Sprawl
Basics
In Which Chuck Marohn and I Talk to Exurban Minnesotans on the Radio
Charles Marohn -- our planner/engineer friend from Baxter, Minnesota and Strong Towns -- and I appeared on a Minnesota Public Radio show on Friday about "the death of the exurbs." The starting point of the conversation was the article I wrote last month about the new census numbers and what they tell us about the shifting patterns of housing development.
May 22, 2012
Study Predicts “Resilient Walkable” Places Will Lead the Housing Recovery
This morning, a Minnesota Public Radio host asked me if the exurbs, whose growth rate flattened when the recession hit, are going to come back. Lots of people from far-distant suburbs like Blaine and Farmington called in, saying they like the way of life out there – they like having acres of trees buffering them from their nearest neighbor -- and people won’t want to stop living in communities like that.
May 18, 2012
The Greenwashing of Sprawl
Twenty-eight miles southeast of Cleveland, there is a development that bills itself as "Ohio's FIRST Green Certified Residential Community." According to the developer, The Lakes of Orange "offers a rare, one-of-kind opportunity to build and live in a green and sustainable environment."
April 11, 2012
Census Breaks the News We Already Knew: The Exurbs Are History
Last week, the New York Times and USA Today reported that Census numbers had confirmed the death of the outer ring suburbs, or exurbs. The latest numbers, capturing the year (actually 15 months, April 2010 to July 2011) since the last Census, showed a major shift away from the settlement patterns from 2000 to 2010.
April 9, 2012
Anti-Sprawl Doctor to Host PBS Series on Urban Design and Public Health
"A leading voice for better urban design for the sake of good health." "A public health/social justice hero." Dr. Richard Jackson, chair of environmental health at UCLA, is a leading voice for transportation reform whose work has linked America's sprawl to the nation's high rates of obesity.
January 27, 2012
Conservative Pols Hate Government Subsidies, Unless They Subsidize Sprawl
UPDATE 1/5/12: Corrects the Congressional district outline.
January 5, 2012
Quantified: The Price of Sprawl in Florida
We all know sprawl is costly to local communities. Roads, schools, sewers: It all adds up.
November 14, 2011
Meet the Rick Perry Donor Who Runs Texas DOT
Last week Streetsblog looked into the suburban real estate moguls who used their public offices to advance the country's largest sprawl project -- Houston's third outerbelt, also known as the Grand Parkway. But even with all the cronyism and self-deal propelling this project forward, just a few months ago it looked like the Grand Parkway had been stopped in its tracks. The money had run out. The public was balking [PDF].
November 10, 2011
Transforming Tysons Corner: A High-Stakes Suburban Retrofit
“That strip mall just got rezoned for high rise buildings.” “These auto dealerships are going to disappear.”
October 27, 2011
The Incredible Shrinking Megastore: Retailers Think Outside the Big Box
They lord over empty parking lots in Hazard, Kentucky; Twinsburg, Ohio; and Lewiston, Washington like the ruins of a lost civilization. Vacant Walmart stores are slowly decomposing in more and more American towns these days. More than 100 of them have been memorialized as part of the group Flickr pool known smugly as "They Sold for Less."
September 15, 2011