Gary LoRusso Alaska

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Gary LoRusso Explores Smart Growth’s Impact on the Quality of Life

Green Living January 6, 2014 , by Grant D. Burns

 

Land surveyor Gary LoRusso makes it his duty to keep up on the latest trends in the property development industry, and no recent development has been bigger – or more controversial – than smart growth. Depending on whom one was to ask, smart growth is either a solution to the biggest problems of urban development, or an ill-advised means of making them even worse.

In order to better understand this polarizing effect that smart growth methods have on people, it is important to first understand what smart growth is.

 

 

 

The 10 Principles behind Smart Growth

Smart growth, as Gary LoRusso explains, is a theory and practice in urban planning and transportation designed to reduce city sprawl into compact, efficient areas. The proponents of smart growth argue that doing so better protects the environment surrounding a city by keeping it intact and keeping the city from building over it. Instead, cities grow inward to become more compact and accessible to residents.

There are ten guiding principles behind smart growth that urban planners adhere to when implementing the practice. These principles are as follows:

- Direct development toward existing communities rather than into new ones

- Create attractive, distinctive communities with a strong sense of place

- Preserve critical environmental areas, including farmland, open spaces, and other natural beauty

- Devise a range of housing choices and opportunities

- Craft easily “walkable” neighborhoods

- Provide residents with a variety of transportation options

- Make development decisions that are cost effective, fair, and predictable

- Mix the use of land and buildings whenever possible

- Take advantage of compact design for buildings

- Encourage collaboration between community members and stakeholders when making development decisions

 

Why Smart Growth is Important

As the proponents of smart growth argue, many aspects of life which individuals care about are affected by development decisions. These include economic growth, the environment, schools, taxes, health, traffic, business opportunities, and so on.

Because of this intrinsic connection, cities need to take more responsibility for how they develop. “Smart growth,” explains LoRusso, “is intended to provide an alternative to ever-expanding cities and longer, more congested commutes between important locations like home, work, the grocery store, etc. Smart growth communities condense these necessities into tighter urban areas, meaning that residents have shorter commutes to every amenity that they may need in a city. When longer travel is required, smart growth seeks to aid in this with enhanced and expanded public transportation options.”

 

Gary LoRusso Remarks on Where Smart Growth May Have Failed

“Unfortunately, smart growth is not a foolproof idea. For every fan of the practice explaining its necessity,” says LoRusso, “it is easy to find a detractor explaining why smart growth is causing more harm than good.”

The Social Paradoxes of Smart Growth

According to LoRusso, the biggest general complaint leveled against smart growth practices is that they are hypocritical. “Opponents of smart growth can generally agree that the intentions behind the practice are good,” he explains, “but they point out that in practice, the theories simply do not hold up.”

For instance, one of the goals of smart growth is to encourage affordable housing through better planned urban development. The more housing that is available in an area, they reason, the easier it will be to find and afford.

Smart growth’s detractors, meanwhile, point to the opposite being true. “According to many different studies,” LoRusso explains, “housing has actually become less affordable in many smart growth areas, meaning that the people meant to benefit are only seeing their problem get worse. And there appears to be a correlation between areas which rank highest in smart growth but lowest in affordable housing.”

The Environmental Paradoxes of Smart Growth

There is also the problem of the environmental effect of smart growth. “Proponents of the practice claim that concentrating necessary amenities in a city reduces the average individual’s reliance on vehicle travel and, thus, helps get cars off the road,” LoRusso explains. “Opponents, meanwhile, say that while that’s fine in theory, in practice people aren’t giving up their vehicles just because they live in a more condensed area. This means that traffic patterns are being condensed right along with them without being alleviated, resulting in thicker areas of air pollution.”

On top of this, even the issue of urban expansion into natural environments is up for debate. “Smart growth proponents explain that these practices keep cities from spilling uncontrollably into the surrounding countryside,” LoRusso comments. “Detractors, meanwhile, say that urban expansion is not as big of a problem as the proponents think it is, and that agriculture is more responsible for swallowing up natural environments than city development is.”

 

 

The Bottom Line

Unfortunately, the only agreement that can be made on the issue at the moment is that there is no agreement. “Both sides have their good points,” LoRusso points out. “Those for smart growth are saying that we need to develop our cities more responsibly for the sake of both society and the environment, and they are right. Those against it are saying that the way smart growth is going about this is flawed, and they are right as well.”

Because of this, smart growth remains a tricky issue with no immediate black-and-white understanding.

ABOUT:

 

 

As an experienced land surveyor and property developer, LoRusso offers his professional services to the community of Palmer, AK. Here, he owns and runs Keystone Surveying & Mapping, his own surveying and developing company which he founded in 1991. Since then, this dynamic organization has earned solid reviews. Gary LoRusso remains an active expert in his industry by keeping up with the latest technological advancements, trends, and developments in his professional field.