Smart growth is an urban planning and transportation theory that concentrates growth in compact walkable urban centers to avoid sprawl. It also advocates compact, transit-oriented, walkable, bicycle-friendly land use, including neighborhood schools, complete streets, and mixed-use development with a range of housing choices. The term "smart growth" is particularly used in North America. In Europe and particularly the UK, the terms "compact city", "urban densification" or "urban intensification" have often been used to describe similar concepts, which have influenced government planning policies in the UK, the Netherlands and several other European countries.
Urban design is an approach to the design of buildings and the spaces between them that focuses on specific design processes and outcomes. In addition to designing and shaping the physical features of towns, cities, and regional spaces, urban design considers 'bigger picture' issues of economic, social and environmental value and social design. Scope of a project can range from a local street or public space to an entire city and surrounding areas. Urban designers connect the fields of architecture, landscape architecture and urban planning to better organize physical space and community environments.
New Urbanism is an urban design movement which promotes environmentally friendly habits by creating walkable neighbourhoods containing a wide range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has gradually influenced many aspects of real estate development, urban planning, and municipal land-use strategies. New Urbanism attempts to address the ills associated with urban sprawl and post-Second World War suburban development.
In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are described as rural. Different countries have varying definitions of rural for statistical and administrative purposes.
The College of Environmental Design, also known as the Berkeley CED, or simply CED, is one of fourteen schools and colleges at the University of California, Berkeley. The school is located in Bauer Wurster Hall on the southeast corner of the main UC Berkeley campus. It is composed of three departments: the Department of Architecture, the Department of City and Regional Planning, and the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning.
YIMBY is an acronym for "yes, in my back yard", a pro-housing movement in contrast and opposition to the NIMBY phenomenon. The YIMBY position supports increasing the supply of housing within cities where housing costs have escalated to unaffordable levels. YIMBYs often seek rezoning that would allow denser housing to be produced or the repurposing of obsolete buildings, such as shopping malls, into housing. Some YIMBYs have also supported public-interest projects like clean energy or alternative transport.
The Urban Land Institute, or ULI, is a nonprofit research and education organization with regional offices in Washington, D.C., Hong Kong, and London. ULI advocates progressive development, conducting research, and education in topics such as sustainability, smart growth, compact development, place making, and workforce housing. Its stated mission is to "shape the future of the built environment for transformative impact in communities worldwide".
The term "sustainable communities" has various definitions, but in essence refers to communities planned, built, or modified to promote sustainable living. Sustainable communities tend to focus on environmental and economic sustainability, urban infrastructure, social equity, and municipal government. The term is sometimes used synonymously with "green cities," "eco-communities," "livable cities" and "sustainable cities."
The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy is a think tank based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy seeks to "improve quality of life through the effective use, taxation, and stewardship of land". A nonprofit private operating foundation whose origins date to 1946, the Lincoln Institute researches and recommends creative approaches to land as a solution to economic, social, and environmental challenges. Through education, training, publications, and events, the institute integrates theory and practice to inform public policy decisions worldwide.
Xavier de Souza Briggs is an American educator, social scientist, and policy expert, known for his work on economic opportunity, social capital, democratic governance, and leading social change. He has influenced housing and urban policy in the United States, contributing to the concept of the "geography of opportunity," which examines the consequences of housing segregation, by race or economic status, for the well-being and life prospects of children and families. He is a former member of the Harvard and MIT faculties, currently a senior fellow of the Brookings Institution. He is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.
Richard Louis Meier was a US regional planner, systems theorist, scientist, urban scholar, and futurist, as well as a Professor in the College of Environmental Design at the University of California at Berkeley. He was an early thinker on sustainability in planning, and recognized as a leading figure in city planning and development. He is not related to the New York-based architect Richard Meier, whom he was often confused with.
The Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act of 2008, also known as Senate Bill 375 or SB 375, is a State of California law targeting greenhouse gas emissions from passenger vehicles. The Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 sets goals for the reduction of statewide greenhouse gas emissions. Passenger vehicles are the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions statewide, accounting for 30% of total emissions. SB 375 therefore provides key support to achieve the goals of AB 32.
Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE) is a non-profit economic justice organization that advocates for tenant rights, healthy housing, and equitable development. It was founded in 1996 by Gilda Haas and Kent Wong and is currently led by Executive Director Cynthia Strathmann PhD. SAJE organizes working class communities in South Central Los Angeles through leadership development programs, tenant rights clinics, and job readiness training.
Chester W. Hartman is an American urban planner, author, and academic. He is Director of Research of the Poverty & Race Research Action Council (PRRAC) in Washington, D.C. Previously, he was PRRAC's Executive Director. He is also a Fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington and the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam as well as founder and former chair of the Planners Network, a national organization of progressive planners and community organizers. He has served on the faculty of Harvard University, Yale University, the University of North Carolina, Cornell University, the University of California, Berkeley, George Washington University, Columbia University, and, most recently, the University of Massachusetts, Boston.
William Warren Riggs or "Billy" Riggs is an author, city planner, entrepreneur and professor of Management at University of San Francisco, and an international expert in the areas of sustainable transport, technology, urban development and the future of cities. He is the author of the book, End of the Road: Reimagining the Street as the Heart of the City and Disruptive Transport: Driverless Cars, Transport Innovation and the Sustainable City of Tomorrow. He has worked as a professional planner, in venture capital for Just Business and a strategic consultant for various technology firms and startups. He also has experience as a successful recording artist and music producer, having worked on award-winning projects with Frances England, Gabriel Riggs and Carlos Villarreal.
Gautam Bhan is an LGBTQ+ rights activist in India as well as a researcher, writer and faculty member at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements. As the faculty member of IIHS, he works and teaches politics of poverty, inequality and development in Indian cities with a focus on housing, social security, governance and urban and planning theory. He is also the spokesman for LGBTQ+ rights and one of the petitioners in the legal battle to decriminalize homosexuality in India. He is the coordinator of Program for Working Professionals in Urban Development and co-anchors three major research projects on evictions, urban inclusion, slum up-gradation, and the relationships between poverty, inequality and urban violence.
Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris is a Greek-American academic. She is a Distinguished Professor of urban planning and urban design at UCLA. She is also a core faculty of the UCLA Urban Humanities Initiative. She served as Associate Provost for Academic Planning at UCLA from 2016-2019, and she has been the Associate Dean of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs since 2010. She was the chair of the UCLA Department of Urban Planning from 2002-2008. She is a public space scholar and has examined transformations in the public realm and public space in cities, and their associated social meanings and impacts on urban residents. An underlying theme of her research is its user focus, as it seeks to comprehend the built environment from the perspective of different, often vulnerable, user groups.
Alvaro Huerta is a joint faculty member of Urban & Region Planning (URP) and Ethnic & Women’s Studies (EWS) at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
Lily Song is a Lecturer at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design, in the Department of Urban Planning and Design. As an urban planner, Song's most known for her research in design and race, class, and gender in American cities, social equity, housing, sustainability, and transportation and her community organizing with the Asian American Drug Abuse Program (AADAP), where she fought against environmental injustices.
Kathryn "Katie" McCamant is an American architect and author based in Nevada City, California. She is known for her work developing the concept of cohousing in the United States, including authoring two books on the topic. She and her partner Charles Durrett designed more than 55 cohousing communities across the United States.
