Thursday, November 01, 2007

Smart Growth??

According to the 2007 growth and transportation survey ¾ of people surveyed claimed they feel smart growth is important and the way of future city growth. The main solution listed was to improve public transportation and current roads, and to stop building new roads. This smart growth is supposedly the answer to city traffic and congestion. Half of the people surveyed would push for public transportation to be improved. However in our own city the public transportation system is struggling. The city is increasing the rates for mass transit due to a decline in users. This system is good in theory, but people are ultimately going to be unwilling to change their preferences. Driving is a preference and it has been proven in cities that have implemented mass transit over expansion to increase traffic and congestion. The misconception is that everyone will change their preferences in order to move towards this idea of smart growth, but that has not proven to be the case.

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