NCSG associate director Martin Bierbaum recently won an Achievement in Planning Award from New Jersey Planning Officials. The award is in recognition of his many years of service to New Jersey as a leader in the state's planning and environmental offices. Congratulations Marty on your accomplishments!

NCSG affiliate Anna Alberini contributed to a new paper exploring the cost-effectivess of instituting a permit system to limit driving on high ground level ozone days in the DC metro area. The authors estimate the demand function for the permits and the corresponding pollution reductions. A pdf of the article can be found here.

NCSG affiliate Marie Howland contributed to a research effort focusing on assessing whether Maryland's Smart Growth Act is working in Frederick County. The research team evaluated whether being inside or outside state designated growth areas, Priority Funding Areas (PFA), has influenced the conversion of agricultural parcels to urban use. A pdf of the article can be found here.

A new article in Real Estate Law & Industry Report cites experts' predictions that denser smart growth development types such as urban mixed use centers will become more popular amongst developers once the recession ends. A variety of factors underlie this projection including demographic changes with the aging of the baby boomers, a growing appreciation amongst retailers for destination retail centers that encourage people to linger and shop longer, concerns over climate change, and a federal policy push towards more sustainable transportation and community development under the Obama administration. A pdf of the article can be found here. The article is reproduced with permission from Real Estate Law & Industry Report, 2 REAL 1142 (Dec. 29, 2009): Copyright 2009 by The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. (800-372-1033) http://www.bna.com.

Ann Foss is the winner of NCSG's 2008 Best Thesis Award. Ann received her MS in Urban Planning from Columbia University and currently works as a planner in Dallas, Texas. Her thesis, Municipal Environmental Sustainability Planning: Motivations, Implementation, Documents, and Impacts in Highland Park, New Jersey, can be viewed by clicking here. Congratulations Ann!

NCSG post-doc Sabyasachee Mishra has won the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Michigan Section Student Paper Contest. His award-winning paper, "Traffic Flow Characteristics Comparison between Modern Roundabouts and Intersections," investigates the performance of roundabouts and standard intersections under various traffic volumes. The overall findings from the Detroit-based study indicate that roundabouts perform better under conditions of light to moderate traffic but that under heavy traffic conditions traditional signalized interesections are superior. Sabya is a recent doctoral graduate of Wayne State University. He joined NCSG last summer and is working on the Maryland statewide transportation modeling project. Congratulations again Sabya!

The website for the Moving Maryland Symposium is now live. The symposium dealt with the interrelated issues of transportation, urban growth, the economy, and the environment. The event took place at the University of Maryland on November 20th and was arranged by the Maryland Dept. of Transportation, the Maryland Dept. of the Environment, and the National Center for Smart Growth. The website contains the background reading for the event, a photo gallery of the day's activities, and other relevant materials. To visit the site please click here.

Governor Jack Markell of Delaware announced the launch of Defoodtraders.org and Deagtrader.org, new cyber-crop and cyber-shop initiatives modeled after projects developed by the Environmental Finance Center at the University of Maryland's National Center for Smart Growth Research & Education. Delaware is the third state to launch the sites, (after Maryland and New York) and they could help boost farmers' profit and relieve pressure to sell farmland.
To read full text, go to:
Del. farms, ag businesses get online marketplace

To obtain additional information please contact Karen Logan, School of Public Policy at (301) 405-8230 or kclogan@umd.edu
For more information, go to: EFC Courses 2009

For more information, go to: SUNY Press
For official press release, go to: Press Release

A new article in Housing and Policy Debate written by Professor Reid Ewing and Fang Rong examines the impact of urban form on residential energy use in the United States. The authors focus on three causal pathways: electric transmission and distribution losses, energy requirements of different housing stocks, and space heating and cooling requirements associated with urban heat islands. Statistically controlling for other influences, different effects on sprawling and compact counties are examined.
To read full text, go to:
The Impact of Urban Form on US Residential Energy Use (Housing Policy Debate Vol. 19(1))

The Maryland Agricultural Exchange, created by the Environmental Finance Center at the University of Maryland, is a new free online marketplace that can help Maryland farmers buy, sell, give away, or trade their agricultural products. Functioning much like a 'Craig's List' for agriculture, the new agriculture products exchange website, located at Agtrader.org, will facilitate exchanges among farmers in Maryland and throughout the Chesapeake Bay region exchange products such as manure, compost, hay, fodder crops, fruits and vegetables, organics, equipment, livestock, and much more. Press Release

To read the first chapter ("Overview") of the book, click here: Chapter 1 Overview
To visit the Urban Land Institute Bookstore, click here: ULI Bookstore

To be housed at the National Center for Smart Growth, the Transportation Policy Research Group will be directed by Dr. Gerrit-Jan Knaap, the Center's executive director.

To read a press release, click here: Official Press Release
To read the entire report, click here:
Housing Market Impact of Inclusionary Zoning

This study, conducted by the National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education and the university's Real Estate Development Program, said the imbalance in leasing is occurring despite the fact that Prince George's County has more land and generally offers lower rents than its neighboring jurisdictions.
Click here for Summary Report
Click here for Full Report
To read County Executive Jack B. Johnson's comments, go to: Announcement

For official announcement of 2007 Award winners and finalists, go to: Official Winner Announcement
This thesis has been published as Michigan Land Policy Institute Report, and is available here: MSU Land Policy Institute Report

The book, published by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy focuses on four key areas: urban planning, land policy, rural-to-urban migration, and financing China's urbanization. The book reflects the proceedings of the Institute's May 2006 Conference on "Urban Strategies and Instruments" to promote "economically sound, environmentally desirable, politically feasible, and socially acceptable" growth in China. For more information, go to: New Book Introduction

A new study by the National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education shows that state agencies have been lax in tracking and regularly reporting where they spend growth-related funds as required by Maryland's 10-year-old Smart Growth law. The report, written by Center Executive Director Gerrit-Jan Knaap and Rebecca Lewis, a graduate student in the School of Public Policy and research assistant at the Center, says this shortcoming makes it difficult to evaluate why the state's incentive-based approach is not having much success. Press Release Full Report

A new Urban Land article written by Professor Reid Ewing, Ted Stevens, and Steven J. Brown examine obstacles to creating more "skinny" streets. After years of discussion, the field of traffic engineering is slowly embracing narrow streets in practice. Narrow streets have numerous advantages, including comfortable human scale for pedestrians, lower cost of development and minimized negative impact on environment. However, there is another unexpected barrier to implementation: The Local Fire Chief. The authors present case studies around the country where local fire codes prohibit building narrower street in the interests of "safety first."
To read full text, go to:
Skinny Streets and Fire Trucks (Urban Land Aug 07)
Urban Land Institute Website

Dr. Moglen, an associate research scientist at the National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education and an associate professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, co-authored the study with Dorianne E. Shivers while on a sabbatical at the U.S. Geological Survey. The full study, entitled "Methods for Adjusting U.S. Geological Survey Rural Regression Peak Discharges in an Urban Setting," may be found at: USGS Office of Surface Water

Two of Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley's recent cabinet appointees are longtime friends of and affiliate faculty members at the National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education.

Richard E. Hall has been appointed Secretary of Planning. Hall also serves on the Governor's Executive Council, the Governor's Council on the Chesapeake Bay, and the Smart Growth Subcabinet. He is also the President of the Maryland Chapter of the American Planning Association.

John D. Porcari has been appointed as Secretary of Transportation. Porcari is also a member of the Governor's Executive Council, the Governor's Subcabinet on International Affairs, and the Smart Growth Subcabinet. He previously served as Secretary of Transportation under Governor Parris Glendening from 1999-2003 and as the Vice President for Administrative Affairs at the University of Maryland , College Park from 2003-2007.

Both Hall and Porcari have worked with the Center on a variety of projects, including the Reality Check growth visioning exercises held throughout Maryland in 2006.