Us sun belt cities urged to rethink local planning

Beyond the gates of Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom Park, the fairy tale stops abruptly — with no happily-ever-after ending. Foreclosure signs dotting once-booming suburban developments that supported decades of growth here and across the rest of the Sun Belt are grim memorials to the recession and housing bust.

One touch of magic remains: 70-degree days in January. The balmy climate — one of the biggest draws for Florida and other Sun Belt states — suggests that growth likely will return; the economy will rebound; and millions of vacant homes will be lived in again. But this pause in the boom could be a seminal moment for cities across California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida — all Sun Belt states that grew fast and have been hardest hit by the housing collapse. 

Will they allow sprawling housing tracts and gated communities to keep mushrooming in remote suburbs as soon as the crisis ends, or are they rethinking growth the way struggling Rust Belt communities have been forced to? Cities such as Detroit and Buffalo are trying to adjust to economic decline by shrinking smartly — concentrating development in small pockets and razing abandoned homes to make way for parks. 

"There's an extraordinary potential for 'sunburnt' cities to embrace the idea of smart decline" — doing more with less, whether it's fewer people, fewer home buyers or fewer jobs, says Justin Hollander, urban planning professor at Tufts University and author of Sunburnt Cities, which was published March 1. Sunburnt cities have a chance to limit growth for growth's sake by allowing dense development and reducing parking requirements to encourage walking, public transportation and more green space, Hollander says.

Source: USA Today