I know my fellow CPLNers know PLANETIZEN.com very well, but for those of you might not be familiar, it is a great site listing news feed and job listings about planning and development. They also have a podcast which you can subscribe to via iTunes or you can listen to the latest installment here:
http://planetizen.com/node/29625
Their most recent podcast is an interview with Christopher B. Leinberger, author of "The Option of Urbanism: Investing in a New American Dream."
http://www.islandpress.org/books/detail.html/SKU/1-59726-136-X
Leinberger discusses the current shift in the real estate market from "drivable sub-urban" to "walkable urban" development. He discusses the necessary accompanying lifestyle shift in terms of health, social, and environmental terms.
I particularly found this comment on accessibility noteworthy--he says that 1/3 of the US population do not have an automobile because they are too young, old, or poor, thus "drivable sub-urban" development, which means that much of the infrastructure of this country is inaccessible to this segment of our population. I think this figure has major implications for the concept of equity in social sustainability.
* "Sub-urban" is a recent term that New Urbanists have started using. I'm not exactly sure, but I think it's just "suburban" with a hyphen added. Maybe they think that the spelling change will get us to look at the word a little more carefully?
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