FortWorthology
Kevin Buchanan // February 25, 2010
The mayor stated in no uncertain terms that Fort Worth is facing severe transportation challenges, that they stem from too many years of car-first planning, and that Fort Worth can no longer be designed and built in a car-centric fashion.
Commuter Rail, street cars, and other alternative modes of transportation also remain a priority for me and this City Council. Unfortunately, Fort Worth and other major metropolitan areas are finding out the hard way what a mistake it was to design and build cities around automobiles years ago. Friends, we cannot continue to focus solely on building more roads for more vehicles. That’s counter productive at best.
Business as usual is dead!
MORE
Showing posts with label Sustainability. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sustainability. Show all posts
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Interview With 'Sustainability Czar' Shelley Poticha
Builder
Jenny Sullivan // February 18, 2010
Poticha, who is director of HUD’s newly created Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities, speaks on land use, transit patterns, economic recovery, and the government’s vision for a healthier built environment.
MORE
Jenny Sullivan // February 18, 2010
Poticha, who is director of HUD’s newly created Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities, speaks on land use, transit patterns, economic recovery, and the government’s vision for a healthier built environment.
MORE
U.S. driving decline is in reverse
USA Today
Larry Copeland // February 23, 2010
The historic drop in driving that began in 2007 and the dramatic decline in gridlock that accompanied it have ended, according to a report today by a firm that tracks congestion in the USA.
Using 12-month averages, the study found that driving increased by 0.3% in September, 0.2% in October, 0.3% in November and 0.2% in December over the same periods a year earlier, according to federal data.
Traffic congestion is still about two-thirds of 2007 peak levels but likely to get worse.
MORE
Larry Copeland // February 23, 2010
The historic drop in driving that began in 2007 and the dramatic decline in gridlock that accompanied it have ended, according to a report today by a firm that tracks congestion in the USA.
Using 12-month averages, the study found that driving increased by 0.3% in September, 0.2% in October, 0.3% in November and 0.2% in December over the same periods a year earlier, according to federal data.
Traffic congestion is still about two-thirds of 2007 peak levels but likely to get worse.
MORE
'Drive 'til You Qualify' Foreclosures on the Rise
American Public Media - Marketplace
February 25, 2010
There are many reasons why families face foreclosure, like loss of income or rising health care costs. But several new studies show there's another factor closely linked with foreclosure rates: gas prices. Andrea Bernstein reports.
MORE
February 25, 2010
There are many reasons why families face foreclosure, like loss of income or rising health care costs. But several new studies show there's another factor closely linked with foreclosure rates: gas prices. Andrea Bernstein reports.
MORE
A Smarter Planet needs Smarter Buildings
Sustainable Cities Collective
Adam Christensen // February 22, 2010
Following is a guest post from Florence Hudson, an energy and environment strategy executive from IBM:
Buildings have always been much more than roofs over our heads. Over the last century, as towers of steel reached higher into the sky and homes sprawled farther and farther into the surrounding landscape, our buildings not only housed burgeoning urban populations and growing economies – they also served as symbols of modernity and progress. Unfortunately, today’s offices, factories, stores and homes are also symbols of something else – waste and pollution.
Consider some of the following:
The building sector is responsible for more electricity consumption than any other sector, 42%, and 15% of all Green House Gas (GHG) Emissions.
In the U.S., buildings represent 72% of all energy usage and 39% of Green House Gas (GHG) Emissions (pdf). Yet, up to 50% of that electricity is wasted.
In New York City, buildings account for 80% of NYC’s Carbon Emissions.
By 2025, buildings will be the single largest energy consumers and emitters of greenhouse gas on our planet.
MORE
Adam Christensen // February 22, 2010
Following is a guest post from Florence Hudson, an energy and environment strategy executive from IBM:
Buildings have always been much more than roofs over our heads. Over the last century, as towers of steel reached higher into the sky and homes sprawled farther and farther into the surrounding landscape, our buildings not only housed burgeoning urban populations and growing economies – they also served as symbols of modernity and progress. Unfortunately, today’s offices, factories, stores and homes are also symbols of something else – waste and pollution.
Consider some of the following:
The building sector is responsible for more electricity consumption than any other sector, 42%, and 15% of all Green House Gas (GHG) Emissions.
In the U.S., buildings represent 72% of all energy usage and 39% of Green House Gas (GHG) Emissions (pdf). Yet, up to 50% of that electricity is wasted.
In New York City, buildings account for 80% of NYC’s Carbon Emissions.
By 2025, buildings will be the single largest energy consumers and emitters of greenhouse gas on our planet.
MORE
What criteria should we use to define smart growth locations?
Sustainable Cities Collective
Kaid Benfield // February 24, 2010
This may be my all-time wonkiest post (tomorrow’s will be easier to digest, promise), so do be warned: In particular, there has been much discussion lately about which criteria policymakers should use to define “smart growth” or “location efficiency” for the application of policy. As all of us who have slaved over LEED-ND for the better part of a decade can attest, this is a very difficult issue.
Basic principles and challenges
This is not because we don’t know what the principles are. We do: They are to (1) avoid sites whose environmental characteristics make them unsuited for intensive development; (2) favor locations within the existing developed area of a region and well-served by existing urban fabric and transportation choices; and (3) ensure that what is built in those locations is consistent with the goals of sustainability.
MORE
Kaid Benfield // February 24, 2010
This may be my all-time wonkiest post (tomorrow’s will be easier to digest, promise), so do be warned: In particular, there has been much discussion lately about which criteria policymakers should use to define “smart growth” or “location efficiency” for the application of policy. As all of us who have slaved over LEED-ND for the better part of a decade can attest, this is a very difficult issue.
Basic principles and challenges
This is not because we don’t know what the principles are. We do: They are to (1) avoid sites whose environmental characteristics make them unsuited for intensive development; (2) favor locations within the existing developed area of a region and well-served by existing urban fabric and transportation choices; and (3) ensure that what is built in those locations is consistent with the goals of sustainability.
MORE
Southwestern Medical District Area Plan
Dallas ObserverRobert Wilonsky // February 15, 2010
Actually, it's the "Stemmons Corridor-Southwest Medical District Plan," which has been simmering since 2008 as officials from UT Southwestern, Love Field, Crow Holdings, Parkland and so forth worked with area residents to hash out the (transit-oriented) development details. Nothing's final yet -- that's a few months-plus off -- but tomorrow, the council's Economic Development Committee will be briefed on what's what thus far. In short, the city wants to turn Stemmons into the "signature gateway corridor into Central Dallas" while transforming the rest of the area into some mixed-use combination of Victory Park and the West Village, if I read my briefings right.
Creating “A Better Tomorrow” in America with Sustainable Transportation
Check out this video from America 2050, as part of its “A Better Tomorrow” project to create a “positive vision for the future of America built around investments in sustainable transportation and livable communities.”
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Ffighting Words about Sprawl
NRDC Switchboard
Kaid Benfield // February 4, 2010
Kaid Benfield // February 4, 2010
“The biggest fight I think we’ll see in the next ten years is the fight between people in cities who are trying to transform them into ‘bright green’ cities and those economic interests in the [outer-ring] suburbs who see that as a threat to their livelihoods, and in some cases just despise it on ideological grounds.”
So says “bright green” advocate Alex Steffen, executive editor of WorldChanging, in an interview with Grist’s Jonathan Hiskes.
Climate Change is All About Land Use
At Lincoln House
February 3, 2010
A recent report has some timely advice for local government officials -- take steps in land use planning, linking development and transportation and energy efficiency, that are appealing because they save money. The fact that the measures also address climate change is best left as an unheralded bonus.
The report, Planning for Climate Change in the West, by Rebecca Carter and Susan Culp, acknowledges the critical role of local planners in confronting challenges posed by climate change. It also addresses the region’s many political, cultural, demographic, and geographic factors that can be barriers to innovation and effectiveness.
MORE
February 3, 2010
A recent report has some timely advice for local government officials -- take steps in land use planning, linking development and transportation and energy efficiency, that are appealing because they save money. The fact that the measures also address climate change is best left as an unheralded bonus.
The report, Planning for Climate Change in the West, by Rebecca Carter and Susan Culp, acknowledges the critical role of local planners in confronting challenges posed by climate change. It also addresses the region’s many political, cultural, demographic, and geographic factors that can be barriers to innovation and effectiveness.
MORE
The First Urban Decade
New Urban News
Robert Steuteville
The last half of the 20th Century was dominated by suburbia, but cities made a comeback in the first decade of the new millennium.
MORE
Robert Steuteville
The last half of the 20th Century was dominated by suburbia, but cities made a comeback in the first decade of the new millennium.
MORE
Suburban Poverty and the Transit Connection
DC.StreetsBlog.org
Sarah Goodyear // January 22, 2010
Today on the Streetsblog Network, Yonah Freemark of The Transport Politic looks at the new Brookings Institution report on suburban poverty levels and the connection to future transportation planning in those regions. Freemark, who recently wrote about how the city of Paris is extending its transit infrastructure to its traditionally lower-income suburbs, points out that the challenges to transit in American suburbs are greater. The infrastructure of American suburbs, as well as the governmental planning mechanisms, present significant challenges to reducing automobile dependence -- a dependence that weighs especially heavily on people with low incomes.
MORE
Sarah Goodyear // January 22, 2010
Today on the Streetsblog Network, Yonah Freemark of The Transport Politic looks at the new Brookings Institution report on suburban poverty levels and the connection to future transportation planning in those regions. Freemark, who recently wrote about how the city of Paris is extending its transit infrastructure to its traditionally lower-income suburbs, points out that the challenges to transit in American suburbs are greater. The infrastructure of American suburbs, as well as the governmental planning mechanisms, present significant challenges to reducing automobile dependence -- a dependence that weighs especially heavily on people with low incomes.
MORE
U.S. DOT Previews How New Transit Rules Could Define ‘Livability’
DC.StreetsBlog.org
Elana Schor // January 21, 2010
Addressing the U.S. Conference of Mayors, assistant transport secretary for policy Polly Trottenberg was asked by the mayor of Clearwater, Florida, to outline how the agency might "quantify livability" in its upcoming rulemaking.
Trottenberg said U.S. DOT learned decision-making lessons from the TIGER grants, a $1.5 billion competitive program in the stimulus law that she said called for extra sets of hands from the EPA and HUD.
Though Trottenberg was careful not to predict the content of still-unwritten regulations, she described some livability questions that came into play last year and could be a factor as the agency writes its new transit funding rules.
"Is this project going to include all modes?" she said. "[Will the project] help boost businesses on Main Street?"
MORE
Elana Schor // January 21, 2010
Addressing the U.S. Conference of Mayors, assistant transport secretary for policy Polly Trottenberg was asked by the mayor of Clearwater, Florida, to outline how the agency might "quantify livability" in its upcoming rulemaking.
Trottenberg said U.S. DOT learned decision-making lessons from the TIGER grants, a $1.5 billion competitive program in the stimulus law that she said called for extra sets of hands from the EPA and HUD.
Though Trottenberg was careful not to predict the content of still-unwritten regulations, she described some livability questions that came into play last year and could be a factor as the agency writes its new transit funding rules.
"Is this project going to include all modes?" she said. "[Will the project] help boost businesses on Main Street?"
MORE
Big Boxes vs. Local Retail
Birmingham News
MIchael Tomberlin // January 20, 2010
MANY OF THE LARGEST Birmingham area retail centers are feeling the pain as the industry's big-box era moves into retreat, a closely watched real estate survey shows.
Retail space in the area is stinging from the large number of anchor, or so-called "big box," vacancies at high-profile centers. The small "neighborhood" centers, typically featuring a supermarket and small retailers, actually saw occupancy rise in 2009.
MORE
MIchael Tomberlin // January 20, 2010
MANY OF THE LARGEST Birmingham area retail centers are feeling the pain as the industry's big-box era moves into retreat, a closely watched real estate survey shows.
Retail space in the area is stinging from the large number of anchor, or so-called "big box," vacancies at high-profile centers. The small "neighborhood" centers, typically featuring a supermarket and small retailers, actually saw occupancy rise in 2009.
MORE
The War Against Suburbia
The American
Joel Kotkin // January 21, 2010
Joel Kotkin // January 21, 2010
A year into the Obama administration, America’s dominant geography, suburbia, is now in open revolt against an urban-centric regime that many perceive threatens their way of life, values, and economic future. Scott Brown’s huge upset victory by 5 percent in Massachusetts, which supported Obama by 26 percentage points in 2008, largely was propelled by a wave of support from middle-income suburbs all around Boston. The contrast with 2008 could not be plainer.
Browns’s triumph followed similar wins by Republican gubernatorial contenders last November in Virginia and New Jersey. In those races suburban voters in places like Middlesex County, New Jersey and Loudoun County, Virginia—which had support President Obama just a year earlier—deserted the Democats in droves. Also in November, voters in Nassau County, New York upset Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi, an attractive Democrat who had carefully cultivated suburban voters.
The lesson here is that political movements ignore suburbanites at their peril. For the better part of a century, Americans have been voting with their feet, moving inexorably away from the central cities and towards the suburban periphery. Today a solid majority of Americans live in suburbs and exurbs, more than countryside residents and urbanites combined.
MORESuburbia vs. the Planet
Huffington Post
Seth Bauer // January 18, 2010
Seth Bauer // January 18, 2010
A really good rant takes a rare combination of passion, knowledge, wit, and intelligence. Recently, in a long phone conversation with Andres Duany, the architect and urban planner, I was privy to one of the best I've ever heard.
The origin of global warming. The cause of American cultural malaise. The inanity of our planning, zoning, transportation, political, and community processes. Duany has a lot to rant about. Ostensibly our conversation was about the carefully distilled, practical advice contained handbook-style in his new release, The Smart Growth Manual, published by McGraw Hill. But our conversation about the book showed why Duany and his coauthors, Jeff Speck and Mike Lydon, had to pare down to core concepts: Otherwise, Duany was just going to explode with it all.
Duany began by identifying three concurrent crises that he traced directly to the American lifestyle: Peak oil (the likelihood that we've already consumed more than half the planet's petroleum in barely 100 years), the housing bubble, and global climate change. "It's where we live, the size of our houses, the distances we drive for work, commerce, play--everything."
MOREThursday, February 4, 2010
How to Create Livable & Sustainable Communities
Greg Lindsay has a new column in Fast Company entitled "The Master Plan" explaining how we can create more livable and environmentally sustainable communities.
Pentagon: ‘Climate change, energy security, and economic stability are inextricably linked’
grist.org
Brad Johnson / February 1, 2010
Climate change and energy are two key issues that will play a significant role in shaping the future security environment. Although they produce distinct types of challenges, climate change, energy security, and economic stability are inextricably linked.
MORE
Brad Johnson / February 1, 2010
Climate change and energy are two key issues that will play a significant role in shaping the future security environment. Although they produce distinct types of challenges, climate change, energy security, and economic stability are inextricably linked.
MORE
New EPA rules may aid proposed transit projects
Fort Worth Business Press
Leslie Wimmer // January 25, 2010
The Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed lowering of ozone emission standards may put a stronger focus on North Texas transportation projects as a way to improve air quality across the region.
Area transportation officials expect the EPA’s proposal to focus attention on speeding up transportation efforts, including highway expansion and public transportation projects, as a way to keep traffic moving and to help meet the proposed new, lower ozone standard.
MORE
Leslie Wimmer // January 25, 2010
The Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed lowering of ozone emission standards may put a stronger focus on North Texas transportation projects as a way to improve air quality across the region.
Area transportation officials expect the EPA’s proposal to focus attention on speeding up transportation efforts, including highway expansion and public transportation projects, as a way to keep traffic moving and to help meet the proposed new, lower ozone standard.
MORE
Urban Core as Regional Economic Indicator
DC.StreetsBlog.org
Sarah Goodyear / January 25, 2010
The importance of core urban areas to a region's economy is the subject of a post today from the always thoughtful Aaron Renn, who blogs at The Urbanophile. Renn examines data that suggest job growth (or decline) in a metro region's core counties is a good indicator for the overall health of those regions. Renn argues that it's important to keep a close eye on what's happening in the urban core in order to forestall the kind of catastrophic decline we've seen in places like Detroit and Cleveland.
MORE
Sarah Goodyear / January 25, 2010
The importance of core urban areas to a region's economy is the subject of a post today from the always thoughtful Aaron Renn, who blogs at The Urbanophile. Renn examines data that suggest job growth (or decline) in a metro region's core counties is a good indicator for the overall health of those regions. Renn argues that it's important to keep a close eye on what's happening in the urban core in order to forestall the kind of catastrophic decline we've seen in places like Detroit and Cleveland.
MORE
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
