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Land Use Planning Home | Magazine On Land Use Planning
Directories For Land Use Planning

EcoIQ Magazine is an online journal which includes features, opinion, news and events, resources, and reviews of interest to those working on land use issues.

Creating Livable 21st Century Cities (Winter 2002)
Fourth Of A Series
By Karen Walz

While the term 'livable community' often evokes an image of pleasant neighborhoods, inviting parks and friendly people, a city's economic health is equally important to its livability. Without jobs, few residents will choose to remain in those neighborhoods. Without thriving businesses, the local government will be unlikely to have the tax base to maintain those parks. Continuing economic vitality is also an important part of a community's sustainability over the long term.

Creating Livable 21st Century Cities (Spring 2001)
Third Of A Series
By Karen Walz

As we begin the 21st century, it is clear that emerging technologies and changes in the economy will have a significant impact on the shape of our urban areas. At the same time, the long-term viability of these areas will depend on the locational choices made by millions of individuals and businesses, choices that will be based on the same question as in past centuries - is this city a good place to live and conduct business? This series of articles explores the factors that help answer that question.

Creating Livable 21st Century Cities (Winter 2001)
Second Of A Series
By Karen Walz

What makes a livable city? What lessons can be learned from today’s cities so the cities of the future are both livable and sustainable? In this article, the examination of major postwar cities in the United States continues with an assessment of the characteristics that define these cities and distinguish them from older major cities...

Ecologically Based Municipal Land Use Planning (Spring 2000)
By William Honachefsky

"I admit there was a time in my own early years as a young land surveyor (the pre-Earth Day decade at least) when I too regarded the land simply as a commodity, and not part of a larger continuum, intimately linked to the surrounding air, water, vegetation, and wildlife."

Restructuring the Global Economy (Winter 2000)
By Lester R. Brown

There has been more growth in world population since 1950 than during the preceding four million years -- from when we first stood upright. I don’t think we have yet grasped the dimensions of the consequences of the sort of population growth that we are experiencing.

Livability and Community Renewal (Winter 2000)
By Congressman Earl Blumenauer

Recently (on the Charlie Rose show) Bette Midler was asked what she would do if she had an opportunity to start her career anew. What would she choose if she weren’t an entertainer? And without missing a beat, she said she would be an urban planner.

Creating Livable 21st Century Cities (Fall 1999)
By Karen Walz

Livability. Smart growth. Sustainability. These are some of the phrases politicians, urban planners, developers and others use when describing the future of American communities. The words used by residents are more direct: safe, clean, affordable, friendly, with good jobs.

Making A Living While Making A Difference (Fall 1999)
By Melissa Everett

You are walking down to the corner cafe at dusk to buy a local newspaper, and you notice: how pleasant it is to have a corner cafe and to be near it, rather than in traffic, as the sun sets; how reassuring it is to feel safe strolling in your own neighborhood, since you remember years when the streets were less welcoming.

Big Economic Benefits From Open Space (Summer 1999)

Parks and the conservation of natural and agricultural lands contribute billions of dollars every year to local economies across the nation, according to a new report by the Trust for Public Land.

Sprawl Causes Costly Tree Loss (Spring 1999)

A new study by the national conservation group American Forests documents a dramatic loss of tree cover in the southeast portion of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, including the greater Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area.

What You Can't See Could Cost You (Spring 1999)

With home mortgage interest rates at their lowest percentages in years, many people are jumping into the housing market. But really look before you leap, say civil engineers, otherwise you may miss the warning signs of a costly structural problem that strikes more homes each year than floods, tornadoes or hurricanes.

Brownfields Development A Success (Spring 1999)

"What you are doing for brownfields -- bringing business and communities together from the very start -- proves one of the basic tenets of all our efforts: through partnership we can protect both people and prosperity, our health and our economy." -- Excerpts from a speech by Carol Browner, EPA Administrator.

A Powerful Tool for Sustainable Development (Winter 1999)

The 1997 Taxpayer Relief Act may be the most significant environmental legislation enacted by Congress in recent years, according to a new report by the Environmental Law Institute.

Dissatisfaction Guaranteed (Spring 2001)
By Dave Wann

It's like going into a room and forgetting what you came for, except in this case it's the whole culture, forgetting. We forget to ask, "What's an economy for?" En route to a brand new American millennium, we got detoured. Price tags and bar codes began to coat the surfaces of our lives, as every single activity became a transaction. Eating, entertainment, socializing, health, even religion - all became marketable commodities.

The Color Asphalt (Summer 2000)
By Hartmut Gerdes

I trust you are as pleased as I am to hear about the "hybrid" electric-gas powered smart car. In the future, we’ll likely have cars powered by fuel cells. Hybrids produce far less environmentally or atmospherically damaging exhaust, and fuel cell powered cars will produce almost none.

Promise Ahead: A Vision of Hope and Action for Humanity’s Future (Summer 2000)
By Duane Elgin

How grown up do you think humanity is? When you look at human behavior around the world and then imagine our species as one individual, how old would that person be? A toddler? A teenager? A young adult? An elder?

How Profit Shapes Urban Space (Spring 2000)
By Jeffery J. Smith

Like the rest of the universe, US cities keep expanding. Some time before the universe begins to contract, American metro regions may, too. What counterpart to gravity might suck suburbia back into the hole of our doughnut cities?

Environmental Stewardship Vs. Economic Devel. (Winter 2000)
By Walter McGuire

In the long term, the economy and the environment are inextricably linked. Today's economy depends heavily on the availability and cost of resources. Yet, we have built an economy that values resource consumption rather than stewardship.

Urban Living in the New Millennium (Winter, 1999)

The leaders of our cities are struggling to build transportation systems and to create communities that are livable and provide an environment friendly to people and animals. Slowly, awareness is growing and methods are being developed to enable us to build self-sufficient places to live in the future.