Kaid Benfield
Kaid Benfield is director for sustainable communities and smart growth at The Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington, DC.
He has his own blog on land development and community issues and enjoys contributing here, too, since there is so much common ground.
Enviros Lacking In Indianapolis Redevelopment Push
Last week I had the honor of being one of seven smart growth types recruited by the American Institute of Architects to work with...
Inspiring Revitalization in the Third World: Jamaica’s Rose Town
A great story is emerging in Rose Town, Jamaica, a community in the process of being reborn with the help of HRH the Prince...
Sustainable Revitalization For America’s Smaller Cities
Andre Leroux, executive director of the Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance, believes that New England’s smaller cities hold the potential to absorb much development that...
Boston’s Asian CDC Creates Life and Affordability in Chinatown
Every summer, Boston’s Asian Community Development Corporation has been hosting an informal grassroots Asian film festival in a vacant lot near the city’s Chinatown...
It Takes a Village to Age In Place
A major challenge that has come with sprawl over the last half-century has been that growing up, maturing, and growing older has required, more...
The Smarter Cities Project Wants Your Input on Sustainability Criteria
As some of you may know, Smarter Cities is an initiative that ranks US cities on a number of key sustainability criteria as well...
Awesome Choice: Shelley Poticha to Take Sustainability Post at HUD
Wow. Only a week after I wrote a post celebrating how well the Obama administration seems to be getting its...
The Obama Administration’s Remarkable Week on Sustainable Cities, Smart Growth & Revitalization
Wow. Last Monday, before heading out to toss the first pitch at Tuesday’s baseball All Star Game, the president kicked off a White House...
Neighborhood Schools that Work for Kids, Communities, and the Environment
Here are 11 key principles for measuring how well schools and school policies fit in with their communities.
Neighborhood Schools that Work for Kids, Communities, & the Environment
Smart Growth Schools expert Nathan Norris lists 11 key principles for measuring how well schools and school policies fit in with their communities. I...
Revitalizing Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine (Series Conclusion – Making It Green)
This is the final installment of my miniseries (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3) about Cincinnati’s remarkable Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, potentially a national model...
Revitalizing Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine (Part 3 – the Progress)
This was going to be the final installment of my miniseries about Cincinnati’s remarkable Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, but I’m on too much of a roll...
GIS Mapping in Australia Shows How Transit Reduces Auto Dependence
GIS mapping in Melbourne, Australia, on patterns of car ownership shows that transit works: the closer one is to a rail transit line, the...
Revitalizing Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine (Part 2)
Last week I wrote the first installment of my miniseries about Cincinnati’s remarkable Over-the-Rhine neighborhood. As I wrote then, this distinct and historic...
Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine, On the Verge
Cincinnati’s historic and very centrally located Over-the-Rhine neighborhood is poised to become one of America’s greatest revitalization stories, in the process creating a national...
The Geography of Carbon Emissions from Driving, with Maps
The Center for Neighborhood Technology is releasing today a new series of GIS-based maps showing where carbon emissions from driving are the highest in...
NatGeo Surveys Countries’ Transit Use: Guess Who Comes In Last
Americans are far less likely to use public transportation than residents of other countries, according to the National Geographic Society’s 2009 Greendex report. Only...
Federal Stimulus Threatened to Overrun Small Town with Sprawl
The federal government has a history of subsidizing sprawl, wittingly or not. Even the Clean Water Act contains a mechanism...
Considering the Role of Density in Sustainable Development
Later this week, I am going to be participating with my friend David Dixon and marketing whiz Laurie Volk in a seminar on development...
My Favorite Revitalization Story: The Rebirth Of Old North
My view is that no other single category of activity is more important to sustainable development than revitalization. When done properly, it’s great for...