Issues: Smart Growth

Sprawling development often leapfrogs over established urban and suburban areas to place isolated new developments at the ends of long ribbons of highway. Community space is absent. Each home stands on its own bare lot -- miles from shops, markets, restaurants, and civic centers. Rows of carbon-copy houses crowding treeless streets and cul-de-sacs give such areas a barren, sterile appearance.

In smart-growth neighborhoods, homes, shops, community services, public transit stops, and movie theatres all cluster within walking or biking distance of one another. Communities use less land, but don't feel crowded because homes, stores, and offices are built around public squares, parks, gardens, and tree-lined thoroughfares that lend a green and inviting feel to living and work spaces.

Photos: Top, Calthorpe Associates; Bottom, Dover, Kohl & Partners