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May 2, 2007 Smart Growth Needed for Global Competition Editor exposes nation's hidden crisis CHICAGO — The United States is facing an unsustainable future according to the book Smart Growth in a Changing World, published by the American Planning Association (APA). The book's editor, Jonathan Barnett, FAICP, paints a bleak picture of the future if growth management policies do not change. He writes that continuing to allow developments to sprawl will impede the country's ability to compete in the global economy. Sprawl will become a national disaster and more U.S. cities will also become vulnerable to natural hazards. Barnett predicts that 71 percent of the total U.S. population will live in one of nine multi-city regions: the East Coast Megalopolis, the Pacific Northwest Multi-City Region, the Bay Area Multi-City Region, the Southern California Multi-City Region, the Intermountain Multi-City Region, the Texas Triangle, the Mid-West Multi-City region, the Florida Multi-City Region, and the Southeast Multi-City Region. The problem is not the population increase itself, but the speed of the change and the dispersal of people over ever-larger areas. Contributor Kaid Benfield concludes that current development patterns are already unsustainable and the problem is becoming worse. To combat the negative impacts associated with growth and to compete in the global market, contributor Shelley Poticha urges regions to adopt high-speed rail systems, like those in Europe, Japan, Taiwan, and other global competitors. Rail can connect regional urban centers and airports, with local light-rail systems connecting to high-speed rail stops. Trains and transit promote compact, concentrated development unlike highways systems, and studies indicate that compact developments produce less financial strain on household and government budgets. "The book's analysis and predictions are startling, yet we have an opportunity to correct our domestic policies before it is too late," said contributor Paul Farmer, FAICP, executive director and CEO of the American Planning Association. "We cannot continue to subsidize sprawl. It is time to abandon 'dumb' growth policies." To illustrate how changing growth policies would impact development, Barnett details two scenarios for the seven-county Orlando region. One scenario predicts what current growth patterns would produce. The second scenario predicts how growth would differ if public policies preserved environmentally sensitive land and built a comprehensive local transit system linked to regional high-speed rail. Contributors Robert Yaro and Armando Carbonell expand on the idea of regional cooperation by identifying "hot" and "cold" areas throughout the Northeast mega region. They propose that new developments should be directed from "hot" areas like Boston and New York to "cold" areas like Philadelphia and Baltimore by improving transportation connections between the regions and targeting investments. This would help relieve the growth pressures experienced in the "hot" areas. Smart Growth in a Changing World warns the country is running out of time to change the way we think about and manage growth. Smart Growth in a Changing World (ISBN: 978-1-932364-36-1) is available for $37.95 ($29.95 for APA members) through APA's PlanningBooks.com or by calling 312-431-6344. Contact |
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