California – I wrote last year about Urban Planning as a (Powerful) Tool Against Climate Change and I had the opportunity after that to do an article, also in the context of planning, about the great things that are happening with Sustainability at the Airports. (I’m doing research now for another article on the planning ins and outs of the Smart Grid movement.)
Now California, as it often does, is taking a very big bite. It will be requiring planners and developers to look at the implications for climate change in their work. See State land use subject to global warming review from the “Sacramento Bee.” The bill, passed by both the California Senate and Assembly, now goes to The Governator for his signature. It will “require local governments to plan their growth so homes, businesses and public transit systems are clustered together.” It’s been an axiom in my world for many years that “density is good.” (For more about “Smart Growth” see this website.)
Meanwhile, back in California, the press release from Senator Darrell Steinberg, the author of the new law, had this to say: “SB 375 marks the first time major environmental organizations, local governments, major homebuilders and affordable housing advocates have agreed on a plan to account for California’s population growth and achieve AB 32 greenhouse gas emission reduction goals at the same time.” This “LA Times” editorial strongly supports the legislation.
Smart move, California.
The Waterfront – I was reminded the other day in a mailing from the Waterfront Alliance here in the Big Apple that cities and other jurisdictions have become much more attuned in recent years to the economic, transportation and recreation opportunities afforded them by the rivers, harbors and other water bodies on which they’ve grown up.
A few posts back, I mentioned the solid waste management plan, Urban Gold, I dreamed up a few years back. It relied heavily on waterborne transportation. I also fancied an urban environmental utopia that made full use of the water and the waterfront that the American Planning Association saw fit to share at their website.
When we open our eyes a bit, brush away the cobwebs from tired, old thinking engendered solely by the short-term profit motive (be it either political or economic), and imagine how life could be if we did things with a little more intelligence, planning and in tune with the rhymes and rhythms of nature, then possibilities and opportunities abound.
