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Vision California: Calthorpe Associates leads statewide effort

(June 2009)
Teaser: 

Calthorpe Associates is leading Vision California, an unprecedented effort funded by the California High Speed Rail Authority to explore the critical role of land use and transportation investments in meeting the environmental and fiscal challenges facing the state over the coming decades. It will produce a series of alternative physical visions for how California can accommodate expected growth, and clearly express the consequences of these options. The results will inform decisions about the investments and policies that will drive the state's growth.

Calthorpe Associates is leading Vision California, an unprecedented effort funded by the California High Speed Rail Authority to explore the critical role of land use and transportation investments in meeting the environmental and fiscal challenges facing the state over the coming decades. It will produce a series of alternative physical visions for how California can accommodate expected growth, and clearly express the consequences of these options. The results will inform decisions about the investments and policies that will drive the state's growth.

Calthorpe Presents to High-Speed Rail Authority

(Sacramento, March 2010)
Teaser: 

Peter Calthorpe presents the first results of Vision California.  The project is the recipient of a $1.5 million grant from the Strategic Growth Council. 

On March 4th, 2010, Peter Calthorpe presented initial statewide scenarios and model results from the Vision California project at the monthly California High-Speed Rail Authority (HSRA) Board Meeting.  Lead by Calthorpe Associates, Vision California is a joint effort of the HSRA and the California Strategic Growth Council (SGC) that explores the critical role of land use and transportation investments in meeting the environmental and fiscal challenges facing California over the coming decades.

How Slums Can Save the Planet

Prospect Magazine (January 2010)
Teaser: 

Sixty million people in the developing world are leaving the countryside every year. The squatter cities that have emerged can teach us much about future urban living.

In 1983, architect Peter Calthorpe gave up on San Francisco, where he had tried and failed to organise neighbourhood communities, and moved to a houseboat in Sausalito, a town on the San Francisco Bay. He ended up on South 40 Dock, where I also live, part of a community of 400 houseboats and a place with the densest housing in California. Without trying, it was an intense, proud community, in which no one locked their doors. Calthorpe looked for the element of design magic that made it work, and concluded it was the dock itself and the density.

Link: 
http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2010/01/how-slums-can-save-the-planet/

SF Chronicle: State Exploring Detailed Strategy for Growth

San Francisco Chronicle (November 2009)
Teaser: 

With little fanfare and a modest budget, work has begun that could lead to something California has never had - an explicit government vision for how and where the state should grow.

With little fanfare and a modest budget, work has begun that could lead to something California has never had - an explicit government vision for how and where the state should grow.

The official action is modest, a $2.5 million contract to devise a set of detailed growth scenarios for California, from classic suburban sprawl to compact development focused on older cities. The goal is to produce a single "preferred scenario" - one that conceivably could be used to prod local governments to accept or reject new construction.

Link: 
State exploring detailed strategy for growth

Calthorpe speaks at Commonwealth Club: Redefining Growth - Build it Green

Commonwealth Club (October, 2009)
Teaser: 

Redefining Growth: Build It Green

Peter Calthorpe and Ed Mazria, two architects with green on the brain, lay out the blueprints to a better future.

When it comes to pollution, it's easy to blame cars, but our buildings alone are responsible for nearly half of our nation's greenhouse gas emissions. That's why many people believe that successfully combating global climate change requires innovative land-use planning and structuring our cities to remove buildings as energy wasters.

Calthorpe speaks at Brookings Institution Event: Metropolitan Planning for Sustainable Growth

Brookings Institution (October, 2009)
Teaser: 

Tuesday, October 13, 2009, 9:00 a.m. — 11:00 a.m.
The Brookings Institution, Falk Auditorium, 1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington, DC

The Obama administration has proposed a new agenda for urban policy that includes an integrated sustainability model for connecting infrastructure investments, especially transportation, to housing, land use and the environment. Given the challenges that exist around implementing this ambitious model, how do we best prepare and support metropolitan regions beginning to develop integrated blueprint plans for sustainability? What is the federal role in this effort?

Silver Gardens breaks ground March 11

New Mexico Business Weekly (February 2009)
Teaser: 

Silver Gardens, a $12.5 million energy efficient rental apartment development for low- and middle-income families will break ground March 11 on the site of the former Greyhound Bus terminal in downtown Albuquerque.

Silver Gardens, a $12.5 million energy efficient rental apartment development for low- and middle-income families will break ground March 11 on the site of the former Greyhound Bus terminal in downtown Albuquerque.

The project is a joint venture of Romero Rose LLC, and the Supportive Housing Coalition of New Mexico Inc. (SHC-NM), a leading nonprofit housing development agency.

Link: 
New Mexico Business Weekly

Calthorpe was green when it wasn't easy

Sacramento Business Journal (November 2008)
Teaser: 

Picture this: America faces a looming energy crisis as fuel prices soar and people realize that gas-guzzling vehicles and suburban sprawl are too expensive and environmentally harmful to maintain. Suddenly, public transit and energy efficient homes and buildings seem like a great alternative.

Picture this: America faces a looming energy crisis as fuel prices soar and people realize that gas-guzzling vehicles and suburban sprawl are too expensive and environmentally harmful to maintain. Suddenly, public transit and energy efficient homes and buildings seem like a great alternative.

Link: 
Calthorpe was green when it wasn’t easy

New land-use law's message: build near transit

San Francisco Chronicle (November 2008)
Teaser: 

Many California planning and environmental groups are heralding the passage of legislation designed to address global warming by curbing suburban sprawl as a watershed moment, perhaps the state's most important land-use law in more than 30 years.

Many California planning and environmental groups are heralding the passage of legislation designed to address global warming by curbing suburban sprawl as a watershed moment, perhaps the state's most important land-use law in more than 30 years.

"It's a sea change in the way we're planning and funding growth and development," said Stephanie Reyes, senior policy advocate with San Francisco's Greenbelt Alliance. "The winds are shifting, and this is the time to get on board."

Link: 
New land-use law's message: build near transit

Angelides proposes 397 environmentally friendly homes for East Sac

Sacramento Business Journal (August 2008)
Teaser: 

Developer Phil Angelides and John Laing Homes have proposed 397 single-family houses on the 48-acre Centrage land along the American River near the East Sacramento and McKinley Park neighborhoods, where past proposals for high-rises and a commercial park died under withering criticism from neighbors.

Developer Phil Angelides and John Laing Homes have proposed 397 single-family houses on the 48-acre Centrage land along the American River near the East Sacramento and McKinley Park neighborhoods, where past proposals for high-rises and a commercial park died under withering criticism from neighbors.

Unlike the past, where residents decided the plans weren't consistent with the tree-lined neighborhood, groups seem to be receptive to the initial plans for "McKinley Village."

Link: 
Angelides proposes 397 environmentally friendly homes for East Sac