|
|
Urban Sprawl and Land Use
- American Farmland Trust
- Works to stop the loss of productive farmland. Produces technical reports that document
the loss of farmland.
- American Planning Association
- APA is a nonprofit public interest and research organization committed to
urban, suburban, regional, and rural planning. The research and
legislation and policy issues areas
of this site are particularly noteworthy.
- Center for Livable Communities (Local Government
Commission)
- Helps local governments and community leaders be proactive in their land use and
transportation planning, and adopt programs and policies that lead to more livable and
resource-efficient land use patterns. It is under the aegis of this organization
that the influential Ahwahanee
Principles were drafted in 1991.
- The Congress for the New Urbanism
- Advocates
development practices that support the restoration of existing urban
centers and towns within coherent metropolitan regions. Objectives
include the reconfiguration of sprawling suburbs into communities of
real neighborhoods and diverse districts, the conservation of national
environments, and the preservation of our built legacy. The
organization's charter
serves as a kind of manifesto for smart growth advocates.
- Demographia
- Advocates choice with respect to urban development, supporting freedom to live and work
where one prefers. Offers the counter-arguments to smart growth and the New
Urbanism. Provides population data for all US metropolitan areas for each decennial
census from 1900 to 1990 and 1998 estimates, and provides information about development
impacts and market research and urban policy.
- EPA Smart Growth
- An
online resource designed to facilitate and support smart growth. The
site offers information about smart growth policies, funding sources,
networking opportunities, technical tools and resources, and much more.
- Farmland Information Center (FIC)
- Clearinghouse for information about farmland
protection and stewardship. The FIC is a partnership between the
USDA Natural Resources Conservation
Service and American Farmland Trust.
- Implications of Automated Highway
Systems on Land Use Patterns (University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee)
- Edward Beimborn surveys land use effects of technologies that preceded automated highway
systems (AHS) (e.g., personal rapid transit, pallet systems and HOV lanes) and draws
lessons from those experiences.
- Issues: Smart Growth (National Resources Defense Council)
- Brief
and in-depth articles about the problem of urban sprawl and various
suggestions for combating sprawl and preserving our natural resources.
- Metro (Portland, Oregon)
- Metro is the directly elected regional government serving the Portland,
Oregon metropolitan area. Portland is well known for its land use planning
initiatives. Their
transportation and
growth management pages are
especially relevant.
- NCI: National Charrette
Institute
- A Charrette is a rigorous and inclusive planning process undertaken by an
inter-disciplinary design team over a brief time period. This Web site
offers information about this type of dynamic planning.
- PLANETIZEN: The Planning and
Development Network
- A portal where one can find the latest news of interest to the planning
profession.
- The Planner's Web
- From the publishers of The Planning Commissioner's Journal, this site supplies
information on current trends
and issues in city and land use planning. Aimed at a non-specialist
audience.
- Project for Public Spaces
- Assists communities in the development of vital public places such as parks and transit
facilities that serve as catalysts to regenerate surrounding communities.
- Smart Growth America
- Coalition of national, state
and local organizations working to improve the ways we plan and build
the towns, cities and metro areas we call home. Smart Growth America works with citizens across the country to preserve
our built and natural heritage, promote fairness for people of all backgrounds,
fight for high-quality neighborhoods, expand choices in housing and transportation
and improve poorly conceived development projects. Page includes a section on Transportation, discussing its role in smart growth and sprawl.
- Smart Growth Online (Smart
Growth Network)
- The Smart Growth network strives to create coalitions in favor of smart growth. Smart growth is
defined as: "1) Environmentally smart -- protecting air and water quality, enhancing
access to nature and encouraging brownfields redevelopment. 2) Fiscally
smart -- paying for itself and providing high quality municipal services
without constantly rising property taxes. 3) Economically and socially smart
-- promoting community economic vitality, livability, resource efficiency,
equity and sense of place." The Network's partners include the EPA,
environmental groups, historic preservation organizations, professional
organizations, developers, real estate interests; local and state government
entities.
- Smart Growth (Northeast
Midwest Institute)
-
A collection of resources about federal efforts to address smart growth
issues.
- Sprawl City
- A
Web site about consumption growth and population growth and their roles
in urban sprawl. This Web site emerges from the work of environmental
authors Leon
Kolankiewicz and Roy Beck to help the
public make more ready use of federal
data on sprawl and rural land loss.
- Sprawlwatch Clearinghouse
-
Strives to make the tools, techniques, and strategies developed to manage growth
accessible to citizens, grassroots organizations, environmentalists, public officials,
planners, architects, the media and business leaders. Excellent content, with
links to many different organizations involved in this issue.
- Stop Sprawl (Sierra Club)
- The Sierra Club's Challenge to Sprawl Campaign works to fight poorly planned runaway
development and promotes smart growth communities that increase
transportation choices, reduce air and water pollution, and protect our
natural places.
- Sustainable Transportation (National
Center for Appropriate Technology)
- Introduces concepts and principles of sustainable land use and transportation planning.
Includes success stories, codes and ordinances, articles, etc.
- Traffic Calming for
Communities (Institute for Transportation Engineers)
- Traffic Calming is the combination of mainly physical measures that
reduce the negative effects of motor vehicle use, alter driver behavior,
and improve conditions for non-motorized street users. This site
contains resources for communities looking to implement traffic calming
measures.
- Travel Model Improvement Program
(U.S. Dept. of Transportation)
- Travel Model Improvement Program (TMIP) helps planning agencies improve
the techniques they use to inform their decision makers on how growth in
population and employment, development patterns, and investments in
transportation infrastructure are likely to affect travel, congestion, air
quality, and quality of life.
- Trust for Public Land
- Works to protect land for human enjoyment and well-being.
Promotes urban parks, gardens, greenways, and riverways; interested in
watershed protection, scenic beauty, and close-to-home recreation; works to
safeguard the character of communities by preserving historic landmarks and
landscapes.
- The Urban Land Institute
-
A major player in transportation and land use policy. Its mission is to to
provide responsible leadership in the use of land to enhance the total
environment. The Web site contains research reports, best practices, and
current news.
- Urban Sprawl (Wikipedia)
- Excellent
article explaining what urban sprawl is, summarizing the objections to
urban sprawl, and summarizing responses to the critics.
This page is maintained by
Bobby Griffith
—
last modified
Wednesday, July 23, 2008. 02:43 PM
|
|
