San Francisco was just crowned the greenest city in the U.S. and Canada by one large study, a nod to its policies that require recycling, ban plastic shopping bags, and provide incentives for solar roofs. But the Bay Area is also thinking of sustainability in terms of smarter growth throughout the region as a whole. [...]
Filed under: funding, maintenance/management, planning | Tagged: brownfields, density, san francisco, smart growth | 4 Comments »
As cities vie to attract talented college graduates and sustain population growth, they are focusing attention on parks to increase livability and support a strong economy. Since parks must be convenient if they are to provide their benefits, many places have set goals for the maximum distance any resident should be from the nearest park. [...]
Filed under: planning, transportation | Tagged: density, research, walkability | Leave a Comment »
Cities that increase density by building skywards can inadvertently end up with impersonal streetscapes defined by monotonous walls of glass and concrete. Toronto has avoided the issue of dark, canyon-like streetscapes by mandating that buildings offer a human-scale street presence. Most large buildings are composed of a “podium” base, with towers receding from the street [...]
Filed under: green infrastructure, international, planning | Tagged: density, international, san francisco | 2 Comments »
More parents with children are living in downtown Minneapolis neighborhoods, says a recent article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. We’ve reported on this trend in places such as Portland, and have made the case that cities need to provide the parks and playgrounds that parents want if they are to have truly diverse neighborhoods from [...]
Filed under: facilities, planning | Tagged: density, downtown, minneapolis | Leave a Comment »
How can parks fit into the smart growth movement? Kaid Benfield, director of NRDC’s Smart Growth Program writes two nice posts about what he calls the environmental paradox of smart growth. He notes in his first post: Environmental impacts will occur with development; to limit them, we must concentrate them, and this can mean increasing [...]
Filed under: green infrastructure, planning | Tagged: density, smart growth | Leave a Comment »
There is a symbiotic relationship between parks and population density. For those living in compact housing around a park’s borders, there is respite, a place to recreate, a back yard where little private outdoor space exists and an amenity that increases property values. For the park, there’s the “eyes” that make it safer, more property [...]
Filed under: planning | Tagged: density, minneapolis | 2 Comments »
The greenest cities are the most compact cities, says David Owen in his recent book Green Metropolis, pointing to New York City’s urban form as a model for sustainability. For the most part, Owen is right on and the book is a good read. Citing high transit use, walkability and tightly packed buildings, he notes [...]
Filed under: green infrastructure, planning, transportation | Tagged: david owen, density | 1 Comment »
An AP reporter takes a trip to Savannah, Georgia, the historic city on the Atlantic coast and provides some background on the its famous network of public squares: But the reason for those public spaces might surprise modern visitors: British General James Oglethorpe designed them as part of a military grid so his troops could [...]
Filed under: planning | Tagged: density, redevelopment, squares | Leave a Comment »
Vancouver, Canada is considered a model for infilling with compact, densely populated development. But there is a problem to this. As Regarding Place points out, a map of the distribution of children in the city shows that few of them are in areas that have seen the most concentrated development in the past few decades. [...]
Filed under: planning | Tagged: density, downtown | 3 Comments »
Anthony Flint of the Lincoln Institute and author of the recently released book on Jane Jacobs pens a piece for the Boston Globe outlining a blueprint for a good city, using the lessons from both Jacobs and her adversary Robert Moses. Flint specifically points out the role of increasing density in making housing more affordable [...]
Filed under: economics, planning | Tagged: density, jane jacobs | Leave a Comment »
