Land-use, transportation and sustainability

The pattern of urban development strongly affects sustainability—energy and water use, food production, waste generation and disposal, biodiversity and equal opportunity. So regional planning must be a tool in achieving sustainability. The traditional urban pattern was a cluster of activities that people do together (city downtowns and neighborhood centers) surrounded by residences in a density gradient. That remains the most sustainable pattern. After World War II, the automobile promoted a pattern of scattered activities and spread out residences. Most other countries resisted the spread and scattered pattern, though without complete success; the US has only begun to recentralize. Three strategies are proposed to recentralize: pricing goods and services to reflect sustainable needs, improving the magnetism of cities and legislating enforceable regional plans.