A Complete Community Is All Mixed Up
A complete community includes an optimal mix of people, activities, and transport modes in each neighborhood. Like a chef, planners need the right ingredients. Here is the recipe.
Todd Litman | March 15, 2021, 9am PDT Share
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A city is a place where many people and activities occur close together, which facilitates the exchange of goods and ideas. The secret to success is to mix things together to create complete communities.
Urban planning often focuses on density, the number of people or activities in a given area, but equally important is land use mix, the diversity of people and activities in an area. To use a sports metaphor, density provides strength and power, a necessary foundation, while mix is akin to skill and finesse, which is what makes a community interesting and successful.
Smart Growth C est Bon!
Compact infill development can create affordable, inclusive and attractive cities, like Montreal, plus belle ville au monde.
Todd Litman | December 31, 2020, 6am PST Share
Planning is challenging but rewarding because it often involves new issues and perspectives. For example, when analyzing urban unaffordability and inequity problems, some of my friends like to apply Marxist analysis: they want to blame rich foreigners, Big Finance, and global corporations for driving up housing prices and squeezing lower-income families out of attractive and economically successful neighborhoods. This video, titled
Push, is an example. It argues that housing problems are caused by fiscalization, and should be solved by declaring housing a human right.