Warming up to smart growth

New Urban News Article with graphs, 10/1/2007

Compact development patterns are essential to fighting climate change, according to a report from a development industry association.

There is little chance that the US will meet ambitious targets for carbon dioxide emission reductions without a major switch to smart growth and New Urbanism, according to a book-length report published by the Washington, DC-based Urban Land Institute. Growing Cooler: The Evidence on Urban Development and Climate Change, places compact development on par with fuel efficiency as an essential tool in fighting global warming.

The authors conducted “an exhaustive review of existing research on the relationship between urban development, travel, and the CO2 emitted by motor vehicles,” ULI says. More than 100 rigorous studies have been completed in this area, according to authors Reid Ewing, Keith Bartholomew, Steve Winkelman, Jerry Walters, and Don Chen. “A meta-analysis of many of these types of studies finds that households living in developments with twice the density, diversity of uses, accessible destinations, and interconnected streets when compared to low-density sprawl drive about 33 percent less.”

Although every metro area in the US has sprawl, those that sprawl less generate far fewer vehicle miles traveled (VMT) per person, studies have shown (see Figure 1). At least three published studies in recent years have shown that new urban site design reduces vehicle trips and/or VMT by 20 percent or more (see Design & Environment on page 19). With the right infill location and transit access, even greater reductions are likely, the authors note. Shifting 60 percent of new growth to compact development by 2030 would have the same benefit as a 28 percent increase in US fuel efficiency, they estimate. If combined, these policies would produce an even greater benefit.