Smart Growth Entrepreneurs

This book examines smart growth entrepreneurs¿innovators in government, development companies, architectural firms, and other organizations, who coalesce to shift policies and markets toward green planning and building practices. Cities across the world are trying to manage their population and economic growth by implementing the design principles of Smart Growth and New Urbanism, developing green buildings that are compact, mixed-use, and in close proximity to transit services. How do innovators, governments, and markets interact in this planning and development process? The book profiles smart growth entrepreneurs and their projects in both Southern California and the suburbs of Portland, Oregon. The author highlights the unique obstacles, political and economic, that these actors encounter and details the centrality of markets and regulations in sustainable urban development.

Erik Solevad Nielsen is an urban and environmental sociologist at The Pennsylvania State University, USA. His research has focused on urban sustainability, political economy, information technology, and ethnic conflict.

Introduction Markets, Governments, and Smart Growth .- Sprawl and Smart Growth .-  Managing Urban Growth in Oregon and California .- The Smart Growth Machine: Coalitions of Entrepreneurs .-Smart Growth and the Great Recession .- Conclusion.