HOW CAN SMART GROWTH WIN?
Vassiliki Andreadou Smart growth success in various cities and regions across the United States and in other parts of the world has stimulated a fierce opposition among powerful anti-smart-growth advocates. A genuine war of words has developed. The United States has been the main battle field since smart growth concepts came to a fore in the 1970s. The outcome of this war may condition the shape of American cities, and the eyes of environmentalists around the world are focused on this struggle since the USA is needed in the global struggle to save the earth. Urban and suburban sprawl may become irreversible or a victory on the smart growth side would be tantamount to a new era of urban planning, putting and end to, or at least limiting the environmental and aesthetic damages of sprawl and its costly consequences. A snapshot of the ongoing war of words reveals that smart growth combatants have more often than not lost the early battles and literally lose even more ground. The powerful a
