Story of the Suburbs in an Infographic

The following inforgraphic appears in the April 30, 2012 post, “Burbs Going Bust“ by Megan Jett, on the archdaily.net archictectural website. It tells the story of the dcline of the suburbs. The author says that “we should begin thinking about how to retrofit the suburbs for the needs of our changing culture, reinventing Suburbia as a sustainable alternative to urban life.” I found this to be a very effective use of data and charts as narrative. Enjoy!

How has Maryland been growing?

Growth Trends

The total acreage of developed land in Maryland nearly doubled in the past three decades, resulting in large losses of farms and forests. It took three centuries to develop the first 650,000 acres of land in Maryland and a mere 30 years to develop the next 650,000 acres.

PlanMaryland – Getting state agencies, local governments and the private sector on the same page

The following is a reprint of a handout provided to the members of the Maryland Sustainable Growth Commission as part of a briefing on PlanMaryland progress at their March 28, 2011 meeting (for a PDF of this document, click here. Note: page numbers maintained from the original):

1 | P a g e

What for? Achieve Maryland’s Smart Growth goals for vibrant, desirable communities; protected agricultural and environmental lands and resources; and sustainable lifestyles and economies.

What’s the Problem? Lack of coordination and clarity among state agencies, local governments and the private sector in three ways: what they are trying to achieve, where they are trying to achieve it, and how their efforts are coordinated to be complementary and not at cross purposes.

PlanMaryland directly addresses these deficiencies.