Smart Growth Around America

One of the biggest reasons to break down barriers and allow the market to deliver more compact, walkable development in the coming years is the changing demographics (and consumer preferences) resulting in growing segments of people preferring that lifestyle — especially the rapidly-growing group of people over the age of 65. By just 2030, nearly 1 in 5 Americans will be over age 65. David Alpert of Greater Greater Washington writes that walkable urbanism is great for empowering seniors who can no longer drive:

One enterprising Portland realtor combined the growing demand for homes in convenient locations with Portland’s biking fervor to boost her bottom line — filling a niche that was previously empty. When Portlanders want to buy a home that lets them bike to the office, the grocery store, or the post office, they call Kirsten Kaufman, whom Portland Live calls the “Bike Broker.”

We’ve said before that houses close to retail and jobs are good for public health, traffic congestion, and air quality. Aside from those worthwhile external benefits for everyone, people simply like living in walkable neighborhoods, within walking distance of the places they need to go.
The massive popularity of Walk Score — the site that measures [...]

During the housing crash it became clear that not all parts of the country were being affected equally — and not even all areas within a metro area were performing the same. In the DC region, foreclosures were rising and home prices were falling rapidly in several exurban counties, while prices were holding mostly steady [...]

Freiburg-im-Brisgau – Quartier Vauban : commerces et immeuble Originally uploaded by adeupa de Brest

A walkable, car-free street in the upscale suburb of Vauban, Germany. The community has easy rail access into Freiburg.

With thrift the latest necessity in today’s economic struggles, people are not only trimming the fat from their budgets — they’re reconsidering what’s [...]

Happy Earth Day everyone! One of the smartest things about smart growth is the way it takes care of the needs of people alongside the demands of the environment.
So whatever your Earth day plans — if you’re planting a tree in the park, going to see the new Disney “Earth” movie, making a spherical cake [...]

You may have seen oilman T. Boone Pickens around lately.
If not, then you haven’t turned on your television, radio, or opened a newspaper in the last few weeks. He’s been touting his new Pickens Plan nonstop to nearly any outlet that will listen, taking out full-page ads in newspapers from coast to coast and even [...]

The students who live 100 yards from the school are probably still driving to this mega-campus.
Around 30 to 40 years ago, the percentage of kids that walked to school was around 60-70 percent. Go into a room of older adults and ask them to raise their hands if they walked to elementary or middle school, [...]

SGA President (and Transportation for America spokesman) Geoff Anderson was on MSNBC discussing last week’s release of Walk Score’s city rankings. Geoff talks about how in light of 4 dollar gas, walkability is fast becoming a major selling point in today’s real estate market as people look for housing that doesn’t come with a hidden, [...]

We’ll probably start adding new stories into these two existing posts in the future, but here are a few more pertinent stories about the release of Walk Score’s neighborhood rankings over the last few days:
Site makes strides to score walkable cities
USA Today
“With the surge in gas prices, people are really considering the consequences of where [...]

Here’s a roundup of some of the morning’s coverage. See something we’re missing in your local paper? Pass it along in the comments.
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The most walkable cities are looking even better in the age of $4 gas
Marketwatch
“Most Americans agree we will never see cheap gas again,” said David Goldberg, spokesman for Smart Growth America, referring to [...]

You might remember the online tool Walk Score that debuted to rave reviews last year and was immediately all over the web. (It was one of our first blog entries last year). It became extremely popular, and was responsible, at least by some measure, for how popular the term “walkability” became over the course of [...]

The picture is the same everywhere you look. You’ve been reading it here, in your newspaper, or watching it on the television nearly nonstop for the last few weeks:
Gas is expensive, driving is down, transit systems are packed.
Here in D.C., people are abandoning their cars and taking Metro in record numbers to save money [...]

Almost overnight, it has become the most pressing issue in the minds of most Americans. CNN’s most popular topic this week? “Fueling America.” Gas prices are now competing with Iraq, the economy at large, and even Angelina Jolie for primacy in the national consciousness. If you’re interested in the numbers, do check out Google Trends. [...]

Another tale of two cities: One is up, one is down.
We’ve noted with regularity for the last few months how rising gas prices were complicit in the housing crisis. (here and here, for example). With every escalation in the cost of fuel, new subdivisions and neighborhoods already in a struggling market face another hit as [...]

To the old conventional wisdom for real estate,

…you have been replaced:

You may have already read about WalkScore when we covered it last year, or seen the widget in our sidebar here on the blog. (SGA office = Walk Score 100!) It’s been a good year for Matt Lerner and the other Seattle developers who created [...]

The most-read story on Indianapolis’ Channel 6 website this morning who took the task of “completing the streets” into his own hands. Muncie resident and Ball State U. grad student Whitney Stump got tired of seeing cars constantly rolling through the stop signs in front of his house at a four-way intersection.
So he called [...]

The narrative in the opening of this story on CNN.com encapsulates how more people are voting with their feet by increasingly seeking out walkable places — and what developers and builders need to do to meet the growing demand created by those who are looking for another option than the strictly car-dependent lifestyle of their [...]

I noticed this through a comment left on our WalkScore post from a a few months ago.
Apparently, the popular for sale by owner (FSBO) website Fizber has launched a new service in the vein of WalkScore called DriveScore. Actually, “in the vein of” is a bit of a misnomer as DriveScore appears to be copied [...]

It’s easy to figure out that driving less means more time to do other things. But can it also result in money in the bank? According to economist Joe Cortright, cities and their residents might be reaping financial dividends by investing in transit and walkability, and mixing uses so that jobs and housing are close [...]

As more and more people realize the drawbacks of living in solely auto-centric places—obesity, lost time, high cost of fuel, energy dependence, dangerous emissions—demand is growing rapidly for homes in walkable areas, where it’s not a given that a one-ton automobile is required to get one dozen eggs from the store. But how does one go about finding out just how “walkable” is that new home or apartment?…

A local foundation has launched an audacious effort to make the southwest Virginia community of Martinsville/Henry County a paragon of walking, biking and healthful physical activity. The Harvest Foundation is investing $1.56 million over three years to transform the furniture-making town into “a place where bicycling and walking are deeply valued and integral features of vibrant and healthy life in the region…”