What do three-pack-a-day smoking habits, triple-decker cheese burgers and sprawl have in common? They all offer immediate gratification and deferred consequences. But now the bill's coming due. Ben Brown lays out some ways to face the music.
Brown takes as his jumping-off point the recent essay in Foreign Policy by Patrick Doherty, Director of the Smart Strategy Initiative at the New America Foundation, on the need for a new "Grand Strategy" in America to replace the outdated foundations of our economy, foreign policy, and development patterns.
"The world economy is more complicated, interconnected and fragile than we imagined. The weather is getting weird. The old fixes don’t seem to be working....America has to get its act together and lead a global reset," explains Brown. "Those of us with a focus on community and regional planning will be nodding at a key item on Doherty’s fix-it list — walkable communities..."
"Smart Growthers have been arguing these points for years. And in these blog posts we’ve made the connection between compact, walkable, mixed-use planning and community health and prosperity a persistent theme. Still, it’s reassuring to see anti-sprawl perspectives embedded into a global Grand Strategy. Same with a couple other recent reality goosings."
Brown delves further into planning challenges and opportunities, particularly to do with health and aging.
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