According to James A. Bacon, "Smart growth is too important to leave to liberals." In a new essay, he argues that "Conservatives must articulate their own vision for creating prosperous, livable and fiscally sustainable communities."
In an essay that has been adapted from a speech delivered at the 2012 Congress for the New Urbanism, James Bacon argues:
"Many conservatives perversely defend the institutional arrangements that have created contemporary suburbia, with its scattered, low-density, disconnected and car-dependent pattern of development. But that is a disastrous mistake. Conservatives need to systematically apply their principles to transportation and land use with the goal of creating smarter, more efficient patterns of growth."
Bacon takes a crack at enumerating what some general conservative transportation and land use policies might look like:
- Roll back government regulation of the real estate marketplace.
- Restore homeowner property rights.
- Encourage innovation in real estate development.
- Deregulate mass transit.
- Make growth pay its own way.
- Adopt user pays transportation.
- Prioritize by ROI.
Thanks to Hamilton Lombard
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UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research