Green Options » suburban sprawl

The Twelve Days of sustainablog: Bibles, High Gas Prices, and Tent-based Traumas

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 03:42:23 +0000

While July 2008 looked relatively normal in terms of Fourth of July celebrations and hot weather, $4 per gallon gas put a damper on that other summertime staple: the family road trip.

As you might imagine, we had a lot to say about that gas thing… but didn’t take a vacation from covering a wide range of topics.

July 2008

Chad Crawford, our minister in residence, reviewed The Green Bible.
Raz Godelnik of Eco-Libris dug into another book: Paper Trails.
Robin Shreeves reported on a small town that found an innovative solution to big traffic problems: bike sharing.
Birgitte Rasine of LUCITA sent up a flare for paper shredders clogged with junk mail.

Victory: Giant Suburban Development Rejected in LA

Alex Felsinger — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 21:33:57 +0000

Last Friday a California Superior Court judge quietly tossed out a lawsuit that had been filed by developers against the cities of Los Angeles and Santa Clarita for their opposition to a mini-city development of 5,500 homes between the two cities.

The two cities rejected the development due to its environmental impact in March, but the developers sued for $100 million soon after. The judge threw out all claims made by developer Los Lomas Land Company.

Can Suburban Sprawl Be Saved?

Shirley Siluk Gregory — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:18:44 +0000

While gas prices have dropped from their historic highs of earlier this summer, many believe they’re never likely to return to the low levels that made the U.S. such a motor-happy nation for decades. Because of that, social observers like James Howard Kunstler and others see a bleak future for car-dependent suburbia, with the sprawl degrading into vast slums or being abandoned altogether.

But does that have to be the case? Suburbs might not have been developed with New Urbanism in mind, but maybe they could be reinvented. Perhaps they could become the 21st Century version of the 18th Century farm community, with lots of individual homesteads dotted across a wide swath of agricultural land.