The climate cost of free parking
Large parking lots and excess parking spaces put a strain on our environment, and we’re already experiencing the short- and long-term effects.
Climate Change
How parking influences travel behavior
The vast amount of underused parking spread across our communities has not only led to wasted space, stifled development, and higher costs—a topic discussed in a previous post in this series—but it has also encouraged more driving, even in otherwise walkable places with plenty of options for getting around. Cities, towns, and even individual business owners can seize this as an opportunity to encourage a much more balanced and efficient transportation landscape.
Reinvesting in Florida: Fighting floods with community-based solutions
As part of our Climate & Land Use Technical Assistance Program, Smart Growth America partnered with a local Florida-based organization, Incubate Neighborhood Center (INC), to raise awareness about the impacts that intensifying storms and flooding have on housing affordability, infrastructure, and economic development in their community. Focused on the Fort Pierce area in St. Lucie … Continued
Pollution and the pavement
Our transportation system’s impact on the environment isn’t caused by tailpipe emissions alone. Protecting the natural resources we depend on requires rethinking how we travel.
Building Resilience: Housing Access in Greater New Orleans Post-Disaster
As part of a Sustainable Growth webinar series for Climate Resilience Month in August, Smart Growth America’s Vice President of Land Use and Development, Katharine Burgess, participated in a webinar conversation that reflected on how the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina has shaped housing and community resiliency in both the Gulf Coast region and our national … Continued
Extreme Heat Resilience: Video Screenings & Workshops in Atlanta
This July, Smart Growth America traveled to Atlanta to support the Partnership for Southern Equity’s (PSE) screenings of the video, “ATL Rising: Building resilience in the face of extreme heat,” which highlights the interactions between extreme heat, the built environment, and health equity in the city. The two video screenings brought together residents, activists, and … Continued
Media alert: Local artists invite Atlantans to envision more ways to travel at free, public workshops
On Sunday, August 18, and Saturday, August 31, Atlanta artists Emma Chammah and Eddie Farr will host interactive workshops exploring the need for an improved public transportation network in Atlanta. During the free workshops, all are invited to engage with the artists’ project, Traffic Cams, which creates a real-time augmented reality experience to show what Atlanta could look like with expanded transportation options. The project is supported by Smart Growth America’s Healing Our Highways grant program.
Extreme heat and smart growth with the Smart Growth Network
This July, SGA hosted the Smart Growth Network (SGN), a national coalition of smart growth-oriented organizations, in its offices for the coalition’s Summer 2024 Quarterly Discussion. The discussion focused on extreme heat, which has been especially prevalent globally in recent years, and the role that smart growth, urban forests, and community organizing can play in … Continued
How to beat the heat: A built environment approach
Co-authored by Joseph Mendonca Millions of people across the U.S. now experience extreme heat every year—facing threats to their health, well-being, and financial security. As climate change is only making extreme heat even worse, inaction cannot be an option and communities must work together to mitigate its effects. Through strategic land use and by using … Continued
Climate Change, Health, and Equity: The Effects of Extreme Heat in Atlanta
Co-authored by Joseph Mendonca Together with the Partnership for Southern Equity (PSE), Smart Growth America has been raising awareness about the compounding effects of climate change, including the interactions between extreme heat, the built environment, pre-existing health conditions, and social inequalities in Atlanta, Georgia. In southwest Atlanta, PSE and SGA interviewed residents, activists, and climate … Continued