Making cities less dumb

Select Committee examines the benefits of smarter urban planning

Posted by Kate Sheppard at 8:56 AM on 20 Jun 2008

The House Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming held a hearing on Thursday about the opportunities for better urban planning to reduce energy use and greenhouse-gas emissions. "Planning Communities for a Changing Climate" brought together a panel of experts on "smart growth," clean air policy, and transit.

Witnesses included Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, who works in smart growth in Abu Dhabi; Steve Hewitt, administrator of Greensburg, Kan., the town that's rebuilding green after a tornado leveled it last year; Gregory Cohen, President and CEO of the American Highway Users Alliance; David Goldberg, director of communications for Smart Growth America, and Steve Winkleman, transportation director of the Center for Clean Air Policy.

Goldberg and Winkleman spoke to the virtues of promoting denser, better-planned cities with good mass transit and pedestrian-friendly design. Goldberg noted that families in areas where you can get by with one or no car save an average of $6,000 a year, not to mention reducing their personal emissions.

Winkleman noted that pretty much any savings created by the increase in fuel efficiency standards laid out in last year's energy bill would be more than negated by the ever-increasing number of miles Americans travel each year.

Cohen was brought on as the skeptical voice on the panel, arguing that reducing vehicle miles traveled isn't the best solution -- it's creating "congestion relief" plans. "Instead of restricting travel, an effective congestion relief plan would be better for people and the planet," said Cohen, who also said that smart growth is "based on ideology" rather than practicality, and that advocates are pandering to "special interests."

Al Jaber and Hewitt were both on hand to testify to the possibilities in greener cities. Asked about why Abu Dhabi -- located in a country run on oil money -- has been able to move toward greener policies, Al Jaber answered succinctly: "It's considered a nation-building exercise. We're showing our leadership."

While the international example was interesting, perhaps the most relevant issue raised on the panel was the fact that not only does current U.S. policy not encourage smart growth, but also it actively discourages it. Hewitt testified that when his town, destroyed by a tornado in May 2007, decided to rebuild green, with all their buildings at an LEED platinum rating, they met with opposition from government agencies. Both the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture told them they can only get funding to rebuild at the same level they had before the storm -- any extra costs for going green won't be covered.

"We're trying to make the case that it is a smarter use of tax dollars, a better use of tax dollars," Hewitt told Grist after the hearing. Select Committee chairman Ed Markey (D-Mass.) pledged to send letters to the agencies to address the issue.

"The least we can do as a federal government is to help them reach the highest level," said Markey.

Select Committee member Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) also noted his own experience with smart growth in Portland, hailed as one of the greenest cities in the U.S., where residents are 10 times more likely to ride bikes than they are in average towns. He emphasized the need to change both our housing and transportation infrastructure across the country.

"Unfortunately, dumb growth is alive and well across the country," said Blumenaur.

For story: Making cities less dumb
3 Comments | Post a Comment

Duh, look who's been in charge

"Unfortunately, dumb growth is alive and well across the country," said Blumenaur.

I wonder if it is practically feasible to go straight to Platinum LEED certification for all new structures. Not that such functionality isn't to be desired, but I understand that attaining the certification itself does add significantly to the project cost for most buildings. My brother's a LEED certified architect and many of his public clients opt for the gren functionality without the red tape overhead of the official LEED rating...

Dumb growth pertains more to land use decisions in general (sprawl) and street designs (non-grid, lacking sidewalks, etc.) that typifies the suburban situation where so many new residents tend to land, if only on a transient basis.

The "environmental sense of place" is important to have in your mind first before planning how to live sustainably in any one area. With this context it is possible to make location decisions and understand what is special and unique about the area in terms of its environment (the source of life sustaining activity) and quality of life from a human standpoint.

This is about more than highways, or air quality!

Moving toward sustainability with hopefulness, one revolution at a time.

by 2wheeler at 12:17 PM on 20 Jun 2008

Imagine

A world without humans trying figure out what is best for the world voicing opinions full of ulterior motives and self interest. What we need is a supercomputer that has the all the complete life-cycle costs for materials and processes that way humans can stop bickering about which is better. Just ask the all knowing Super-Magi and you have your true CO2 and monetary cost and its implications on the economy and the environmental consequences for action or inaction.

But humans are arrogant and stupid as a species. We only learn from our mistakes after we make them. Will we have the luxury of debating whether to LEED or not to lead? What's left of our species in the future will look back on the past and say "our greed brought about this new holocaust" and the guy next to him will so, "no it wasn't me, it was you." I look to the future and wonder if we'll learn anything. I read about new bills going to senate for vote and I realize that half of our government wants to save us and the other half wants to save their wallets at the expense of everyone else. If how we dealt with out past mistakes is any indication for how we'll handle our future mistakes, then maybe the human race has gotten what it deserves. The next 10 years will determine our whether our species can redeem itself.

by Angelsnecropolis at 2:47 PM on 20 Jun 2008

Portland

Portland really is a great example. Their program has reduced greenhouse gas emissions from the city by 17%. If only we could get a national program like that! But if the federal government won't take action on smart planning, then I think smart planning programs at the municipal level are a really smart way to go. There's an interesting article on the Bright Future blog about this type of local action.

by timbuktu at 4:47 PM on 23 Jun 2008

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