Smart Growth in a Changing World

The United States is in the midst of a crisis of energy consumption and environmental degradation, whose costs will become increasingly clear as our population skyrockets and our cities continue to sprawl. Unchecked development in multicity regions has damaged the natural environment, snarled traffic, and caused us to burn petroleum at a rate far greater than the rest of the world.Smart Growth in a Changing Worlddocuments the United States' hidden growth crisis and shows how balanced transportation and natural resource preservation can put urban development on a sustainable path, as well as making it more efficient and equitable for consumers. This groundbreaking volume on the urban dilemma features case studies on transportation and conservation in Florida and the Northeast as well as proposals for hazard migration, green cities, mixed-use centers, walkable neighborhoods, and planning policies at the national level. As our global competitors are investing in smart growth strategies such as high-speed rail lines and regional rapid transit, this timely book calls for a similarly forward-thinking new development approach in the United States.

Jonathan Barnett, a fellow of the American Institute of Architects and the American Institute of Certified Planners, is a professor of practice in city and regional planning and director of the urban design program at the University of Pennsylvania. He has worked as an urban design consultant for many cities and is the author of Redesigning Cities, also published by the American Planning Association.