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F. Kaid Benfield

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September 23, 2014

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F. Kaid Benfield

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F. KAID BENFIELD is one of the nationâs foremost authorities on how to make cities, towns, and neighborhoods work better for both people and the environment. Kaid serves as special counsel for urban solutions at the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington, DC. He also teaches law, policy, and best practices for sustainable communities at the George Washington University School of Law. Kaidâs latest book is People Habitat: 25 Ways to Think About Greener, Healthier Cities, published by Island Press.

A longtime leader of the smart growth movement, Kaid works at NRDC on positive, forward-thinking approaches to environmental challenges in the places where Americans live, work, and play. He co-founded LEED for Neighborhood Development, a national process for defining and certifying smart, green land development under the auspices of the US Green Building Council. Kaid is also a founder and board member of Smart Growth America, a nationwide coalition working on revitalizing cities, building better neighborhoods, and stopping the spread of suburban sprawl.

Kaid was named one of "the most influential people in sustainable planning and development" by the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, voted one of the "top urban thinkers" on the leading city planning website, Planetizen.com, and named "one of the top 100 city innovators worldwide" by the website Future Cities..

Kaid is a prolific writer whose portfolio spans several books and frequent articles for The Huffington Post, Sustainable Cities Collective, Better Cities & Towns, CityLab, and NRDC websites.

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Entries by F. Kaid Benfield

Sustainable Communities in the Age of the Sound Bite

(0) Comments | Posted September 22, 2014 | 8:32 AM

Â Â Orig:https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3892/15199762901_f09d5ba2d1_z_d.jpg Asheville, NC (by: Bret Frk, creative commons) Asheville, NC (by: Bret Frk, creative commons)

For better or worse, we live in the age of the sound bite, when even the most intellectually complicated subjects must, to be understood, be simplified to a couple of...

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Why Nature Needs Cities

(2) Comments | Posted September 11, 2014 | 11:17 AM

Orig:https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5584/15202427742_ba547f0e23_z_d.jpg San Antonio (by: Brandon Watts, creative commons) San Antonio (by: Brandon Watts, creative commons)

Cities need nature, as I wrote in an earlier essay. But what is not so well understood is that nature also needs cities. There is simply no way we...

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I Heard It Through the Grapevine: Motown's Prospects Are Looking Up

(2) Comments | Posted September 5, 2014 | 9:01 AM

Â Â Orig:https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3907/15122955815_54806c4027_z_d.jpg Detroit (by: Kamil Dzeidzina, creative commons) Detroit (by: Kamil Dzeidzina, creative commons)

However improbable it might have seemed twenty, five, or even two years ago, Detroit could well be on the verge of a major turnaround that could make it one of the biggest...

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Americans Don't Walk Much, and I Don't Blame Them

(3) Comments | Posted September 2, 2014 | 1:43 PM

(Today’s article is excerpted and adapted from the 2014 book People Habitat: 25 Ways to Think About Greener, Healthier Cities, distributed by Island Press.)

This...

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How Transit, Walkability Help Make Cities More Affordable

(9) Comments | Posted August 25, 2014 | 9:13 AM

Â Orig:https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8194/8121860649_a297ce964e_z_d.jpg New York City subway (by: Bitch Cakes, creative commons) New York City subway (by: Bitch Cakes, creative commons)

Highly enlightening new data from the New York City-based Citizens Budget Commission demonstrate the immense importance of walkability and transit in shaping how affordable...

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Let's Not Pronounce Sprawl Dead Just Yet

(0) Comments | Posted August 1, 2014 | 8:07 AM

Orig:https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2928/14691731062_33207d29fa_z_d.jpg suburban Maryland (c2014, FK Benfield) suburban Maryland (c2014, FK Benfield)

Few things have been as simultaneously destructive to the natural environment, the economy, and our social fabric as the tidal wave of suburban sprawl that washed over the US in the late 20th century. ...

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What City Dwellers Want, and Why It Matters

(0) Comments | Posted July 29, 2014 | 10:34 AM

Orig:https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2833/11658030613_466e0e8989_z_d.jpg Burlington, VT (by: Bob Gaffney, creative commons) Burlington, VT (by: Bob Gaffney, creative commons)

American city dwellers place a high value on their cities’ food offerings, from restaurants to farmers’ markets. We also love historic buildings and good public spaces. Traffic, not so...

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There Was a 'High Line' Before the Famous Elevated Park in NYC

(0) Comments | Posted July 14, 2014 | 9:04 AM

Orig:http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5191/5893955635_6d84aa9a8b_d.jpg la Promenade Plantee (by: Fiona Cullinan, creative commons license) la Promenade Plantee (by: Fiona Cullinan, creative commons license)

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Como a heranÃ§a arquitetÃ´nica forma nossa experiÃªncia de lugar

(0) Comments | Posted July 12, 2014 | 12:25 PM

Venho tentando entender o que faz os lugares histÃ³ricos tÃ£o especiais para tantos de nÃ³s. Parte da razÃ£o Ã© que eles sÃ£o relativamente raros nos Estados Unidos, eu acho. Durante vÃ¡rias dÃ©cadas, nossa nova arquitetura cotidiana - nossas subdivisÃµes, os blocos comerciais, prÃ©dios de escritÃ³rios - tem sido ao mesmo...

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Ten Questions We Should Be Asking About Our Communities

(2) Comments | Posted July 8, 2014 | 10:05 AM

Orig:https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5126/5255649495_0c7505b513_z_d.jpg Capitol Hill, Washington, DC (by: Shelly Hazle, courtesy of Smart Growth America) Capitol Hill, Washington, DC (by: Shelly Hazle, courtesy of Smart Growth America)

I have spent most of the last 20 years working on an agenda grounded in, for lack of a better...

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'People's Garden' Will Bring Sustainability Showcase to DC's National Mall

(0) Comments | Posted June 27, 2014 | 9:39 AM

Orig:https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5529/14321551030_74670f5dd4_z_d.jpg rendering of heirloom & pollinator garden (by: OLBN, courtesy of NCPC) rendering of heirloom & pollinator garden (by: OLBN, courtesy of NCPC)

Heirloom and Pollinator Garden at USDA headquarters

One of the more thoughtful landscaping undertakings I have seen will be installed...

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This Food Market on Wheels Is Driven to Serve Low-Income Communities

(0) Comments | Posted June 24, 2014 | 2:35 PM

Orig:https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3896/14311560159_e836471592_z_d.jpg Arcadia's Mobile Market (courtesy of Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food & Agriculture) Arcadia's Mobile Market (courtesy of Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food & Agriculture)

It’s not unusual for a farmers market to dispense healthy, fresh produce by vehicle, moving from one location to...

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Fighting Climate Change With Sensible City Planning

(0) Comments | Posted June 5, 2014 | 3:53 PM

Orig:https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5034/14265270644_15c67d2dd4_z_d.jpg Glenwood Park, Atlanta (c2014 FK Benfield) Glenwood Park, Atlanta (c2014 FK Benfield)

It is almost a tautology to declare that our future, and that of our children and their children, depends on how we shape our communities for the 21st century and beyond. ...

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In US Cities Where Walking Is Safer, It's Also More Popular

(0) Comments | Posted May 30, 2014 | 11:45 AM

Orig:https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3780/14113534249_aa53bcf603_z_d.jpg walking in Boston (by: FaceMePLS, creative commons) walking in Boston (by: FaceMePLS, creative commons)

As a nation, we Americans don’t walk very much, especially compared to residents of other countries. Nationally, we take only about 10 percent of our total trips by...

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In Praise of the Great American Main Street

(3) Comments | Posted May 27, 2014 | 12:12 PM

Orig:https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5552/14078829269_fa62f0be51_z_d.jpg Market Street, Corning NY (c2014 FK Benfield) Market Street, Corning NY (c2014 FK Benfield)

Last week I participated in a terrific conference called From Main Street to Eco-Districts: Greening Our Communities, hosted by a chapter of the American Institute for Architects in...

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How Legacy Architecture Shapes Our Experience of Place

(0) Comments | Posted May 19, 2014 | 8:08 AM

Orig:https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8397/8679875201_4c1555eb35_z_d.jpg Providence, RI (c2014 by FK Benfield) Providence, RI (c2014 by FK Benfield)

I have been trying trying to understand what makes historic places special to so many of us. Part of it is that they are relatively rare in the United States, I...

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Bringing Sustainability to Life on Main Street

(0) Comments | Posted May 9, 2014 | 10:26 AM

Orig:https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5277/14125742364_c1e0cec5e3_z_d.jpg GMP's Energy Innovation Center, Rutland, VT (courtesy of Green Mountain Power) GMP's Energy Innovation Center, Rutland, VT (courtesy of Green Mountain Power)

A sustainable built environment isn’t one thing. It is many things, functioning best when assembled together in the right places with...

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Keeping Up With Your Average Suburban Bear

(1) Comments | Posted May 7, 2014 | 9:29 AM

Orig:https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7349/13937334829_6f235c4fb1_z_d.jpg your average suburban bear enjoys Asheville (by: anoldent, creative commons) your average suburban bear enjoys Asheville (by: anoldent, creative commons)

Having spent much of my life in and around the Smoky and Blue Ridge mountains, I’ve seen my share of black bears up...

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As cidades precisam da natureza

(0) Comments | Posted May 2, 2014 | 5:04 PM

Orig:https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8230/8552661920_f3942d575a_z_d.jpg Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris (by: F. Kaid Benfield, c2014) Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris (by: F. Kaid Benfield, c2014)

NÃ³s, humanos, temos uma necessidade emocional intrÃnseca de nos conectarmos com a natureza. O eminente biÃ³logo E. O. Wilson chamou isso de "biofilia", e o termo pegou....

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Cities Need Nature

(0) Comments | Posted April 23, 2014 | 8:25 AM

Orig:https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8230/8552661920_f3942d575a_z_d.jpg Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris (by: F. Kaid Benfield, c2014) Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris (by: F. Kaid Benfield, c2014)

We humans have an intrinsic emotional need to connect with nature. The eminent biologist E. O. Wilson first called this need “biophilia,” and the term...

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