So Cool We're Hot

A new report says Pennsylvania's sprawl is increasing greenhouse gases.

by Will Dean

environment/planning

Last Thursday, at South Philly's Martin Luther King development, the Pennsylvania Environmental Council (PEC) announced the release of a 172-page report, Growing Cooler: The Evidence on Urban Development and Climate Change, produced by the Urban Land Institute, a nonprofit focused on urban land use. The cleverly titled document details how rampant sprawling development has changed how we travel and how that adds up to more greenhouse gases.

Growing Cooler focuses on urban development, but the benefits of smarter designs and efficient planning are universal. Americans are traveling more and spending more time stuck in traffic because of sprawling developments that distance people from jobs, schools, commercial spaces and cultural institutions. According to the report, transportation accounts for one-third of the carbon dioxide produced by America.

One possible way of alleviating this, as PEC President Brian Hill mentioned in his address, is through compact development. Such development means not just putting more structures on less space, but smart planning so places people need, or want, to frequent, like jobs, markets and museums, are nearby.

The report also notes that if present development levels continue, Americans will drive 59 percent more miles in 2050. At the same time, vehicle efficiency rates are estimated to increase by just 12 percent, leading to a 41 percent overall increase of carbon dioxide emissions.

Pennsylvania is at an especially important crossroads as the state already produces almost 1 percent of the world's greenhouse gases and is developing at a rapid pace. "Pennsylvania is hollowing out and spreading out," Hill said. "100 acres a day are consumed for development." He praised the compact design of the Martin Luther King development, which has won awards from the American Institute of Architects and National Association of Homebuilders.

Hill also stressed the importance of dedicated funding for mass transit.

Philadelphia Housing Authority Executive Director Carl Greene also spoke. Greene's speech ranged from PHA's construction of homes that meet federal energy efficiency standards to America's reliance on foreign oil. "Even Alan Greenspan ... memoir said we're at war because of oil," Greene said, "so we all have a motive to use less resources and create fewer emissions."

Although "Growing Cooler" does not touch on the war, it focuses on relating large-scale problems to the local reality of city planning. And planning is something Philadelphia, could certainly use.

To read the full report, visit www.smartgrowth.org.