Region Forward Blog

The Morning Measure: The odd the smart and the Aussies

Feb 7, 2011
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TOD without the T is just OD. Over at GOOD Allison Arieff writes about a transit-oriented development (TOD) in an outer suburb of metro Washington whose residents “knowingly moved into this transit-ready development have now decided they don’t actually want the transit.” Apparently the planned light-rail would be “incredibly disruptive.”

Growing smartly. Census data released last week indicates that Northern Virginia continues to lead the state’s population growth. The always enlightening Transport Politic has a great piece on how effective planning centered around Metro has enabled urban parts of Northern Virginia to add a lot of new people without needing a lot more land.

A post-suburban future Down Under? Lastly jumping outside metro Washington for a minute a new report from the Planning Institute of Australia argues that “urban sprawl is finished. If we continue to roll out new land releases and suburbs that are car-dependent they will become the slums of the future.” Australia and the United States are two of the least dense nations on the planet.

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