Talk:Smart growth

Removed part of the article:

Supportive of Agenda 21 agreements and the ecology movement's efforts to control sprawl, protect biodiversity and conserve natural habitats, the Smart Growth concept is perceived as a more media-friendly term than notions of sustainability which have perhaps a greater intellectual appeal. It cleverly appears to distance itself from mid 20th Century notions of population control or "going back to nature" (which have anti-democratic and anti-capitalist connotations) and accepts that some "growth" is inevitable. It may thus expand its sphere of influence, even though some supporters presumably would prefer "no growth" or the emphatic reversal of many, largely acquisitive, trends perceived as detrimental to social and/or environmental conditions in industrialised democratic societies. It rather allows different supporters to choose what things grow in their personal visions of a better world. As an indication of societal hesitancy, many politicians and academics seem more prepared to argue for a reduced use of private cars than for reduced car (US: automobile) ownership or production. It is clearly less disruptive of the status quo in any society to argue for the cessation of a particular growth trend than to argue for its reversal, even over a long period.

One disadvantage of using the term "sustainable" to describe modes of behaviour or commerce that respect ecological understanding and environmental goals is that the same word is often used (especially by politicians and entrepreneurs) to mean sustainable in its traditional sense (i.e. capable of future continuity), or as a synonym for "economically viable". Thus a taxation initiative might be described as "sustainable" because the principle enjoys cross-party agreement or because it appears easy to administer, even though the new tax has no Green benefits and would not deter environmental damage or reduce the depletion of natural resources.

Recent additions need to be qualified and NPOVed. --maveric149

Perhaps we have been pounding on 24 a bit too much about NPOV. This EPA writeup seems to use "sustainable" with no sop to business or industry. Perhaps they abandoned the word because there really is a militant green faction somewhere making some inroads? Complex issues that is for sure: *http://216.239.35.100/search?q=cache:lkJBLf_66aEC:www.epa.gov/swerrims/RCRA-ch4.pdf+engineering+economics+discounting+tradeoff&hl=en&lr=lang_en

Well, back to engineering life cycle tradeoffs analysis where I was being confused when I found this, chow maveric,24.

How is this not NPOV? Qualifed how? New draft material below: Apparently useful links from google: http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/agenda21.htm http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/agenda21text.htm

Good grief! 2.3X10E6 more links .... this may take some serious research!

Perhaps we should rely on 24s first cut at NPOV and then tweakify it vs. attempting to write from scratch ourselves?

The Smart Growth campaign and concept grew out of Agenda 21 agreements and the ecology movement's efforts to control sprawl, protect biodiversity and conserve natural habitats. The Smart Growth concept was designed to be a more media-friendly term influential with viewers than notions of sustainability which have perhaps a greater intellectual appeal, at least among self appointed intellectuals with limited education or exposure to practical disciplines such as applied science, industry or engineering arts in construction and transporation sectors of macroeconomies. It cleverly attempts to distance itself from mid 20th Century notions of population control or "going back to nature" (which have anti-democratic and anti-capitalist connotations) and acknowledges or accepts that some "growth" is inevitable.

It is hoped by its originators that this is an improved public relations concept that may assist in expanding its sphere of influence. Some supporters presumably would still prefer "no growth" or the emphatic reversal of many, largely acquisitive, trends perceived as detrimental to social and/or environmental conditions in industrialised democratic societies. However, this compromise vision allows practical implementation of current political agendas that may incrementally advance all supporters goals, even though the goals vary in degree and destination. user:mirwin

Moving on to green architecture in the news ... assuming we can find a link from "Smarth Growth" and Agenda 21 (Ok, I admit that I had never heard of it but apparently UN and 178 countries have.) to these success stories:

• http://www.metropolismag.com/html/content_0801/mcd/index_b.html
• http://www2.cddc.vt.edu/digitalfordism/11cleanpl.html
• http://www.delta-institute.org/pollprev/ford.php
• http://www.greenroofs.com/current_projects.htm

This seems a bit silly. Now I need to go research/find/write about sod busters, sod houses and prairie schooners. The sod roof is back in style because it is potentially cheaper than oil/natural gas heating at current BTU rates. Will wonders never cease? mirwin

How about this:

The concept of smart growth grew out of ecology movement's efforts to control sprawl, protect biodiversity and conserve natural habitats. Some view the concept of smart growth as being a more media-friendly term that calls upon notions of sustainability which perhaps have a greater intellectual appeal than some of the more emotional notions that underlie the ecology movement. Several radio show personalities consider the smart growth movement to be a clever attempt by environmentalists to distance itself from notions like population control and advocacy of communes. In fact, some supporters of the concept of smart growth do prefer "no growth" but maintain that "some growth" is inevitable and should therefore be planned in a way to minimize environmental harm.