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Cityblog features daily posts from the Smarter Cities team and NRDC's Switchboard Blog.

Walk Score incorporates transit, real estate industry takes note

Walk Score keeps getting better, and it was already very good. With assistance from the Rockefeller Foundation, the locational rating system has now incorporated transit service data from 40 metro regions into its service, so that its maps... Kaid Benfield

November 6, 2009

Federal officials, other leaders stress “sustainable communities” at national planning forum

"Sustainable communities" was the phrase of the day at the annual symposium of the American Institute of Certified Planners, held last week at the National Building Museum. Federal officials from the Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development... Kaid Benfield

November 5, 2009

All aboard: Cincinnati voters emphatically reject anti-streetcar measure

Cincinnati voters have rejected "Measure 9," an anti-streetcar initiative, by a 56-44 percent margin. The measure was aimed at killing a streetcar plan approved earlier this year by the city council, and would have required further referenda... Kaid Benfield

November 4, 2009

An Indy neighborhood could become a model of smart, green revitalization – so where are the enviros?

Last week I had the honor of being one of seven smart growth types recruited by the American Institute of Architects to work with the city of Indianapolis and community residents on the model revitalization of a distressed urban neighborhood. ... Kaid Benfield

November 2, 2009

In improving communities, small steps can make a big difference

Last week, I had the honor of speaking to the Indiana chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects on the subject of sustainable communities. I enjoy this sort of thing, and when I have time - as I did... Kaid Benfield

October 29, 2009

The Solution for Homelessness? Homes.

Neal Peirce says that there is finally light at the end of the tunnel in the debate over homelessness, and a consensus that stopgaps don't work. The real answer is to, duh, give them homes. read more

November 6, 2009

The History of the Parking Lot

An exhibit currently at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. explains how the architecture and design of parking lots evolved, and why. Meanwhile, the Parking Show of Shows conference takes place nearby with a different take. read more

November 6, 2009

The Most Polluted Metro Areas in America

Atlanta tops a list of the most polluted cities in the country, according to an analysis of EPA data by Forbes. read more

November 6, 2009

'No Credits, Just Prerequisites'

The Living Building Challenge is a new environmental rating system that focuses on required environmental design elements, diverging dramatically from the credit-based approach of the built environment's dominant rating system, LEED. read more

November 6, 2009

Center for Developmentally Disabled Doesn't Fit Zoning - Any Zoning

The Winterville, GA Planning Commission rejected the idea of creating a special "assisted residential district" for a center for developmentally disabled people, saying that the proposal was too vague. read more

November 6, 2009

Road to Copenhagen: Fears Arise Outside Closed Doors

From all I can gather, the actual on-paper negotiations are moving this week, progressing in some way towards some kind of agreement. (We'll get to what kind of agreement soon.) But we wouldn't have much way of knowing, since proceedings largely disappeared behind closed doors this week. I've been told by plenty of folks--including two former US negotiators--that I shouldn't complain about the lack of access, because it's the closed-door meetings where things really get done. Still, it's frustrating that...

November 5, 2009

Join the Campaign to “Kill the Drill” and Keep NYC’s Drinking Water Free of Toxic Chemicals

Last month, Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon vowed that his company will not drill for natural gas in New York City's upstate watershed. This may seem like a victory for the "Kill the Drill" campaign, but it's only a partial one: In five years' time, Chesapeake's leases in the watershed will expire, and even before then there is no guarantee that McClendon will remain the head of the company. That's why I am calling on the State Department of...

November 5, 2009

Chromium 6 Still Threatens California's Drinking Water

Polluters who contaminate drinking water and make people sick shouldn't get off easy. That has been the focus of my work for two decades, and I'm not planning to stop now. My work focused the attention of the world on a carcinogen called hexavalent chromium (hex chrome). In 1996, PG&E -- a multi-billion dollar corporation -- paid $333 million in damages to the people of Hinkley, Calif., for contaminating their drinking water and covering up the problem for decades while people got sick and died. This victory...

November 2, 2009

You Take the High Road

The backstory has been told many times by now: how, originally, the High Line was an elevated railway line down Manhattan's west side, serving the Meatpacking District. Built in the 1930s, it replaced a street-level rail line - one that was so dangerous to pedestrians that the city had hired the...

November 2, 2009

A Discussion with Ex-NYPD Officers on the Environmental Conditions of Ground Zero and Its Consequences

In seeking to understand the onslaught of chronic and terminal illnesses that are plaguing the Ground Zero rescue workers it is most essential to first survey the environment – which has been described by the many rescuers I have spoken to as “a gruesome crime scene”, “hell on earth” and “World War III” - that they voluntarily subjected themselves to out of heroism for anywhere from 72 hours straight to over 1,000 hours. The World Trade Center towers were built from 1968 to 1972. At this point in time...

October 29, 2009