planted city

From USA Today:

Almost three years after the official end of a recession that kept people from moving and devastated new suburban subdivisions, people continue to avoid counties on the farthest edge of metropolitan areas, according to Census estimates out today.

The financial and foreclosure crisis forced more people to rent. Soaring gas prices made long commutes less appealing. And high unemployment drew more people to big job centers. As the nation crawls out of the downturn, cities and older suburbs are leading the way.

Population growth in fringe counties nearly screeched to a halt in the year that ended July 1, 2011. By comparison, counties at the core of metro areas are growing faster than the nation as a whole.

…

During the ’70s gas shortage and the ’80s savings and loan industry crisis, some predicted the end of suburban sprawl. It didn’t happen then, but current trends could change the nation’s growth patterns permanently.

Aging Baby Boomers, who have begun to retire, and Millennials, who are mostly in their teens and 20s, are more inclined to live in urban areas, McIlwain says.

“I’m not sure we’re going to see outward sprawl even if the urge to sprawl continues,” he says. “Counties are getting to the point that they don’t have the money to maintain the roads, water, sewer. … This is a century of urbanization.”

Check out the rest of the article here.

(Map source: US Census Bureau - 2010 Census via USA Today)

From Atlantic Cities:

New research from Southern California has found that residents of neighborhoods with a central core of shops and services – a pattern typically found in older, traditional communities – walk nearly three times more often than do residents of neighborhoods whose nearest shops and services lie along a major arterial roadway, a pattern typically found in newer suburban development.  Residents of traditionally styled and centered neighborhoods also drive less than their counterparts residing in the newer pattern.

This is true even when the data are controlled for individual and household economic and demographic characteristics.

…

Notably, the residents of the centered neighborhoods were found to take shorter trips, suggesting that walkable proximity – both closeness and a safe, direct walking route – to shops and services is also important. It may not do much to encourage walking, for example, if the dry cleaner’s is a quarter mile away as the crow flies but you have to travel two or three times that far navigating busy roads around the subdivision to get there.

Check out the rest of the article here.

(Photo credit: Calgary Herald)

Ultimately, the car-dominant model of urban and suburban development is not sustainable. Recognizing the limitations of this outmoded model is the first step in planning for our future of economic, energy, and environmental uncertainty. 

You can read and download the report here. 

Infographic: 15 Ways to Green Your Home

It seems almost every week there is a new study showing that living in cities is the greenest thing a person could do in terms of their carbon output and larger ecological footprint. But, not everyone can pick up and move to the city overnight. Nor does everyone want to. Given these realities Allianz Knowledge’s 15 ways to green your home infographic is a good resource and its animated version explains the importance of each of the fifteen components. Checkitout!

One of the difficult things I’ve been trying to figure out over the last while is how to effectively communicate the nature of our sustainability crisis in a way that doesn’t alienate or paralyze people or have them write me off as some sort of nut. Understandably, many, many people are busy raising families and working hard just to meet the demands of day-to-day that they don’t necessarily have the time, energy or desire to start looking into what are admittedly complex and very sobering problems. There’s another group of people that simply don’t want to know what’s going on and no amount of “evidence” will convince them of the need to change, at least in the short-term. They seem to be going through the first stage (denial) of the five-stage grief cycle (i.e. denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance). The saying “ignorance is bliss” also seems to fit the situation well.

Personally I find this situation incredibly frustrating and collectively self-defeating but I have been encouraged recently that more and more mainstream organizations (e.g. US military, UK industrialists group) have admitted to the reality and impacts of peak oil production and the likelihood of an oil crunch sometime in the next half-decade. It means that the energy problem moves beyond the limited audiences of peak oil blogs (e.g. Post-Carbon Institute, Oil Drum, Energy Bulletin) and forces the broader population to consider the problem. One particular source that I’ve found useful in framing the problem is the linked text from a talk given to a group of citizens in Eugene, Oregon. It is concise and clearly explains the amazing qualities of oil (i.e. highly portable and energy dense), the lack of scalable, market-ready alternatives and the likely impacts of a post-cheap energy future, particularly with regard to food systems. As a resource, it should assist local officials, community planners and individuals in their efforts to explain what is a very difficult topic in a way that highlights reality but also importantly points to solutions that exist. A considerably longer article by writer and suburbia critic James Howard Kunstler is another worthy and useful entry.   

Note: If anyone reading this has come across similar resources I would be interested to receive any links or files that you may have. I can be contacted at plantedcity@gmail.com.  

In the linked article Alex Steffen shares some interesting thoughts on the importance of daylighting the externalities or true costs of our consumption decisions to sustainability in exploring the concept of resilience and arguing that:

1) Defining the scope of resilience is critical.

2) Sustainability needs to be a systemic effort.

3) Ruggedness is something we don’t talk enough about.

4) The future demands new thinking.

A young development in Vauban (Freiburg, Germany) illustrates a trend of planning communities to thrive without automobiles.

F. Kaid Benfield, director of NRDC’s Smart Growth Program muses about whether communities are planning for sustainability and resilience effectively, referencing posts on resilience from Warren Karlenzig’s Common Current consultancy:

… that “at no time has effective planning, land use and public transit been so key to ensuring economic vitality, as well as equity (access to jobs and services with transit), environmental sustainability, climate security and health.”

… “general urban resiliency rules of thumb”:  

1.  Planning: Enable the development of vibrant mixed-use communities and higher-density regional centers, that create a sense of place, allow for transportation choices (other than private automobiles), and protect regional agricultural, watershed, and wildlife habitat lands.
2. Mobility: Invest in high-quality pedestrian, bicycle, and public transit infrastructure with easy access, shared connectivity and rich information sources, from signage to cell phone alerts.
3. Built Environment: Design new buildings and associated landscaping—and retrofit existing buildings—for state-of-the-art energy (smart grid applications), and resource efficiency, integrated with mobility options.
4. Economy: Support businesses in order to provide quality local jobs and to meet the needs of the new economy with renewable energy and other “green” technologies and services. Support local and regional economic decision-makers in adapting to the new world of rising prices, volatile energy supplies and national demographic shifts.
5. Food: Develop regional organic food production, processing, and metro-area distribution networks.
6.  Resources: Drastically cut use of water, waste and materials, re-using them whenever possible.
7. Management: Engage government, businesses and citizens together in resilience planning and implementation; track and communicate the successes, failures, and opportunities of this community-wide effort.