In my background in urban planning and community development, I have witnessed calls by multiple professions to address the challenges of depleting natural resources/climate change/fiscal resource constraints,etc. in different ways. The outcries usually go like this:

• Architect: “A huge share of greenhouse gas emissions originate from buildings, yet to be constructed, so we have to focus on building green building. Nothing else matters”.
• Engineer: “New technologies to power our vehicles, homes, and businesses will be incredibly more efficient, so focusing on these is the only thing that matters.”
• Public Works Official: “New LED streetlights and congestion mitigation on highways is the only thing that matters.”
• Planner: “A green building built on a green field site emits more emissions than a conventional building on an infill site, so land use/transportation is the only thing that matters.”
• And so on, and so on, ad nauseum.

As leaders in the areas of building great communities and ensuring these great communities continue to thrive, our job is to recognize that nobody and everybody is correct in their professional focus. Here, I would like to remind ourselves of the significance of the work of Dr. Ewing Reid in 2008, “Growing Cooler, The Evidence on Urban Development and Climate Change” which has direct impact to work by architects, planners, engineers, city managers, and many others.

Dr. Ewing states that our current land use and building development patterns still favor greenfield site development to infill redevelopment and other compact development patterns. This in turn drives up demand for increased transportation needs and makes it impossible to reach target CO2 emission reductions despite incredible gains in fuel efficiency. In short, growth in driving will cancel out any improvements in vehicle fuel economy.

As leaders in city/county management, we should remember that the complex challenges before us can only be addressed by looking at global, comprehensive, long-term solutions. One “leg of the stool” is not more important than the others. Through local government decision-making, it may be easier to accomplish energy efficiency goals in infrastructure and new construction - and by all means, these are goals we should continue to strive for. However, land use and transportation solutions depend on collaboration and partnerships across municipal, county, and even state boundaries. Regionalism is not dead; indeed, it is more necessary now than ever before.

Our focus for the coming decades should also prioritize funding compact transit areas, redirecting transportation funds from road expansion to transit and bike/ped facilities, and assisting and collaborating with all levels of government with land development regulation reform. Accomplishing these goals would go a long ways towards saving energy and agricultural lands, providing housing and transportation choices to our residents, reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, and working within our limited financial resources. These tasks are not easy, or maybe even popular in many circles, but as Dr. Ewing writes, otherwise, “we can’t get there from here”.