year as your typical resident […]

Can State DOTs Be Trained to Kick the Sprawl Habit?

By Ben Fried | Sep 25, 2009 | 2 Comments

I had the chance to listen in yesterday to top staffers from USDOT explain their collaboration with HUD and the EPA — the "Partnership for Livable Communities" that was first unveiled in March and touted again by President Obama in July. Three officials, including one of Ray LaHood’s top deputies, Beth Osborne, outlined their plans […]

More People, Less Driving: The Imperative of Curbing Sprawl

By Ryan Avent | Sep 3, 2009 | 29 Comments

Experience with case studies has made it clear to many urban planners and environmentalists that to maximize the benefits of transit investments, and to slow growth in traffic congestion, vehicle miles traveled (VMT), and carbon emissions, you have to focus on land use. Photo: Penn State. This knowledge has begun working its way into the […]

New Video Series Tells the Story of Sprawl

By Brad Aaron | Apr 21, 2009 | 1 Comment

As livable streets advocates work to make headway in breaking the cycle of American auto dependence, the folks at Planetizen have put together a video narrative that explains how we got here. "The Story of Sprawl," a double DVD set produced by Managing Editor Tim Halbur, is a compilation of historical films dating from 1939 […]

David Brooks: Still Rooting for Auto Dependence and Sprawl

By Ben Fried | Feb 17, 2009 | 38 Comments

David Brooks is dreaming of Denver, and in Denver they’re dreaming of transit-oriented, walkable neighborhoods. Photo of 16th Street Mall: ericrichardson/Flickr. Looks like there’s at least one bubble that has yet to burst: David Brooks’ unyielding enthusiasm for exurbs and car dependence. In today’s Times, the nation’s most famous sprawl apologist cites a recent Pew […]

Obama: The Days of “Building Sprawl Forever” Are Over

By Ben Fried | Feb 10, 2009 | 14 Comments

Obama in Ft. Myers This is encouraging. On the stump in Fort Myers, Florida to campaign for the stimulus bill, President Obama took a detour from his well-worn "roads and bridges" infrastructure spiel to deliver some brief remarks on transit and land use. Obama’s answer came in response to a city council member who said […]

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