Insight

There is little question that, in most parts of California today, the idea of “smart growth” is winning the political battle. The land-rich areas of the Inland Empire and the Central Valley remain suburban holdouts, but in most of the ret of the state, the core ideas – higher-density housing, mixed-use development, and even improved transit service – are gaining political acceptance. >>read more

According to the state Department of Finance, California had 532,000 more residents at the end of 2003 than it had at the beginning. This has been going on for quite a while in California. What is changing is where and how people live. In some parts of the state, we are seeing a return to old suburban patterns. Yet in other ways, we are seeing a continuing transformation of California into an urban society. >>read more

Many years ago, overwhelmed by the sheer size of the numbers involved in modern society, humor columnist Russell Baker suggested that we should replace all numbers greater than 10,000 with the word "lotsa." As in, McDonald's has sold lotsa hamburgers. Social Security entitlements involve lotsa money. A war requires lotsa missiles. These days, a house in California costs lotsa money. Inevitably, the planning system gets blamed for the mess. >>read more

There's no denying it anymore: California has entered the infill age. Suburban development still continues apace, especially in the Central Valley and the Inland Empire. But most of the state is engaged in the process of adding more residents to existing neighborhoods and existing urban areas - and trying to find good ways to add more houses and shops to those neighborhoods as well. What all this means is that design and context are important.

To many urban planners, the "mixed-use" development project is a kind of Holy Grail, a development that combines residential units with commercial space into one seamless project where people can both live and work. Although other ideas are also important to planners seeking to create urban-style places - specifically, higher-density housing and development oriented around transit stops - the mixed-use concept often seems the most compelling.

The economy may be a little sluggish, but housing prices throughout California have not stopped going up. So it's not surprising that cities and counties throughout California appear to have developed a new interest in "inclusionary zoning" programs, which require housing developers to set aside 10% to 20% of their units for low- and moderate-income residents.

The wildfires of late October and early November - which some fire experts claim were the worst in the state's history - have stimulated a whole new round of debate about whether and how to permit urban development in areas with naturally high fire risk.