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Links are provided for further information and do not
necessarily represent the policies or positions of the Sierra Club. If you find broken
links or would like to suggest a link, please write to challenge.sprawl@sierraclub.org.
Hint: To find links on a specific topic - such as "Portland"
or "farmland" or "communities" - use the find feature of your browser
- Ctrl+F.
Featured Links:
Smart Growth America's index of sprawling metropolitan areas quantifies how sprawl is linked to a variety of common concerns, from highway deaths to traffic.
In conjuction with their latest issue, National Geographic lets you virtually explore a smart growth neighborhood. (You'll get the most from this site with a Flash-enabled browser.)
The Sierra Student Coalition is also fighting
suburban and highway sprawl. Check their website for chapter locations!
Sprawlwatch is an excellent source of up-to-date news and information on efforts to
control sprawl. Go to: www.sprawlwatch.org
Smart Growth America is a nationwide
coalition promoting a better way to grow; one that protects farmland and open space,
revitalizes neighborhoods, keeps housing affordable, and makes communities more livable.
The Smart Growth Network Web site is filled with smart-growth news and examples of good
policies and initiatives to deal with sprawl. Check out: www.smartgrowth.org
The Congress for New Urbanism's Web site is currently being updated. Check there for
examples of smart growth projects at: www.cnu.org
The National Trust for Historic Preservation's Main Street program is working with
hundreds of towns across the country on redevelopment projects. Information on that
program and other initiatives are available at: www.nthp.org
The Local Government Commission's Center for Livable Communities Web site features
guidelines for smarter planning as well as specific examples. Go to: www.lgc.org
The Chicago-based Center for Neighborhood Technology offers strategies for livable
communities, including specific smart-growth tools and examples. It can be reached at: www.cnt.org
The National Neighborhood Coalition is leading the effort to reinvest in existing
communities across the country. To find out more, go to: www.neighborhoodcoalition.org
For more information about the University of Louisville's Sustainable Urban
Neighborhoods program, go to: www.louisville.edu/org/sun/
"SUBDIVIDE AND CONQUER: A Modern
Western" After examining the causes of sprawl and its devastating effects on our
sense of community and the environment, this film suggests remedies, and shows examples of
sound public policy and good land use planning. (Bullfrog Films is the distributor; no
Sierra Club endorsement is implied. However, one key staff member described this as an
"excellent resource.")
Transportation
General
Crediting Low-Traffic Developments
A model to help estimate the reduction in trips and traffic due to TOD, smart growth and infill developments.
Inside the Blackbox: Making Transportation Models Work for Livable Communities - (PDF file)
A guide for planners, officials and advocates on the usefulness of travel forecasting models in planning and implementing transit, pedestrian, bicycle, and compact land use strategies.
National Corridors Initiative
The Alliance for a Paving Moratorium of the Sustainable Energy Institute advocates for no more roadbuilding.
American Public Transit Association
Carfree.Com
Carfree cities past, present, and future. Solutions to the problem of the urban
automobile.
Centre for Sustainable Transportation
A research institute dedicated to encouraging more sustainable transportation policy.
Citizens for Sensible Transportation
Citizens for Sensible Transportation (CST) is a grassroots organization that supports
transportation choices for a livable community. CST works on aspects of transportation
such as planning, design factors, relationship to land use, alternate modes, and educating
citizens about transportation.
City of
Cambridge Model Developers TDM Ordinance
requires all developers seeking to increase non-residential parking to submit TDM plans
which include a commitment to a maximum percentage of site users arriving by single
occupant vehicle.
Wendell Cox has been a vocal opponent of heavy and light rail. G. B. Arrington debunks Cox's myths.
Detour Publications
Information related to urban ecology and transportation planning.
Environmental Defense - Transportation Program
Environmental Protection
Agency - Transportation Partners Program
EPA's TRAQ (Transportation Air Quality) Center
(click the Commuter Choice button located at bottom left) has new web pages describing the
benefits of Commuter Choice. State Implementation Plan (SIP) Guidance, fact sheets, tax
benefits information, details on multiple commute options, and funding information are all
provided.
Federal Transit Administration (FTA)
1000 Friends
of Florida's "Stalling Sprawl: A Transportation Reform Initiative"
A three year initiative and study focusing on citizen participation, government
advocacy, public education, and the links between transportation and land-use decisions.
"HOV Lane Facts for the
SF BA"
Akos Szoboszlay, Modern Transit Society, counters HOV lane propaganda.
Institute for Transportation and Development Policy
Ecologically sustainable and equitable transportation, particularly in an international
context. Site contains a list of publications, news flashes, and program
descriptions.
Institute of Transportation Engineers
Alan B. Cohen's Narrow Streets
Database
Cities which have adopted reduced width street standards.
The National Library for the Environment
Resources, including 725 excellent (objective, nonpartisan, technically accurate) reports
produced by the Congressional Research Service, including Bicycle and Pedestrian
Transportation Policies.
Portland Metro
Metro is the regional government for the Portland area and performs both land use (growth
management) and tranpsortation planning for the region. Their web page provides some good
resource material on these issues.
Street Packing - Exactly how much room do those cars take up?
Transportation Equity Act for the 21st
Century (TEA-21)
Transportation for Livable Communities
A resource for people working to create more livable communities by improving
transportation.
TransAct: The Transportation Action Network
Includes: Access Coalition--Information on efforts to improve transit access for former
welfare reipients who, under the "welfare to work" reforms, are often unable to
reach jobs without cars. See especially the Surface
Transportation Policy Project.
Travel Model Improvement Program (TMIP)
Turner Fairbank Highway Research Center
University Transportation Centers
US Department of Transportation and Bureau of
Transportation Statistics
See especially the 1997 Transportation Statistics Annual Report, chapter on Mobility and
Accissibility; 1996 report, chapter on Transportation and Air Quality: A Metropolitan
Perspective.
Victoria Transport Policy Institute
Visit this site for an extensive catalogue of reports and studies for sale on
transportation benefits, costs, and equity impact.
Washington State Department of Transportation
Information and resources on carpools, public transit, commute trip reduction, walking and
bicycling in Washington State.
Studies and Surveys
American Travel Survey
London's
Dept. of Environment, Transport and Regions' evaluation of the economic impacts of
roadway improvements.
1995
Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey
1990 Nationwide Personal
Transportation Survey
Transportation Research Board (TRB)
United Kingdom--National Travel Survey
Demand Management
Association for Commuter Transportation
A non-profit organization that supports transportation demand management programs.
Better Environmentally Sound
Transportation
Promotes alternative modes of travel throughout the Vancouver region.
Center for Urban Transportation Research
Provides TDM resources for transportation planners and program developers.
Environment Canada "Green Lane"
program
Promotes Transportation Demand Management and other strategies for reducing transportation
environmental impacts.
Institute of Transportation Engineers
Has extensive technical resources on traffic calming and transportation demand management.
Publishes School Trip Safety Program Guidelines.
Modern Transit Society
Parking cash-out and parking subsidies.
Transportation Association of Canada
Provides a variety of resources related to transportation planning and TDM.
VTPI's Online TDM Encyclopedia
Provides detailed information on more than three-dozen specific TDM strategies
Washington State
Department of Transportation Northwest Technology Transfer Center
Offers a variety of publications and resources related to pedestrian and bicycle planning,
and transportation for sustainable communities.
Induced Travel
EPA Region 3 Resources for
Cumulative Effects Assessment
Evaluation of Modeling
Tools for Assessing Land Use Policies and Strategies
The actual TTI study discussed in the above
mentioned report
A report from the Victoria Transport Policy Institue, "Traffic Calming;
Implications for Transport Planning" cites summarizes a number of studies on
generated/induced travel. It also discusses how generated traffic impacts should be
incorporated into transport planning and project assessment. The report is available for
free at www.vtpi.org.
Robert Cervero, Institute of Transportation Studies, Department of City and Regional Planning and Mark Hansen, Institute of Transportation Studies, 2000, "Road Supply-Demand Relationships: Sorting Out Causal Linkages."
Noland, Robert B., and Lewison L. Lem, in press, "A Review of the Evidence
for Induced Travel and Changes in Transportation and Environmental Policy in
the United States and the United Kingdom", Transportation Research D.
Noland, Robert B., and William A. Cowart, 2000, "Analysis of Metropolitan
Highway Capacity and the Growth in Vehicle Miles of Travel", Transportation,
27(4): 363-390.
Fulton, Lewis M., Robert B. Noland, Daniel J. Meszler and John V. Thomas,
2000, "A Statistical Analysis of Induced Travel Effects in the U.S.
Mid-Atlantic Region", Journal of Transportation and Statistics, 3(1): 1-14.
Bicycling and Walking
General
Photos of great and poor design of pedestrian and bicycle streets from around the world: www.pedbikeimages.org
Photos of great pedestrian areas from the western U.S.
America Walks, a non-profit national coalition of local advocacy groups dedicated to promoting walkable communities, sponsoring the National Congress of Pedestrian Advocates in Oakland, California, August 16-18, 2001.
National Center for Bicycling & Walking
Bicycle Transportation Alliance
The Bicycle Transportation Alliance, based in Portland, OR, promotes bicycling for safer
streets, cleaner air, and energy independence.
International Bicycle Fund
Promoting sustainable transport worldwide
New York City walking
www.citystreets.org
Pedestrian
and Bicycle Publications
Perils for Pedestrians
Rails to Trails Conservancy
Sustrans Safe Routes To Schools
Project
Major program in the UK to show how children can be encouraged to cycle and walk to
school.
Transportation Alternatives in New York
promotes the use of bicycles as an environmentally friendly form of transportation.
UK Department of the
Environment, Transport and the Regions
Publishes Road Safety Education in Schools - Good Practice Guidelines which describe how
communities and schools can create a safer pedestrian environment for children.
Vancouver Island Safety Council
Works to "prevent accidents of all kinds on the roads of British Columbia" by
offering traffic safety programs, including pedestrian and bicycle safety education.
Walkable Communities, Inc.
Works with communities to create more people-oriented environments.
Studies on the Health Benefits of Walking and Cycling
National Center for Bicycling and Walking
CDC - Physical Activity - It's
Everywhere You Go Campaign
Ian Roberts, Harry Owen, Peter Lumb, Colin MacDougall, Pedalling Health-Health
Benefits of a Modal Transport Shift, Bicycle Institute of South Australia, 1996.
Livable Communities
The Transportation and Land Use Coalition's (TALC) Great Communities Collaborative has great info on organizing for smart growth and TOD.
The San Francisco Public Health Department has a Healthy Development Measurement Tool to measure the potential health benefits of proposed development.
U.S. EPA Offers Smart Growth Technical Assistance.
Survey of European carfree housing.
Western Australian Government Sustainable Cities
Initiative
Center for Neighborhood Technology - Making Cities Work
Center for Livable Communities
Helps local governments and community leaders be proactive in their land use and
transportation planning, and adopt programs and policies that lead to more livable and
resource-efficient land use patterns.
Citistates
Neal Pierce's columns and articles on the citistates concept.
Community and Environmental Defense Services
Legal clinic and consultants helping people defend their community and environment from the impacts of poorly planned housing projects, shopping centers, highways, landfills, mining and other land developments.
Community-Based Environmental Protection
Economics of Sustainability, working with local communities on environmental issues,
environmental planning.
Congress for the New Urbanism
CNU views sprawl and the disinvestment in central cities, environmental deterioration, and
the loss of agricultural lands and wilderness as one interrelated challenge. CNU supports
the restoration of existing urban centers, the reconfiguration of sprawling suburbs, and
the conservation of natural environments.
Environmental and Energy Study Institute's Sustainable Communities Pages.
Florida Sustainable Communities Center
(FSCC)
Internet resources for the built
environment
Global Green's Resource Efficiency & Sustainable Communities for the Urban Environment (R.E.S.C.U.E.) program.
Go for Green (Canada)
California Housing Law Project represents legal services programs, local government housing agencies, nonprofit housing developers, and tenant and senior organizations in the state legislature on affordable housing and land use issues for the past two decades.
James Howard Kunstler (The Geography of
Nowhere)
Interesting web site with links to some of his rather irreverent speeches.
Local Government Commission
A great resource on livable communities.
National Civic League and the Alliance for National
Renewal
Other sites: Top 20 sustainable
community development web sites
PolicyLink
PolicyLink has produced a new web-based toolkit for use in communities faced with gentrification, displacement and disinvestment.
Project for Public Spaces
design of neighborhoods, parks and public spaces to enliven and encourage use.
SD ONLINE (European
Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions)
Focal point for WWW based Sustainable Development Information.
Southern California Association of
Governments
Livable Communities webpage.
Sustainable Communities Network
Includes articles and information on: Creating Community, Smart Growth, Growing a
Sustainable Economy, Protecting Natural Resources, Governing Sustainably, and Living
Sustainably. Several articles on sprawl as well. Situates sprawl in the
larger context of sustainability.
Sustainable Seattle
Together Foundation's Best Practices Database
A searchable database documenting solutions to common urban problems including poverty,
access to land, claen water, population, shelter and transportation.
Transit-Oriented Development, by the Great American Station Foundation
Includes info on a grant program designed to "...help jump-start community efforts to restore rail stations as active inter-modal transportation facilities."
Transportation for Livable Communities
A resource for people working to create more livable communities by improving
transportation.
World Health Organization Healthy Cities
Project
Provides information on international efforts to create healthy cities.
Planning
Rich Carson, Editor for the "Urban and Regional Planning" category of the Open Directory Project (core directory services for the Web's largest search engines) named his picks for top ten planning websites:
About Planning
http://planneronline.homestead.com/NewPlanningMeridian.html
American Planning Association
http://www.planning.org/
Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy
http://www.brook.edu/es/urban/
Cyburbia
http://www.cyburbia.org
Links for Planners
http://www.crp.cornell.edu/lfp/
New Urbanism
http://www.newurbanism.org/
Planetizen
http://www.planetizen.com/
Plannersweb
http://www.plannersweb.com/
Smart Growth Network
http://www.smartgrowth.org/
Sustainable Development Center
http://www.sustainable.doe.gov/
Traffic Calming
Canadian Guide to Neighbourhood Traffic Calming,
Transportation Association of Canada
Fehr & Peers Associates, Inc. - traffic
calming
City
of Portland Traffic Calming website
Sprawl,
Land Use, and Conservation
Carfree Cities: Beautiful photos, maps and descriptions of carfree cities and neighborhoods, and a free newsletter.
The American Farmland Trust
Regarding rural preservation: Information on conservation easements, private and public
options for proserving open lands, and ways that local governments can help. Also includes
news, state-by-state information on preservation, preservation techniques, publications,
and an assistance center.
American Planning Association
Brownfields.com
The California Agricultural
Land Stewardship Program
Describes incentives to promote long-term protection of agricultural land.
Center for Neighborhood Technology
Offers Technical Assistance to Communities, plus information on Location Efficient
Mortgages.
Colorado's Smart Growth Initiative
Coverage on a variety of issues, such as "Property Rights, Vested Rights and
Intergovernmental Growth Issues," from a panel of the Interregional Council's Report
to Gov. Romer.
Congress for the New Urbanism
Technical Assistance to Communities, Local Governments and Professional on Designing and
Financing Infill Development
US Department of Energy's Center of
Excellence for Sustainable Development
Eco IQ
Internet publications, professional development resources, and conulting and client
services to help communities and local governments become more sustainable.
Environmental Law and Policy Center,
in the Midwest
Working with other environmental organizations around the region to develop sustainable
transportation systems that enhance, not entrap, life in our cities and rural areas.
US Environmental Protection Agency -
Office of Water's Nonpoint Source Control Branch
For state and local officials to find models and real-life examples of ordinances to help
them protect water quality. Many of the model ordinances can be customized to local
conditions. Also includes supporting materials such as examples of meeting notices,
inspection check lists, and performance bonds.
Friends of the Earth's Citizens' Guide to
Environmental Tax Shifting
1000 Friends
of Florida's "Stalling Sprawl: A Transportation Reform Initiative"
A three year initiative and study focusing on citizen participation, government
advocacy, public education, and the links between transportation and land-use decisions.
1000 Friends
of Florida's "Merge Lanes Ahead"
Fact-sheets relating transportation and car use, land use, and the environment.
1000 Friends of Oregon
1000 Friends of Oregon is a nonprofit charitable organization, founded in 1975 by Governor
Tom McCall and Henry Richmond, as the citizens' voice for land use planning that protects
Oregon's quality of life from the effects of growth.
Going Places, Making Choices
A high school curriculum developed by the National 4-H Environmental Program that links sprawl, land use, and global warming.
The Great Plains Partnership
An effort by government agencies and local interests to solve conservation problems
at the local level. Includes the entire Great Plains region of North America.
Green Communities Assistance Kit
Greenbelt Alliance
Greenbelt Alliance works to preserve open space in and around the San Francisco Bay
Area. See especially their section on Urban Growth Boundaries.
Global Green USA
Resource Efficiency Models for Shopping Centers and Affordable Housing.
Great Swamp Watershed Association (New Jersey)
Growth Management Services by the
Washington State Department of Community, Trade, and Economic Development
The mission of Growth Management Services is to help communities plan for growth and
development, consistent with the state's Growth Management Act.
Institute for Local Self-Reliance
Organizing and information on reducing fossil fuel use, recycling and fighting chain
stores.
International City/County Management Association
Includes Smart Growth Network, Technical Assistance to Local Governments
The Jefferson Land
Trust in Port Townsend,Washington
Includes explanations of numerous options for preserving open lands.
Land Trust Alliance
Includes information on protecting open spaces and links to other related organizations.
The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy
explores and explains taxation of land and buildings; land use and regulation; and land
values, property rights and ownership.
Michigan Land Use Institute
Contains information and news on specific land use issues in Michigan as they relate to
the environment, communities, and transportation.
National Association of Counties
Includes Technical Assistance to Counties; Primers on Sprawl
National Clearinghouse on Sprawl
This is a great site that will provide you with other links. Please also share your
info. with Alison Daly who runs this org. Her number is 202-588-6023 or allison@sprawlwatch.com
Natural
Resources Defense Council
A photo gallery of contrasting sprawl and smart growth images
Oregon state land use planning
Explains thoroughly the processes by which Oregon regulates land.
Policy.com: The Policy
News and Information Service
This edition of Policy.com contains dozens of articles and reports on topics related to
sprawl, such as: Traffic Congestion and Air Quality, Conservation Mechanisms, ISTEA and
the Environment, Urban Revitalization, and How America is Fighting Sprawl.
Public Agenda
Readable description of sprawl
Renew America
Coordinates a network of community and environmental groups, businesses, and government
leaders with ideas and expretise for improving the environment. Includes Environmental
Success Index.
Resource Renewal Institute
Innovative environmental management in the US and abraod; promotes the advocacy and
implementation of Green Plans
The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation
Includes examples of conservation easements in western states.
The Smart Growth Network
Extensive resources, particularly reading lists, in smart growth as it relates to:
economics, the environment, and community. Also contains action resources including
events, presentations and tool-kits for "Brownfield Development" and
"Eco-Industrial Parks."
Sprawl-busters
Strategic planning, field operations and voter campaigns to help communities stop the big
box bulldozers.
Sprawlwatch
Displays media articles about sprawl and smart growth.
Sustainability Education Program
Terrain
a web zine with occasional articles on sprawl and urban design.
The Trust for Public Land helps conserve land for recreation and spiritual nourishment and to improve the health and quality of life of American communities. TPL's Web site contains in-depth "how-to" conservation information and details of conservation success stories nationwide.
US Mayors' Association
Tools for City/County Collaborations on Smart Growth
University of Arizona College of
Agriculture, Water Resources Research Center: Partnership Handbook
A resource for community-based groups addressing natural resource, land use, or
environmental issues.
University of Wyoming: A
Community Toolbox
Prepared by the Institute for Environment and Natural Resources at the U of W, to provide
communities with knowledge and resources to support the development of strategic
plans for managing sustainable growth and development.
Urban Land Institute
The W.K. Kellogg Collection of Rural
Community Development Resources
Includes lists of publications related to preserving open spaces.
Western Governors' Association
Includes the Western Governors' Resolution on protecting open spaces, and the activities
of the Great Plains Partnership.
Wyoming
Governor's home page
Contains an Open Spaces Guidebook, with effects by sprawl on open space loss, a
description of various techniques to preserve open space, and a thorough resources
listing.
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