What's Smart about Smart Growth? A Regional and Metropolitan Assessment

2011 (Presenter Owen Gutfreund, Associate Professor of Urban Affairs & Planning, Hunter College (CUNY)) - This talk assesses the equity and outcomes of growth management initiatives. The benefits of such efforts tend to be unevenly distributed -- both spatially and demographically, perpetuating and exacerbating regional inequities. By considering these questions from metropolitan and regional perspectives, questions of social equity and environmental justice can be highlighted, with implications for different - and "smarter" approaches to planning for growth. Also, a historical perspective will be introduced, showing how "smart growth" policies of previous generations produced many of today's unfair and unsustainable land-use problems. This lecture was recorded at "Smart Growth," the Elizabeth Babbott Conant Interdisciplinary Conference on the Environment at Connecticut College on March 4 and 5, 2011. https://www.conncoll.edu/academics/majors-departments-programs/majors-and-minors/goodwin-niering-center-for-the-environment/conferences/smart-growth/