Feds release plan for compact communities to counter climate change
Read the official CNU media release here.
The US government on Tuesday released a groundbreaking Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization that fully recognizes the critical role of compact, complete communities in reducing carbon emissions and addressing the nation’s climate issues. No federal plan has made that connection, to this extent, before—opening the door for a national strategy that effectively involves states and cities, dealing with how communities are physically planned, to move the needle on climate change.
The Blueprint has far-reaching implications for street design, zoning, transit-oriented development, and the planning of compact, connected communities.
Although the report does not say so directly, it’s goals and language tend to support policies that will enable suburban retrofit and more interconnected street networks. The nation needs to “Increase convenience by supporting community design and land-use planning at the local and regional levels that ensure that job centers, shopping, schools, entertainment, and essential services are strategically located near where people live to reduce commute burdens, improve walkability and bikeability, and improve quality of life,” the Blueprint states. In order to meet that goal, America’s spread-out, disconnected, single-use suburbs (and cities), need to be redesigned to allow for more connections, access, and diversity.
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